From: eLinux.org

Ottawa Linux Symposium 2006

Here is information about CE Linux Forum’s involvement and participation
in Ottawa Linux Symposium 2006.

Table Of Contents:

CELF had big involvement in OLS 2006. CELF was a sponsor of
OLS and we had a
number of meetings at and around the event. There were presentations and
BOFs by many CELF members. Also, we continued our
tradition of handing out prizes at the closing keynote address.

Here are some of notes and presentations from the event.

Contents

Embedded Linux BOF

    • Wednesday, July 19, 5:00 pm to 5:45 pm, Congress Centre, Room C

In this BOF, Tim gave his “State of Embedded Linux” talk. He described
some what’s happened with Linux in the last year, related to its use in
embedded devices. This includes an overview of things recently mainlined
(like Linux-tiny patches), as well as ongoing work and research in areas
like power management for embedded devices, system memory size, bootup
time improvements, realtime, measurement tools, etc.

Here is Tim’s presentation:
Media:OLS2006-Embedded-BOF-2.ppt

Here are PORTIONS of Tim’s presentation, with links to relevant
articles (mostly on lwn.net) /\ - please see the
file for the full presentation.

Some of the major discussion items were:

    • standardization of GUI

        • Why can’t CELF standardize on a single embedded GUI? The
          answer is that the space is already fragmented, and
          getting product vendors to switch UIs will be very
          difficult. Different capabilities of the existing
          solutions in this area (Qt, GTK, and X), as well as
          different capabilities for related software (such as
          apps) led to this fragmentation.
        • There’s not an easy answer, but maybe if the field tilts
          towards one platform, it will then begin to dominate.

    • mobile phone forum fragmentation

        • CELF is working with the LiPS Forum and
          OSDL/MLI, don’t know much about the new organization. So
          far, organizations are cooperating and avoiding
          conflicts.

    • size issue

        • Tim took an informal survey of the audience, asking what
          was the number one problem using Linux: About 90%
          answered “size”. Power management and bootup time were
          also considerations.
        • Many linux-tiny patches have been merged over the last
          year.
        • There’s a new system called
          “bloatwatch“,
          where kernel size is automatically tested each new
          release. Developers can examine the results to see the
          size of subsystems and symbols. Sizes can be compared
          between versions, and are graphed over time. See

    • corporate developer participation in community

        • Developers from corporations often don’t participate
          effectively in the open source community Several issues
          contribute to this: 1) product treadmill, 2) getting
          stuck on old versions, 3) not enough time budgeted by
          company for this activity, and 4) product deadlines
          leading to (ahem) less-than-mainlineable code. There are
          no clear answers, but CELF will continue encouraging
          direct participation in open source by its members.
        • Tim took an informal (show of hands) survey, and very
          few respondents have yet to ship a 2.6-based product.
          Some companies are still working on 2.4 or previous
          kernels.

CELF Project BOF

    • Friday, July 21, 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm, Les Suites Hotel

At this meeting we discussed some of CELF’s initiatives and member
company projects.

The following presentation introduced the topics, and had information
about the CELF Test Lab:
Media:CELF-Projects-BOF.ppt

Quickie CELF Initiatives Overview

    • Tim described some of the initiatives and projects that CELF is
      directly managing and funding:
        • Linux-tiny mainlining, and
          bloatwatch
          (via Selenic Consulting - Matt Mackall)
        • UHAPI/DirectFB integration (via
          Dennis Kropp)
        • CELF Open Test Lab (via Nomad Global Solutions)
        • Embedded Linux Conference - to be held April 17,18,19,
          2007 in San Jose, California, USA

CELF Test Lab Introduction and Demonstration

By Tim Bird, Sony Electronics
DSC00405.jpg

        • Basic lab infrastructure is now set up, and tests can be
          run remotely on multiple boards.
        • Tim demonstrated running a test in the lab using the web
          interface, as well as showed interactive use of the lab
          via ssh to a host and target in the lab.

See more about the lab in the BOF slides (see above).

Config Weight Size Test

By Munehiro Ikeda, NEC
DSC00412.jpg

        • Ikeda described his examination to make clear the size
          impact (image size and memory effect) of different
          kernel config options.

