Samsung Gear S2 Classic 3G Smartwatch Features an eSIM for Cellular Connectivity, Runs Tizen

Samsung has announced that Gear S2 classic 3G smartwatch would be first device in the market to be equipped with a GSMA compliant eSIM (Embedded SIM) The round watch is also powered by a dual core processor coupled with 512MB RAM and 4GB flash to run Tizen based wearable platform. Galaxy Gear S2 Classic 3G specifications: SoC – Dual core processor @ 1.0 GHz System Memory – 512MB Storage – 4GB RAM Display – 1.2” circular super AMOLED display, 360×360 resolution, 302ppi Connectivity – 802.11 b/g/n/e, Bluetooth 4.1, NFC, 3G/4G (HSPA+ voice and data networks) Audio Codec – MP3/AAC/AAC+/eAAC+ Audio Format – MP3, M4A, AAC, OGG Sensors – Accelerometer, Gyroscope, Heart Rate, Ambient Light, Barometer Dimension  – 44.0 x 46.9 x 13.4 (54g) Battery – 300mAh Li-ion; Wireless Charging;  2~3days on a charge IP Rating – IP68 Certified Dust and Water Resistant The watch will run Tizen, and include a […]

Open Source Operating Systems News – Maru OS, Zephyr, ReactOS, Tizen 3.0, and Raspbian

There have been several news related to open source operating systems in the last couple of weeks including Maru OS to run Debian on Android, Zephyr Project real-time OS managed by the Linux Foundation, ReactOS an open source port of Windows XP, and Raspberry Pi boards are getting a Tizen 3.0 port, as well as a new Raspbian release. Maru OS – Mobile <-> Desktop  Convergence Maru OS mobile operating system is supposed to do what Ubuntu convergence promised: it runs in mobile mode on the go with Android Lollipop mobile OS, once you connect the phone to an HDMI screen, and pair Bluetooth keyboard and/or mouse, it will switch to desktop mode running Debian Linux. The downside is that so far it a single developer (Preetam D’Souza) worked on it, and the beta version only works on Nexus 5 smartphone. However, since the project went viral, dozen of other […]

FOSDEM 2016 Schedule – Open Source Hardware and Software Event in Europe

FOSDEM (Free and Open Source Software Developers’ European Meeting) is a 2-day event that usually takes place on the first week-end of February in Brussels, but this year it will be on January 30-31. The event brings thousands of developers, hackers, and other person interested in open source technology who present their projects and share ideas. FOSDEM 2016 schedule is now available, and There will be 557 speakers, 612 events, and 50 tracks this year including 7 main tracks: Distros, Enterprise, Hardware, Communications, Miscellaneous, Office, Systems Administration, and Virtualization. So I’ve had a look at some of the talks, especially out of  “Embedded, Mobile and Automotive” and “IoT” devrooms, and prepared my own virtual schedule although I won’t be able to attend. Saturday 10:30 – 10:55 – MIPS, the other side of the embedded by Alexjan Carraturo For many years MIPS processors have been involved in the embedded market, particularly […]

Samsung Z3 Tizen Smartphone Launched in Russia and India

After Samzung Z1 based on Spreadtrum SC7727S processor and running Tizen 2.3, Samsung skipped the Z2, and launched Samsung Z3 Tizen 2.4 smartphone powered by Spreadtrum SC7730S quad core processor in both India and Russia, with the Russian model allegedly adding LTE connectivity. Samsung Z3 specifications: SoC – Spreadtrum SC7730S Quad core ARM Cortex A7 processor @ 1.3 GHz with ARM Mali-400MP2 GPU System Memory – 1GB RAM Storage – 8GB flash + microSD slot (up to 128GB) Display –  5.0” HD Super AMOLED (1280×720) Connectivity – WiFi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0 BLE, GPS,GLONASS Cellular 2x Micro-SIM slots “Indian model” (SM-300H) – WCDMA: B1(2100),B8(900); GSM: GSM850,GSM900,DCS1800,PCS1900; 3G: HSPA+ “Russian model” (SM-300F?) – Includes LTE Camera – 8.0MP rear camera with LED Flash (F2.2), 5.0MP front facing camera Video – MP4, M4V, 3GP, 3G2, ASF, AVI, FLV, MKV USB – micro USB 2.0 port Sensors – Accelerometer, Proximity Sensor Battery – […]

