Hypermedia

Most Web navigation is done by clicking text-basedlinks that open new pages in a Web browser. These links, which are often blue and underlined, are referred to as hypertext, since they allow the user to jump from page to page. Hypermedia is an extension of hypertext that allows images, movies, and Flashanimations to be linked to other content.

The most common type of hypermedia is an image link. Photos or graphics on the Web are often linked to other pages. For example, clicking a small "thumbnail" image may open a larger version of the picture in a new window. Clicking a promotional graphic may direct you to an advertiser's website. Flash animations and videos can also be turned into hyperlinks by embedding one or more links that appear during playback.

You can tell if an image or video is a hyperlink by moving the cursor over it. If the cursor changes into a small hand, that means the image or video is linked to another page. Clicking the text, image, or video will open up a new location in your Web browser. Therefore, you should only click a hypertext or hypermedia link when you are ready to leave the current page. If you want to open the link in a new window, you can usually right click the link and select "Open Link in New Window."

Hypertext

Hypertext is text that links to other information. By clicking on a link in a hypertext document, a user can quickly jump to different content. Though hypertext is usually associated with Web pages, the technology has been around since the 1960s. Software programs that include dictionaries and encyclopedias have long used hypertext in their definitions so that readers can quickly find out more about specific words or topics. Apple Computer's HyperCard program also used hypertext, which allowed users to create multi-linked databases. Today, the Web is where hypertext reigns, where nearly every page includes links to other pages and both text and images can be used as links to more content.

Fiber-Optic Cable

his is a cable made up of super-thin filaments of glass or other transparent materials that can carry beams of light. Because a fiber-optic cable is light-based, data can be sent through it at the speed of light. Using a laser transmitter that encodes frequency signals into pulses of light, ones and zeros are sent through the cable. The receiving end of the transmission translates the light signals back into data which can be read by a computer.

Because fiber-optics are based entirely on beams of light, they are less susceptible to noise and interference than than other data-transfer mediums such as copper wires or telephone lines. However, the cables are fragile and are usually placed underground, which makes them difficult and expensive to install. Some fiber-optic cables are installed above ground, but if they break, they often need to be completely replaced, which is not cheap. While copper wires can be spliced and mended as many times as needed, it is much harder to fix glass fiber-optic cables.

URL

Stands for "Uniform Resource Locator." A URL is the address of a specific Web site or file on the Internet. It cannot have spaces or certain other characters and uses forward slashes to denote different directories. Some examples of URLs are http://www.cnet.com/, http://web.mit.edu/, and ftp://info.apple.com/. As you can see, not all URLs begin with "http". The first part of a URL indicates what kind of resource it is addressing. Here is a list of the different resource prefixes:

• http - a hypertext directory or document (such as a Web page)
• ftp - a directory of files or an actual file available to download
• gopher - a gopher document or menu
• telnet - a Unix-based computer system that you can log into
• news - a newsgroup
• WAIS - a database or document on a Wide Area Information Search database
• file - a file located on your hard drive or some other local drive

The second part of a URL (after the "://") contains the address of the computer being located as well as the path to the file. For example, in "http://www.cnet.com/Content/Reports/index.html," "www.cnet.com" is the address or domain name of the host computer and "/Content/Reports/index.html" is the path to the file. When a address ends with a slash and not something like ".html" or ".php," the Web server typically defaults to a file in the current directory named "index.html," "index.htm," or "index.php." So, if you type in "http://www.apple.com/" and "http://www.apple.com/index.html," you should get the same page. Go ahead and try it if you have nothing better to do.

Blog

Short for "Web Log," this term refers to a list of journal entries posted on a Web page. Anybody who knows how to create and publish a Web page can publish their own blog. Some Web hosts have made it even easier by creating an interface where users can simply type a text entry and hit "publish" to publish their blog.

Because of the simplicity of creating a blog, many people (often young kids and adults) have found a new presence on the Web. Instead of writing confidential entries in a book that no one is supposed to see, people now can share their personal feelings and experiences with thousands of people around the world. Blogs are typically updated daily, monthly, or anywhere in between. "Blog" may also be used as a verb, as in "Wow, Matt sure blogged a lot last week."

