Slashdot Mirror
Survey of Linux-Based Gadgets & Devices
An anonymous reader writes "NewsFactor Network recently asked: Where Are All the Cool Embedded-Linux Gadgets? Well, LinuxDevices.com has just updated its answer to that question. The Embedded Linux "Cool Devices" Quick Reference Guide now encompasses 123 Linux-based gadgets and devices in 7 categories, including PDAs, mobile-phones, IP-phones, audio/video entertainment, tablet computers, gateways/routers, servers, wireless access points, robots, web-enabled cameras, telematics, industrial controllers, wrist watches, and last but not least, a DIY category: little Linux systems for projects and products. Lots of great pictures, too."
I see a whole lot of their stuff on the way to production. A very smart company, and their forte is hand-held barcode stuff.
It doesn't mention Lunix, but here's a spiel on their embedded wireless LAN stuff.
Who says you can't have both a quailty product which happens to be made with linux?
Hell, some of us wilder, more extreme types consider Linux as a *sign* of quality!
One device I didn't see listed anywhere is the Dish Networks 721 PVR.
e iv ers/dishpvr721/index.shtml
http://www.dishnetwork.com/content/products/rec
The link to GNU GPL compliance http://208.45.37.181/ even runs ON a 721... Satellite receiver serving web pages, heh heh.
They forgot to list my favorite embedded Linux device :( Beowulf clusters of atomic supermen!
Well there are a lot of networking devices (no suprise to anyone here since it's basically a stock Linux box on cheap PC or non-PC hardware), and quite a few media devices, I'm surprised at the small number of devices in other categories.
I'm suprised we aren't seeing Linux in more phones, televisions, clocks, cameras and such. What's more, the list includes several rather exagerated "products" such as the Indrema system that was canned a long time ago and two IBM Linux wristwatches that will never go into production, but are merely interesting research projects.
The most interesting devices are the Motorola and Sony ones. It looks like both of those companies have a serious (as in credible, not as in very large) interest in embedded Linux. Even there, though, the devices are answers looking for questions, not things that are likely to generate large numbers of sales.
I've always thought that even though it is technically inferior in many ways, embedded Linux would beat out Windows CE just because of the economics of the embedded market scene. If this list is to be believed as representing the scope and penetration of embedded Linux, it is way behind and is unlikely to catch up.