Linux start-up eyes consumer electronics
Source: CNet News
MontaVista Software will release on Wednesday a version of Linux for consumer-electronics devices, as the company seeks to have its software used in everything from karaoke machines to high-end television sets.
MontaVista, whose software is used in personal video recorders from NEC and Sony, will also take advantage of the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas to announce that its software is used in a new Panasonic video phone sold to Japanese customers with high-speed Internet connections.
With hundreds of in-develop products using its software, MontaVista is succeeding in a market that hasn't been kind to some competitors. The Red Hat unit devoted to Linux for "embedded" computing devices, for example, has been punished by slower spending on the part of microprocessor companies, and the beleaguered Embedix (formerly Lineo) was acquired last month by Motorola subsidiary Metrowerks.
Linux began as a clone of Unix and found its initial stronghold in servers, powerful networked computers. Though Linux hasn't caught on widely in desktop and laptop computers, where Microsoft is dominant, companies including MontaVista, TimeSys, Red Hat, LynuxWorks and Motorola are trying adapt the software for the embedded computing market, which includes consumer-electronics products and devices as disparate as airplane radar and antilock-brake systems for cars.
