Snappy Ubuntu Linux Now Used in Networking, Refrigerators

With its number of uses growing, the Snappy Ubuntu Core Linux operating system is now coming to network switches and refrigerators.
Canonical, the lead commercial sponsor behind the open-source Ubuntu Linux operating system, today announced an expansion of its push to embed Linux in everything from phones to refrigerators—and now network switches. The Snappy Ubuntu Core Linux operating system, a minimal version of Ubuntu Linux that provides an improved updating and security model, is designed for embedded devices and the Internet of things (IoT). Snappy was first announced in December 2014 and became generally available with the Ubuntu 15.04 Vivid Vervet release on April 23. To date, Canonical has positioned Snappy as a platform for the cloud and mobile devices and is now bringing it to Open Compute Platform (OCP) network switches. The OCP networking effort kicked off in 2013 as a way to enable an organization to choose the operating system they want to run on an open networking switch. "Switches to us are important and very strategic," Dustin Kirkland, product manager at Canonical, told eWEEK. "There is switch at the top of every rack in every data center." With OCP, switching is now happening on commodity hardware, typically with some form of Linux as a base operating system, Kirkland said. There are multiple vendors in the Linux for networking space today, including Cumulus Networks and Big Switch Networks, that Ubuntu Linux will now compete against.







"We are positioning Snappy for switches, bringing the Ubuntu Linux experience that many developers are already familiar with," Kirkland said. "The same Ubuntu Linux skills from the server world apply in the Ubuntu-on-a-switch role."

Switching also plays well into what Canonical is doing with the open-source OpenStack cloud platform. Having control of the network at the switch level, for security or access, can all be driven from an integrated Ubuntu platform.

While Ubuntu is now coming to switches, Canonical is not going to become a switching vendor. Rather, Canonical will take care of the kernel and operating system layer with Snappy, and the network functions virtualization (NFV) feature can sit on top, Kirkland said.

"Virtual switching software vendors can concentrate on their expertise, be it hardware or the network application, and we at Canonical will take care of the operating system layer," Kirkland said.

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10.Samsung takes a time-out on smartwatches as Apple Watch launch nears

Summary:Samsung is taking a breather from its frantic smartwatch release schedule, preferring for the moment to play a watching-and-waiting game.

Samsung was one of the biggest producers of smartwatches in the years leading up to the launch of the Apple Watch but now the company is taking a pause to rethink its strategy.

The Korean company hasn't been shy of trying out new designs to appeal to various consumer tastes in the emerging smartwatch category, having released everything from simple fitness bands like the Gear Fit to the Tizen-powered 3G Gear S, with core specs not far off some low-end smartphones.

Indeed, Samsung has launched six smart watches in just 14 months, as analyst firm Canalys noted recently. This propelled it to the top spot among 'smart band' makers, who shipped 4.6 million units in total last year.

But unlike last year's Gear 2 and Gear 2 Neo, which were launched alongside the Galaxy S5, this year's release of the Galaxy 6S at the MWC trade show came with no companion smartwatch.

According to the Wall Street Journal, that's because Samsung is taking a "pause" as it ponders what it means to create the perfect smartwatch.

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http://www.zdnet.com/article/samsung-takes-a-time-out-on-smartwatches-as-apple-watch-launch-nears/

Rugged box-PC offers HDMI and dual GbE, starts at $671

Acnodes’s rugged, fanless, Linux-friendly “FES8680″ box-PC features a 4th Gen Intel Core CPU, HDMI, dual GbE, and up to eight COM ports, and starts at $671.
The FES8680 is a spin-down of the rugged FES8670 announced by Acnodes last month, and similarly runs on Intel’s 4th Gen Core (Haswell) processors. The 10.24 x 8.19 x 2.3-inch FES8680 is built around a “long-life” Mini-ITX motherboard, and is targeted at outdoor advertising, POS/kiosk, transportation, and industrial control automation, says Acnodes.
Although the FES8680 is touted for its rugged aluminum chassis, it lacks the earlier model’s extended temperature support or other ruggedization features. It does, however, similarly support a wide-range power input, and offers DIN-rail and wall-mounting options.

The $671 FES8680 starter package ships with a dual-core, 2.9GHz Core i3-4130T CPU and 2GB of DDR3 RAM expandable to 16GB. A 320GB hard disk drive is standard, as well. You can further expand with an mSATA slot shared with a mini-PCIe interface that supports an optional WiFi and Bluetooth module, with dual antenna connectors.

Source:

http://linuxgizmos.com/rugged-box-pc-offers-hdmi-and-dual-gbe-starts-at-671/