UPDATE: EmdebianSprint2010

It is time to take a break, but we are getting ready for the next developer oriented event, a Debian Sprint! "Sprints" are developer meetings that are focused to work on specific parts of Debian with the goal of having fun at the same time. Volunteers contribute their time, enthusiasm, and work. Normally, Debian does its best to support sprints financially through the generous donations of people and other entities that care about Debian. In this situation, Genesi is going to make up the difference and (in addition to that) provide hardware to all selected participants.

Please come next time...

Please consider joining us! We will be hosting our first Debian Sprints in San Antonio, Texas and in Nafplion, Greece. We will be posting information soon. If you can get there and you are a qualified PowerDeveloper, we will cover all your lodging and meal expenses. Selected power2people developers can also qualify for a complete travel scholarship. Please stay tuned!

R&B

July 22, 2012 11:38

You cannot use a computer without expending energy. Rechargeable batteries give us mobility, but what to do when we find ourselves outside of the conventional power grid? This has been an issue we have been working on for years (power2people.org examples). Developing low cost, energy efficient computers creates great opportunity, but the computers themselves do not sustain the opportunity Internet access provides.

Relocatable Solar Powered Energy Generation System

Brian DeLacey (with the help of family and friends - thanks to all of you!) prototyped this relocatable system this past weekend. Brian's effort was driven by our need to support Efika MX Internet Cafe & Learning Center projects in remote locations. Brian has done a great job in developing this inexpensive support system which we will continue to refine and improve before the first system deployment in July. You can watch Brian assemble the complete system in this video: GenesiSpeedAssemblyx3.

If Solar Power in Data Centers are No Longer A Novelty and Solar Impulse can set off around the world, then surely we can find a way to sustain many Efika MX computers, wherever they maybe, anywhere in the world. Thank you Brian!

R&B

July 22, 2012 11:38

openSUSE on Efika MX

There was a nice article posted online yesterday by Linux Magazine of Germany: Open-Suse-Image für ARM-Computer.  The article applauded the efforts of the openSUSE Team and particularly Bernhard Wiedemann, who recently posted on his blog instructions for booting openSUSE on the Efika MX. We are very pleased to have the support of the openSUSE Team. Vielen herzlichen Dank!

Genesi has been working with the openSUSE Team pretty much from the beginning. The first Linux distribution running on the earliest version of the PegasosPPC in 2002 was "SuSE" (openSUSE:Genesi). With the growing importance of energy efficiency in the personal computer market, it is good to see more distributions jumping on to ARM (openSUSE ARM:Portal). Stay up-to-date at PowerDeveloper.org where the latest information is always posted. Communities build volume!

R&B

January 26, 2012 8:01

Powering Potential's Janice Lathen and the Efika MX
meet Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete

January 26, 2012 5:33

imx53 Presentation System running Citrix 12.0
from Sao Paulo to Windows 7 host at Amazon.com

We built the presentation system to hold the new imx53, 50x100mm, four-layer board. The imx53 Efika MX products will perform better and cost less to manufacture. Our most recent travels took us to Brazil. It's a big country with lots of people that want to be online and many companies that are interested in helping them do that. In the mean time, if you have not upgraded your software, please do. You will feel a significant improvement. Please stop by PowerDeveloper to get the latest and greatest, and to see what else is going on...

R&B

January 26, 2012 5:33

The i.MX6 from Freescale

This past year has been one of many surprises, so we will add another one before year end. We are pressing ahead to the i.MX6. While our i.MX53 design will be available for license, too much time has past between chip availability, our first boards and the final version that is now being produced.  We have decided to shift ahead. That is our Holiday Surprise.  There will be an Efika MX with an i.MX6 in 2012.

The final i.MX53 design is very inexpensive to manufacture. It is a four-layer board.  There are many great qualities about it.  Even better, the software was finished last week. It is ready to go to market.  We will be showing it at CES in January. 

We are wishing you all a joyous Holiday Season and a fantastic 2012. Thank you for making 2011 a great year for the Efika MX and Genesi.

R&B

January 26, 2012 5:33

Happy Birthday Genesi !!!

