Grant Johnson writes, “GreatBridge (distributor and supporter of PostgreSQL) is closing its doors after not finding funding. Check out the press release at www.greatbridge.com.” CNet has a few more details.

Software Technologies Group today announced the release of the latest x86 Linux UDI (Uniform Driver Interface) reference implementation at http://www.stg.com/udi/. Providing both a source and binary release, this update is the quickest way to install, configure, and begin using UDI technology to develop portable, high performance device drivers. Based on the Version 1.0.1 UDI specification with performance and stability updates, the updated Linux UDI environment reflects the culmination of approximately three years of development and testing to validate the specification on a variety of operating systems using a variety of device drivers. The latest UDI specification as well as full details on Project UDI are available from http://www.project-udi.org/.

“This is an important software release for the UDI community. It represents the continued updating and improvement of already released UDI environments, and will help to ensure the success of UDI on Linux,” said Kurt Gollhardt, chair of Project UDI. “Driver developers can use the updated environments not only to develop new portable drivers but also to improve the performance of their existing UDI drivers without making any changes to their code.”

According to Chris Herzog, president of Software Technologies Group, the developers of the UDI Linux implementation, “This latest Linux update reflects the most current specification and includes significant performance and stability enhancements. It provides OS vendors, IHVs, and driver developers a portable, functional base to develop on and start to reap the benefits of UDI. By using this latest environment update, companies that have developed UDI drivers will realize significant performance and stability improvement without changes to the drivers themselves.”

Available under a BSD-style open source license, the UDI reference implementation is also available for all interested parties to download, examine, use, or modify for their purposes directly from SourceForge at http://projectudi.sourceforge.net. Project UDI is also interested in promoting the participation of OS vendors, independent hardware vendors (IHVs), driver developers, or other parties interested in the development or porting of UDI to new platforms or adding additional driver support. Information on joining the Project UDI open source effort can be found at http://projectudi.sourceforge.net or at the Project UDI web site at http://www.project-udi.org. Current efforts are underway in the areas of network protocol support, USB, Infiniband, and others. Participation by all interested parties is welcome.

By developing to a single device driver interface, companies can realize significant savings in device driver development and testing costs. It also helps speed time-to-market of new devices, and allows manufacturers to allocate development resources on improving device performance, features, functionality, and quality rather than spending inordinate amounts of time porting drivers between operating systems and hardware platforms.

Project UDI is a multi-company open development group dedicated to developing standardized device driver interfaces for the computer I/O technologies of today and tomorrow. More information on Project UDI may be found at: http://www.project-udi.org.

For more information on companies or organizations mentioned in this article:

Software Technologies Group, Inc.
http://www.stg.com

Bob Schuricht, Director of Sales

bobs@stg.com

(708) 547-0110

Project UDI home page
http://www.project-udi.org

Kurt Gollhardt, Chair Project UDI

kdg@certeksoftware.com

Project UDI at SourceForge

http://projectudi.sourceforge.net

Form the humor site, Segfault.org: “U.S. President George W. Bush has asked the DOJ not to divide the Microsoft
monopoly into baby-Microsofts. After a long meeting with a board of K12 math
teachers, he found out that there was a huge arithmetic error in the break-up.

‘You see’, said Bush this morning, ‘we were about to DIVIDE Microsoft in 2, but as
any 10-year-old knows, division is the arithmetic operation where the result is LESS
than the original value. We were about to create 2 monopolies out of one just for this
stupid math blunder. We were dividing no bubba baga there.’ “

Byte.com has a column about the advantages of colocating your Internet server and the advantages and possible disadvantages of using FreeBSD.

ZDNet reports that users of recent versions of Microsoft’s Internet Explorer are now getting redirected to a Microsoft search site instead of getting “page not found” errors.

CNet has Gartner Group commentary on the HP-Compaq merger. “Should the deal go through, it seems to make sense in at least
one area: consolidating the two companies’ respective server
designs and strategies. Both companies are moving to a single
mainstream technology based on the Itanium processor family. And
both have significant investments in open systems such as Unix
and Linux.”

Lots of news today about the U.S. Department of Justice deciding not to pursue the breakup of Microsoft. Wired.com has a story with the basic facts and another piece with reaction, with most observers saying they’re not surprised. More from the BBC. If that’s not enough information for you, check out the EE Times’ story or a CNet story.