Applet

This a Java program that can be embedded in a Web page. The difference between a standard Java application and a Java applet is that an applet can't access system resources on the local computer. System files and serial devices (modems, printers, scanners, etc.) cannot be called or used by the applet. This is for security reasons -- nobody wants their system wiped out by a malicious applet on some wacko's Web site. Applets have helped make the Web more dynamic and entertaining and have given a helpful boost to the Java programming language

Bit

The computer term "bit" comes from the phrase "Binary DigIT," which is different than that thing you put around a horse's mouth. A bit is a single digit number in base-2 (a zero or a one) and is the smallest unit of computer data. A full page of text is composed of about 16,000 bits.

It is important not to confuse bits with bytes. Both are used to measure amounts of data, but it takes eight bits to make one byte. The most common area where bits are used intstead of bytes is in measuring bandwidth (in bits per second). Why? Probably because it makes your Internet connection sound faster than it really is.

Byte

A byte is a unit of measurement used to measure data. One byte contains eight binary bits, or a series of eight zeros and ones. Therefore, each byte can be used to represent 2^8 or 256 different values.

The byte was originally developed to store a singlecharacter, since 256 values is sufficient to represent all standard lowercase and uppercase letters, numbers, and symbols. However, since some languages have more than 256 characters, modern character encodingstandards, such as UTF-16, use two bytes, or 16 bits for each character.

While the byte was originally designed to measure character data, it is now the fundamental unit of measurement for all data storage. For example, a kilobyte contains 2^10 or 1,024 bytes. Amegabyte contains 1,024 x 1,024, or 1,048,576 bytes. Since bytes are so small, they are most often used to measure specific data within a file, such as pixels or characters. Even the smallest files are typically measured in kilobytes, while data storage limits are often measured in gigabytesor terabytes.

Worm

Worm has two widely different definitions. One refers to a computer virus and the other is an optical storage technology: 1) A type of computer virus

Just like regular worms tunnel through dirt and soil, computer worms tunnel through your computer's memory and hard drive. A computer worm is a type ofvirus that replicates itself, but does not alter any files on your machine. However, worms can still cause havoc by multiplying so many times that they take up all your computer's available memory or hard disk space. If a worm consumes your memory, your computer will run very slowly and possibly even crash. If the worm affects your hard disk space, your computer will take a long time to access files and you will not be able to save or create new files until the worm has been eradicated.

Worms are hard to detect because they are typically invisible files. They often go unnoticed until your computer begins to slow down or starts having other problems. Unlike viruses and Trojan horses, worms can replicate themselves and travel between systems without any action from the user. For these reasons, it is good to have an antivirus program installed on your system that can detect and remove worms before they have a chance to replicate or spread to other computers. Security updates such as Windows Update also patch security holes that allow worms to infect your computer. So keep your security updates and virus definitions up-to-date and you should be able to keep your computer worm-free.

2) An optical storage technology

WORM can also mean "Write Once, Read Many." It is an optical storage technology that allows a disc to be written only once but read an unlimited number of times. WORM devices were introduced in the 1970's and gained popularity as a way of archiving data. The storage capacity of WORM discs began around 140MB, but increased to more than 3.0GB over the past few decades. Yet the WORM technology has no standard format, so WORM discs are only compatible with the drives that wrote them. This limitation has kept WORM equipment relatively expensive and has kept the technology from gaining widespread acceptance.

Today, most optical drives are based on either CD-R or DVD-R technology. Unlike WORM discs, CD-Rs and DVD-Rs can typically be read by any CD or DVD drive, regardless of the manufacturer. Because of their improved compatibility and lower costs, writable CDs and DVDs have all but replaced WORM media.

Windows XP

Microsoft Windows XP was introduced in 2001 and is the most significant upgrade to the Windowsoperating system since Windows 95. The previous version of Windows, called Windows Me (or Millennium Edition) still had the look and feel of Windows 95 and was known to have stability issues and incompatibilities with certain hardware.