Tizen OS Ported to the Raspberry Pi 2

Tizen may not be overly used in devices, but there has been ports of the operating system on various ARM platform, mostly development boards, powered by Allwinner, Rockchip, Freescale SoCs, and more… Seeing the popularity of Raspberry Pi 2 Model B, Samsung Open Source Group decided to port Tizen to the latest version of the hobbyist board. The full instructions are rather long, and provided in the link above, but the main steps – using a Linux based computer – can be summarized as follows: Create a local copy of tizen-distro Add Raspberry Pi 2 BSP Meta repository Initialize the environment and modify some config files Start the build with Yocto: bitbake rpi-hwup-image. This should make a minimal headless? image Create an SD card image with tmp-glibc/deploy/images/raspberrypi2/rpi-hwup-image-raspberrypi2.rpi-sdimg using dd, an optional resize the parition with gparted or fdisk/resize2fs. Insert the SD card in to your Raspberry Pi 2, and have […]

Embedded Linux Conference 2015 Schedule – IoT, Cars, and Drones

Embedded Linux Conference 2015 will take place in San Jose, California, on March 23 – 25, 2015, and will focus on Drones, Things and Automobiles. The schedule has been published, and whether you’ll attend or not, it’s always interested to have a look at what will be talked about to have a peak into the future of Embedded Linux, or simply keep abreast with the progress in the field. So as usual, I’ve gone through the schedule, and made my own virtual program with talks that I find interesting. Monday 23rd 9:00 – 9:30 – Driving standards and Open Source to Grow the Internet of Things by Mark Skarpness, Director of Systems Engineering at Intel Billions of devices are beginning to come online, and many of these devices, large and small, are running open source software.  To fuel this innovation, it’s more important than ever for these devices to use […]

FOSDEM 2015 Schedule – January 31 – February 1 2015

FOSDEM (Free and Open Source Software Developers’ European Meeting) takes place every year during the first week-end of February. This year the developer-oriented event expects to bring over 5000 geeks to share ideas and collaborate on open source projects. Contrary to most other events, it’s free to attend, and you don’t even need to register, just show up. FOSDEM 2015 will take place on January 31- February 1 in Brussels. There will be 551 sessions divided into 5 keynotes, 40 lightning talks, 6 certification exams, and with the bulk being developer rooms and main tracks,  divided into 7 main tracks this year: Languages, Performance, Time, Typesetting, Hardware, Security and Miscellaneous. I’m not going to attend, but it’s still interested to see what will be talked about, and I’ve concocted my own little virtual program out of the main tracks and developers’ rooms. There’s a few minutes overlap between some talks […]

Samsung Z1, the First Commercially Available Tizen Smartphone, Has Launched in India

Tizen operating system is already found in cameras, and smartwatches, with works also being done for televisions, laptops and cars, but the Tizen smartphone has been mostly newsworthy because of product cancellations or delays, rather than product launches. But finally, the first Tizen smartphone has been introduced in India, it’s called Samsung Z1 and sells for 5,700 Indian Rupees ($92). Samsung Z1 (SM-Z130H/DS) specifications: Processor – Spreadtrum SC7727S dual core Cortex A7 processor @ 1.2 GHz with Mali-400 GPU System Memory – 768 MB RAM Storage – 4GB Internal memory + micro SD slot (up to 64GB) Display – 4” WVGA (800×480) PLS screen Cellular Connectivity – GSM 850/900/1800/1900 MHz, HSDPA 900/2100 MHz. Dual SIM support. Connectivity – WiFi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.1, GPS Video – MP4, M4V, 3GP, ASF, AVI, FLV, MKV Audio – MP3, M4A, 3GA, AAC, OGG, OGA, WAV, AMR, AWB, FLAC Camera – 3.1MP rear camera, VGA […]

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