Today is Genesi's 9th Birthday in the USA. We are a bit older in Europe, but Happy Birthday to us nevertheless! Thank you to all of our customers past and present. We grateful for all the opportunities we have had and for all the great people and companies we have had a chance to work with. From the Genesi Team, thank you all for our Happy Birthday!

R&B

January 26, 2012 5:33

Beta Test Party!

The Beta version of Doudoulinux has been released for the Efika MX. DoudouLinux is especially designed for children to make computer use as easy and pleasant as possible. The image can be downloaded from PowerDeveloper.org.

A big shout out to Jean-Michel, the Doudoulinx leader, for the armel installable ports of the Doudoulinux packages and to dreagle for making the arm rootfs, compiling the Efika MX packages and cross building, while tweaking and imaging the system for release. Of course, we would also like to thank all the Doudoulinux contributors. We are very pleased to have Doudoulinux support for the Efika MX. Great work!

R&B

January 26, 2012 3:26

Nearly five years ago, we wrote a blog entitled It's the End User Device! We suggested that in the grand scheme of things, people and their fundamental interests and interactions have not changed. In the mean time, lower cost, better, faster and more, are all words that come to mind when we think about the evolution of technology. Smartphones, computers and televisions allow us to access information and communicate in ways that we could not have imagined not too long ago. Today, beyond the physical end user device lies the Internet. The cloud is the computer.

The first Efika MX 3G Smartbooks arrive in Tanzania

Many more users want to participate. From left to right, the Quartermaster of the Tanzanian Police Force (TPF), Anyisile K. Kyoso, ICT-Chief TPF, Matthias Pauschel, Manager of a Partner Project with the Hanns Seidel Foundation, Tanzania Bureau and Emmanuel L. Mkilia, ICT Project Manager, TPF. While the ability to seamlessly link infrastructure, devices and applications/services together is a most compelling challenge faced by a vendor or organization that seeks to bring people the opportunity the Internet provides, the cost of that opportunity remains the greatest challenge. Lowering the cost of the device and the access to the opportunity it provides should be the concern of any Government interested in the future of its people. The Efika MX Smartbook is making great strides in the right direction and we could not be more excited. More participation please!

R&B

January 03, 2012 16:10

The Genesi i.MX53 board seen at FTF in June has been through its second revision. The BOM has changed, creating another level of design work. The delay will save us money and time (e.g., long lead time parts have been designed out and more expensive parts have been replaced by less expensive parts). During the interval, we have continued to improve the software for both the i.MX51 and the newer i.MX53-based Efika MX devices. Additionally, we are testing an armhf 3D enabled image. We hope to release it soon.

Training the trainers in Tanzania, July 2011

Trade Show, Honduras, September 2011

September 21, 2011 18:24

We have been correctly accused of letting our blog-duties slip. The last two months have been a bit busy. The Genesi Scrum was a great success. As talented as the Genesi software team is, it was more than fun to see many of them working together during the month of June. And, a few stayed longer, including Luca who actually just left yesterday. The Freescale Technology Forum (FTF) capped off the Scrum for most of the team. FTF was a successful event for Genesi. You can view a couple of engadget articles/videos here (thank you Charbax!): Genesi i.MX 53 netbooks... and Genesi's hard float ARM optimizations....

Konstantinos running armhf benchmarks
on the i.mx6 at the end of FTF

Since the Scrum, we have been preparing the new software release (this took longer than expected!) and finalizing the support for the Woman's Global Connection (WGC) Project in Tanzania. Brian DeLacey did an absolutely fantastic job developing the Solar Power Generation and Wifi Relay Systems and transferring the knowledge to Genesi and the WGC. Brian's DigSolar describes the process we went through together and has many informative and related links. Brian did an absolutely fantastic job.

Dave, Bill and Mauricio packing up the last box for Tanzania

Finally, the i.mx53 design is progressing well. We will have more details soon as well as a couple surprising and exciting announcements.

R&B

July 24, 2011 7:13

The Daily Scrum gets started every day on time. All are welcomed (we had a Freescale Engineer attend this morning). The meeting time target is 15 minutes.