Finite State Machine Labs, Inc, (FSMLabs) and Red Hat, Inc. announced today the formation of a new alliance to expand hard realtime processing capabilities for embedded systems and emerging technologies. Red Hat has selected FSMLabs’ RTLinux as its standard hard realtime solution for its operating system, giving customers high performance realtime capabilities and a stable Linux operating system.

“This partnership allows both FSMLabs and Red Hat to focus on our core strengths while still giving customers a total package,” said Victor Yodaiken, FSMLabs CEO. “FSM will be able to offer its customers a solid Linux environment based on standard Linux distribution, which Red Hat excels in providing, and still deliver the best in realtime system processing through RTLinux.”

The RTLinux design provides a hard realtime operating system that runs concurrently with and enhances a general purpose operating system. This dual kernel system allows time-critical tasks to run with little interruption from other routine system functions instead of forcing general purpose operating systems into a cobbled together realtime compromise. RTLinux is an original, groundbreaking FSMLabs product that is not dependent on code fixes from the Internet community. When coupled with the flexibility and performance of Red Hat’s Linux operating system, the ease in which Linux can be made part of an embedded system makes RTLinux extremely valuable.

“We felt that attempting to retrofit full realtime throughout a general purpose OS was going to give a poor general purpose OS with poor realtime support,” said Alan Cox of Red Hat. “The beauty of RTLinux is that it gives us top-class hard realtime with only tiny modifications to the Linux kernel and almost no measurable performance impact.”

Red Hat and FSMLabs have been mainstays in the Linux industry and are among the few companies still reporting stable and steady growth. Both companies have maintained successful track records in a volatile market, providing customers with a guarantee that their products will continue to be supported and enhanced for a great many years to come.

###

_____________________________
About FSMLabs, Inc.
FSMLabs was founded by the creators of RTLinux with the goal of extending speed and accuracy in the development of realtime and embedded systems. By developing systems that reduce complexity and unpredictability, we advance realtime state-of-the-art. By endorsing and promoting internationally recognized POSIX realtime standards, we help ensure ease of development and application portability. With engineering staff and technology partners worldwide, FSMLabs pursues solutions characterized by simplicity, robustness and precise design. For more information, email business@fsmlabs.com and visit www.rtlinux.com.

Contact:
Monica Ortiz, FSMLabs PR
Monica@mktgevents.com
415-990-5513

– By Andrew Orlowski –

–The Register –

Samsung’s Linux based smartphone will appear in Europe, although a date for the launch hasn’t been set yet. The compact device, which resembles Motorola’s Accompli 008 only with a colour display, is expected to ship in Korea in January. Much like the Nokia 9210, it will be bundled with a camera attachment.

For now it’s CDMA only. A US launch will follow early next year, we’re told.

That would normally mean that the rest of the developed world can safely ignore it, but sources at PalmPalm, which developed the base technology on its Tynix platform, insist that top tier European terminal manufacturers are developing GSM-based products. Whether these ever see the light of day, we wouldn’t like to say.

We know that Nokia has invested in Linux, and not just because of the Finnish connection, but strictly for set top boxes and webpads, and Nokia hasn’t gone as far as committing to launching real retail product. In fact almost every European consumer device manufacturer has flirted with Linux.

Last year PalmPalm (which you’ve got to love, really, as its corporate logo uses a font remarkably similar to Palm Inc’s corporate logo) touted something it called a “smartphone” based on 802.11 and H.323 protocols. In other words, it was a wireless PC “paw” with which you could make voice-over-IP phone calls, once you’d waved a dead chicken around and didn’t stray more than 100 yards from your 802.11 base station. (Taking your VoIP phone and chicken with you). Still, we admire their pluck.

We’ve seen the phone and it’s quite sweet. Picture an Accompli 008 with a heavier lid, and you’re pretty much there. It has a high resolution colour display, based on Trolltech’s embedded Qt. The PDA functions are organized into vertical tabs (rather than horizontal tabs as on the Accompli). It looked snappy too, although the colour display looked washed out. That might have been us, though.

You can find PalmPalm here, and they even include a map showing how you can get reach their HQ from the New Millenium Democratic Party Headquarters or the S-Oil Gas Station.

All Content copyright 2001 The Register

From BusinessWire: Caldera International Inc. (Nasdaq: CALD), Thursday reported
revenue of $18.9 million for the quarter ended July 31, 2001.
This is the first quarter to include the results from the acquisition of the assets and operations from Tarantella Inc. This
acquisition significantly increased the net revenue and operating expenses of the company.