            • Examination tool named “Kconfig Size”
            • Current examination result summary
            • New
            • Further works plan

        • Presentation material :
          Media:size_exam_celf_2006-07-21.pdf

CABI (CPU Resource Management)

By Midori Sugaya, Waseda University
DSC00418.jpg

    • Sugaya described the requirements of embedded system especially
      about resource managements in Linux, then proposed CABI and
      showed its function, architecture and enhancements (CPU
      Reservation). The contents of the presentation are following.
      • Resource management requirements of embedded system
      • Limitations of Linux scheduler
      • Proposed system : CABI (CPU Accounting and Blocking
        Interfaces)
      • The accounting model and architecture
      • CPU Reservation (priority boost approach)
  • Presentation material :
    Media:2006_0721_LinuxSympoisum_clinux_bof_CABI_pdf.pdf

Annual CELF “Challenge” Item

Discussion led by Tim.

    • We discussed CELF’s proposal for creating a list of technology
      projects to focus on for the year

        • How can CELF push the projects forward?
              • Incentives - support, hardware, prizes,
                funding, labor?

    • What projects deserve focused CELF attention??

    • Does anyone need hardware that CELF or it’s members can provide?
    • Should we do a “hackfest”?

Hi-definition camera demonstration by Lumenera








DSC00430.jpg Demonstration scene.DSC00432.jpg "Picture of bird by Tim Bird." Actual shoot of the camera.

[need to put info here]

Jamboree Report

By Satoru Ueda,

Presentation material:

Architecture Group meeting

    • Tuesday, July 18, 3:00 pm to 8:00 pm at the Les Suites Hotel

This meeting was open to CELF Architecture Group members and invited
guests.

FIX ME! WHERE ARE THESE LINKS: See Celf Wiki:Ag July 2006Meeting for the
presentation and meeting notes for this meeting.

OLS Sessions by (or including) CELF members

Employees of CELF member companies made a number of presentations this
year at OLS. Also, we led or participated in a number of BOFS. Here is a
list of presentations and BOFS where CELF members presented or discussed
topics important for embedded developers:

    • A Reliable and Portable Multimedia File System - Jaekyoung Bae,
      Samsung, Wed. July 19 12:00, Room B
    • Power Management BOF - Mark Gross, Intel, CELF PMWG Chair, Wed.
      July 19, 7:00 pm, Room A

    • Tracing BOF - William Cohen, RedHat, (Tim Bird, Sony will also
      present), Wed. July 19 7:00 pm, Room D

    • The effects of filesystem fragmentation - Ard Biesheuvel,
      Philips, Thur. July 20, 10:00 am, Room A

    • Tutorial: Porting a 2.4.20 character driver for legacy hardware
      to 2.6.15 - Mark Gross, Intel, Thur. July 20, 10:00 am, Room A

    • Improving Linux Startup Time Using Software Resume (and other
      techniques) - Hiroki Kaminaga, Sony, Fri. July 21, 10:00 am,
      Room A

        • Presentation material is here:
          Media:snapshot-boot-final.pdf
        • Demonstration Video: /\ Large size files (AVI). MP4
          files are iPod(TM) compatible.
          • startup using Resume From Disk: Media:SWSUSP.AVI
            (14.5MB) / Media:SWSUSP.MP4 - to obtain these
            videos, please email the administrator of this site.
          • Proposed Snapshoot Boot: Media:SSBOOT.AVI]] (8.0MB)
            / Media:SSBOOT.MP4 - to obtain these videos, please
            email the administrator of this site.

    • Linux Bootup Time Reduction for Digital Still Camera - ChanJu
      Park, Samsung, Sat. July 22, 12:00 pm, Room A

The full conference schedule is available at:
http://www.linuxsymposium.org/2006/schedule.php
[Should change this to link to proceedings, when they are online]

/\ Please note that several other sessions at OLS reflect work that is
sponsored or funded (in whole or in part) by CELF member companies.

Categorized Session List

CELF produced a guide to OLS sessions for embedded
developers].
This might help you look through the OLS 2006 proceedings for
presentations of interest. The Proceedings are available at:
http://www.linuxsymposium.org/2006/proceedings.php

Demos

    • July 19, 10:45 am to 6:00 pm, Congress Centre, 1st floor

CELF members showed a number of demos of their current open source
projects. Come see live demonstrations of technology developed for using
and customizing Linux in Consumer Electronics products.

Prizes

CELF had several prizes to hand out again, as a way of saying “Thank
You” to the open source community.

    • Philips settop box development platform
    • Nokia 770 Internet Tablet

The prizes were handed out by Tim Bird at the final keynote:

    • Date: Saturday, July 22
    • Time: ~5:00 pm (Keynote starts at 4:00)
    • Place: Congress Centre, Room A

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