The Daily Scrum

During the meeting, each Team member answers three questions:

What have you done since yesterday?

What are you planning today?

Do you have any problems that prevent you from achieving your goals?

Scrum is an Agile software development methodology. Scrum is also a framework for project/program management. A challenge with introducing Agile software development is that it requires a high level of both individual and team autonomy. Fortunately, we have never pulled together a more individually and collectively talented team. Please stop by our stand at FTF next week. We will gladly introduce you to the foundation of our success - not all, but many of the Team will be there.

Oh, and the new software release scheduled for next week rocks!

June 17, 2011 1:46

The Genesi Scrum is well underway. The progress the Team has made is phenomenal. We appreciate the support and sponsorship from Future Electronics. We are looking forward to not only showing the new i.mx53 Smartbook at the Freescale Technology Forum, but a vast improvement in the software for the current Efika MX products. Keep an eye open for the latest and greatest on PowerDeveloper.

The new Efika MX i.mx53 board fits nicely in the new case

In other news, Genesi is now a Linaro Partner and we have added two new resellers: Tuxbrain in Spain and New IT in the UK. We are looking forward to working to develop broader Linux support for ARM in Linaro and appreciate the interest and support of our newest resellers. All good stuff!

R&B

June 15, 2011 19:40

It is what a laptop should be!

The Efika MX Smartbook has reached another milestone, this time in affordability. With this week's software release, the Efika MX Smartbook will go on sale for the new price of $199. The 3G version will sell for $249 (add your own SIM). There will be plenty of local keyboard and power cord options.

The Efika MX Smartbook weighs less than two pounds, fits nicely in your pack or purse, and has enough battery life to get you through a full day of normal use. Inside the case and under the keyboard there are no moving parts - enjoy the reliability and silence!

And, we are on it together.

The Internet-connected world is driving opportunity and change. At Genesi, through low cost and high value, we are all about bringing more Internet to more people. If computers can be less expensive, more people can be participating. There are at least a billion people waiting for the chance. We aim to serve these folks as well as we can. If you are interested in helping out, please stop by powerdeveloper.org and give us a hand. The journey has begun!

R&B

February 22, 2011 4:03

We are lowering the price of the Efika MX SmartTOP next week to 95 Euro. The price change will coincide with an updated software release, which will include a new kernel and many improvements (battery manager, display support, audio, etc., etc!). We will also release a preliminary Android port for all those folks that want to dig into this code (no promises of improvements or bug fixes, it is just a demo version). Everything will available on powerdeveloper.org. And, the good news for our European customers is that our products will be sold by Genesi from Europe so we can reduce the shipping charges (there will be VAT). We will even have European power cords - including the special versions for the UK, Italy and Denmark.

More good news: we are going to be dropping the price of the Efika MX SmartBOOK too. We will have all the European power cords available. We will offer both Wifi and Wifi+3G versions and have keyboards available for Germany, France, Spain, the UK, Italy, Russia, Turkey, Portugal, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Belgium, Switzerland and Greece. From Europe, we will also sell Arabic English and Thai keyboards. From the current online store in the USA, we will offer Spanish, Brazilian and Canadian Bilingual keyboards. Of course, there will be a new software release for the SmartBOOK as well, including one for Android (as described above).

Stay tuned: the latest and greatest is on the way!

R&B

February 16, 2011 14:41

This is likely to be the last of my tumblelog entries as I recently made the move to microblogging using twitter. This blog will of course remain and I will go on producing classic blog entries. If you have appreciated my tumblelog please follow dholmcom on Twitter.

TAU – Tuning and Analysis Utilities, are a set of tools for profiling and tracing applications written in C/C++, Java, Fortran or Python.

Intel Performance Tuning Utility, yet another tool for profiling code specifically targeting the x86, x86-64 and ia64 architectures based on Intel VTune.

Open Source License Comparison

GHDL, is an open source VHDL simulator.

ROCCC, provides an open source C to VHDL compiler which integrates with Eclipse.

John Kent’s VHDL FPGA Projects, has several good links on FPGAs and is a good starting place if you want to learn more about this particular subject.

Genode, an operating system framework based on the L4 microkernel architecture capable of running a plethora of kernels.

Programming from the Ground Up, is a nice little free book detailing all the basics of programming. Highly recommended for any aspiring software engineer.

Ghosts of Unix Past: a historical search for design patterns, a historical walk through memory design patterns lane.

Introduction to OpenCL, seeing how OpenCL has already picked up a lot of traction already this introduction might be posted a bit late but to the uninitiated it might prove useful.

Throwing Destructors, throwing from a C++ destructor is generally thought of as a big no-no and this article discusses all the issues related to it and suggests a couple of solutions. An interesting read!

February 16, 2011 6:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jN4RaPfgP1U

February 10, 2011 20:36

We wishing everyone a great 2011. Please forgive the delay in posting the latest and greatest!

The best news of the New Year is we are getting some great support from Freescale. We even have a Freescale vanity page now: www.freescale.com/genesi. Freescale's Robert Thompson fresh from Dell is leading Freescale in a good direction. Watch him in this video from CES. Robert does a nice job of presenting the smartbook/netbook (you folks can call it whatever you want!) and our business strategy. Thank you Robert.

We also appeared in the Pixel Qi booth at CES. A Pixel Qi display will be an option in the imx53 version of the netbook. It will be slightly more expensive, but as you can see in the following video many will consider it worth the investment.

We have sold quite a few of these netbooks already, but we do think we will sell many more of the next version. It will cost less, be more rugged and have more software options. We are really excited about 2011. It is going to be a great year!

R&B

January 14, 2011 7:56

We are designing our next products now. They are based on the Freescale i.mx53. The goal is to produce a low-cost board that can be sold as a single board solution, a desktop, a laptop and a tablet (we could say a smarttop, a smartbook, and a smarttablet, but you get the idea). Currently, our cost for producing the Efika MX smarttop is more than $100 (USD). For the smartbook, it is more than $200 (USD). We need to develop systems that have half the cost. We hope to have the first i.mx53 boards to the team next month (go Gerald!). Our feeling is that the greatest barrier to increased Internet use for the majority of the world's population is cost.

Our business model is somewhat different than others in the industry. The idea is not only to reduce cost, but to create an local economy around the products. With the above design in mind, we will seek to implement a semi-knock-down and complete-knock-down business model for our partners. Our direction is best articulated through this site: www.genesiamericas.com.

Local assembly and manufacturing/production requires local labor. Local software development skills can begin at a basic level, such as learning how to publish a webpage or setting up an e-commerce site to evolve with experience to stabilizing SMP devices (for example and why not?). These skills can be transmitted. Open source software development can further stimulate a local economy as these skills take root locally. Our primary targets are network operators who want to increase subscriber activity as well as attract new customers with a variety of offerings supported by our hardware and software.

It is clear the Internet has helped change the world. We think the more opportunity there is for people of different languages and cultures to interact and educate each other and themselves the more chance there will be for all of us to co-exist peacefully with the resources we have.

Yes, the cloud is the computer (with all due respect to John Gage). In that cloud, there are billions of other people waiting to learn, to communicate and to improve their lives (say hello!). We want to empower country-level network operators to open up new markets to these populations. So this is the message: Hello World - we are on the way!

Best Wishes for a Happy Holiday and Merry Christmas!

R&B

December 25, 2010 4:47

The Dave Haynie Archives, where he has collected old Commodore documentation on various kinds of Amiga hardware.

Gprof2Dot, is a tool that produces call graph profiles based on data from a plethora of profiling tools.

The Maturity Climb by Virus Comix

A Bit of Physics Humour, or how to measure the height of a tall building by using a barometer.

Linux Compose Key, learn how to effectively write characters that aren’t available on most standard keyboards.

SCIgen – An Automatic CS Paper Generator, generate computer science papers on-the-fly. Would be cooler if you could actually control the subject, nevertheless it’s still an interesting concept.

The V4Z80P, a Z80 laptop. Mucho geeky!

google-perftools, provides profiling tools for multi-threaded C++ applications.

December 20, 2010 6:00

Cloud computing will essentially define computing as we all know it.

7 Dec 2010
Eric Schmidt
CEO Google

Google is doing it again: Google Unveils Chrome OS, Notebook Pilot Program. The 'Nexus One' of netbooks is coming (every setback is a learning opportunity). The Google Netbook is a little bigger than the Efika MX Smartbook. It has a 12.1" vs. 10.1" display and a full sized keyboard. The Efika MX runs on ARM; the Google netbook does not. The message is: it does not matter. Novus ordo seclorum.

Processor? Memory? Who cares?! Wow! What a view!

As if the multi-billion dollar success of the Kindle with a built-in cloud escaped the purview of traditional IT vendors (the first device was launched in November '07), Google reminded everyone this week that the computer web depends on network connectivity and reliability. Said another way, the cloud is the computer. This is good news for Genesi. The rules are changing.

There will be plenty of new hardware at CES. You will probably see Android and Chrome everywhere - not to mention web stores - but the biggest changes coming are in the business models that bring the Internet and everything it is to those that use it. As the computer becomes a function of the cloud, more people will have a chance to participate. And, that friends, brings a whole new spectrum of possibilities into view. Wow! Stay tuned!

R&B

December 08, 2010 23:26

A Guide to Debouncing, an indepth guide on contact bouncing in electronics and different solutions to the problem.

10 Tools To Add Some Spice To Your UNIX Shell Scripts, some useful shell scripting tips like being able to trigger notifications in the desktop environment.

Notice by David Shrigley

Once, Weakly, advanced C++ topics which was once posted weekly.

Silhouette: The Story, of this highly mysterious almost perfect SNES emulator (during a time when the competition was still struggling to run homebrew).

Open64, is a open source compiler originally from SGI based on their MIPSPro compiler.

SGI Developer Books, an archive of different books on subjects relating to developing for different SGI technologies.

Mechanical Keyboard Guide, this is a guide to all the different kinds of computer keyboards that you will find including details on actuation, materials and virtually anything else that goes into defining the quality of the device.

UML Graphical Notation Overview and Reference, provides an excellent online reference for the various UML diagram standards.

Practical File System Design, is a freely available book by one of the developers of the Be File System (BeFS) and explains everything you ever wanted to know about file systems.

Dirty Coding Tricks, pulled off by various desperate game programmers on the virge of product release.

December 06, 2010 6:00

It was nice last week to be finally recognized by Linaro: Genesi donates 55 ARM netbooks to Linaro developers. If Linaro can help solve the problems of fragmentation in Linux for ARM this will be a great thing. We will continue to do what we can to assist in the effort.

The Efika MX Smartbook & Linaro Developers at UDS

Looking ahead, we are going to be emphasizing ArmHardFloat: ArmHardFloatPort. Progress is be made: Auto-Build Status. armhf will certainly be the priority at the Genesi Sprint, University of the Incarnate Word, San Antonio, Texas. This event will begin on 30 March 2011. Please consider joining us.

Here is some more good news: Maverick Installer, Linux kernel (2.6.31.14.12, December 2010). Thanks to all of you who helped test and push out this release. A special word of thanks goes to Matt Sealey who managed the process and worked tirelessly to make this happen. Great work!

R&B

December 05, 2010 14:16

Data Structures and Algorithms with Object-Oriented Design Patterns in Python, learn algorithms and ADTs in Python by reading this online book.

C++ Templates: The Complete Guide, like the title says it is a complete guide to C++ templates.

Flying Bridge

Dynamic Re-compilation of Binary RISC Code for CISC Architectures, this is the thesis of the venerable Michael Steil on dynamic binary translation.

x86 Instruction Set Reference, 80386 Programmer’s Reference Manual and the X86 Opcode and Instruction Reference, these references are not as cumbersome to open as the offical Intel PDFs.

CUDA, Supercomputing for the Masses: Part 1, a very long running series of articles on nVidia CUDA by Rob Farber.

A Brief Introduction to Rvalue References, C++0x introduces rvalue references and this is an explanation of how they work and why we need to extend references.

OpenFst Library, build finite state transducers using C++ templates.

Hg Init: a Mercurial Tutorial by Joel Spolsky, as he has become a born again DVCS proponent Joel put together this awesome tutorial on mercurial.

PoCC: the Polyhedral Compiler Collection, is a compiler collection implementing the polyhedral model.

November 22, 2010 6:00

Android Everywhere!

Thanks to our friends at Jayway and the progressive and continuous development work of Michael Grunditz all the Efika MX products were demonstrated this past week at the Stockholm Google Technology User Group‎ meeting.  We are adding games and building an Apps Store in CloudCity. This will be open to our partners soon.

...and AROS too!

We will have more than Android Apps available. Say hello to AROS! Michal Schulz and Pavel Fedin have completed the Port AROS to ARM Phase I - Linux Hosted. In the mean time, Michal has updated his Efika MX Project Blog on PowerDeveloper.org: AROS Research Operating System for ARM.

We are looking forward to bringing a host of new applications and lots of fun games to the platform. What you see above is AROS running on the EfikaMX Smartbook. This is a hosted version of AROS - it does not use hardware directly, but uses the facilities provided by the host OS (Linux) for disk access, video output, network and sound. Stay tuned as there is more to come!

R&B

November 20, 2010 11:12

Those that know us, know that we have been a fan of Pixel Qi since the Company was founded. It is nice to see a market ready display so fully functional and ready. Pixel Qi is the only non-captive LCD design company in the world.

On the left and in the sun, a Pixel Qi display with the Efika MX

It is exciting to see all the years of effort and experience come to fruition in the new display. It is very likely you will be seeing an Efika MX one day with a Pixal Qi display. OLPC OLPQ! And, hopefully, many more to come. Congratulations to the Pixel Qi Team.

R&B

November 15, 2010 19:01

Here is a short video of a fun game being played in Android with the Efika MX at Öredev this past week.

Michael Grunditz and the Jayway Team did a great job getting this ready for the conference. Nice work Folks!

R&B

November 13, 2010 14:09

Wonders of Math – The Game of Life, learn the basic rules of the game of life.

How to Write an Operating System, a simple and basic introduction to writing an operating system kernel.

Motherboard City

Miniature Art on the Tip of Pencil by Dalton Ghetti, amazing art sculpted on the tips of pencils.

Rare IBM M15 split ergonomic keyboard hits eBay, bidding war pushes it over $1600, this is one piece of computer history that landed on eBay. A buckling spring, ergonomic and foldable IBM keyboard.

Einstein for Everyone, if you want to understand Einstein’s work but feel you do not know the basics of the physics supporting it.

A Git User’s Guide to Mercurial Queues, understand how Mercurial queues work and how they compare to git.

Homebrew Cray-1A, a miniature fully working Cray-1A implemented in an FPGA.

A Dynamically Recompiling ARM Emulator, is a very nice project report on how to implement a binary translator for running ARM code on an x86.

InteLib, will enable you to code Lisp S-expressions in C++.

November 08, 2010 6:00

This past Friday we spent the morning at Freescale in Austin. Accompanying us on the trip was the new Efika MX Smartbook 3G with Ubuntu 10.10. Using an AT&T Data Plan we were able to stay connected from Austin to San Antonio. During the entire 80 minute trip from Freescale to Genesi we only experienced one disconnection, and this for less than a minute. Thank you Steve Klimaszewski for prepping the system for us!

The Efika MX Smartbook 3G, a real road warrior

This coming week will be a busy one again. At Øredev the Efika MX will be featured in the Jayway booth. We have had plenty of good publicity in Sweden lately (net, print) thanks to the diligent efforts of Michael Grunditz. Michael's work with Android on the Efika MX is making him very popular! You will also be able to see the Efika MX products at the Designing with Freescale Seminar in Toronto (in case you missed the Efika MX in Rochester last week). Stay tuned, there is more to come on the road ahead!

R&B

November 07, 2010 2:17