Windows XP addressed many issues of its predecessor and added a number of other improvements as well. It is a stable operating system since it is built on the Windows 2000 kernel, which is known for its reliability. XP also has a new, more modern look, and an interface that is more easy to navigate than previous versions of Windows. While not written from the ground up, like Mac OS X, Windows XP is a substantial system update. The letters "XP" stand for "eXPerience," meaning the operating system is meant to be a new type of user experience.

NAT

Stands for "Network Address Translation." NAT translates the IP addresses of computers in a local network to a single IP address. This address is often used by the router that connects the computers to the Internet. The router can be connected to a DSL modem, cable modem, T1 line, or even a dial-up modem. When other computers on the Internet attempt to access computers within the local network, they only see the IP address of the router. This adds an extra level of security, since the router can be configured as a firewall, only allowing authorized systems to access the computers within the network.

Once a system from outside the network has been allowed to access a computer within the network, the IP address is then translated from the router's address to the computer's unique address. The address is found in a "NAT table" that defines the internal IP addresses of computers on the network. The NAT table also defines the global address seen by computers outside the network. Even though each computer within the local network has a specific IP address, external systems can only see one IP address when connecting to any of the computers within the network.

To simplify, network address translation makes computers outside the local area network (LAN) see only one IP address, while computers within the network can see each system's unique address. While this aids in network security, it also limits the number of IP addresses needed by companies and organizations. Using NAT, even large companies with thousands of computers can use a single IP address for connecting to the Internet. Now that's efficient.

System Software

System software refers to the files and programs that make up your computer's operating system. System files include libraries of functions, system services, drivers for printers and other hardware, system preferences, and other configuration files. The programs that are part of the system software include assemblers, compilers, file management tools, system utilites, and debuggers.

The system software is installed on your computer when you install your operating system. You can update the software by running programs such as "Windows Update" for Windows or "Software Update" for Mac OS X. Unlike application programs, however, system software is not meant to be run by the end user. For example, while you might use your Web browser every day, you probably don't have much use for an assembler program (unless, of course, you are a computer programmer).

Since system software runs at the most basic level of your computer, it is called "low-level" software. It generates the user interface and allows the operating system to interact with the hardware. Fortunately, you don't have to worry about what the system software is doing since it just runs in the background. It's nice to think you are working at a "high-level" anyway.

E-business Definitions

The business-to-business (B2B) group includes all applications intended to enable or improve relationships within firms and between two or more companies. In the past this has largely been based on the use of private networks and Electronic Data Interchange (EDI). Examples from the business-business category are the use of the Internet for searching product catalogues, ordering from suppliers, receiving invoices and making electronic payments. This category also includes collaborative design and engineering, and managing the logistics of supply and delivery.

The business-to-consumer (B2C) group is a much newer area and largely equates to electronic retailing over the Internet. This category has expanded greatly in the late 1990s with the growth of public access to the Internet. The business-to-consumer category includes electronic shopping, information searching (e.g. railway timetables) but also interactive games delivered over the Internet. Popular items purchased via electronic retailing are airline tickets, books, computers, videotapes, and music CDs.

The business-to-public administration group covers transactions between companies and governmental organisations, such as city, local, regional, national governments and governmental agencies such as the European Commission. Activities in this area include transactions to publicise public procurement opportunities and the filling of tax returns and payment of taxes.

The consumer-to-public administration area is similar to business-to-public administration, except that the focus is on provision of government information brochures, forms etc., greater openness, public consultations, as well as submission of tax returns. This area will grow once the business-to-consumer and business-to-public 

Kingsoft Office 2012

From Kingsoft Office:

Kingsoft Office 2012 utilizes over two decades of global award winning experience to bring you the complete user-friendly office suite. It can create, view, edit and share the documents, it consists of Kingsoft Writer, Presentation and Spreadsheet. These three powerful programs can perfect meet your requirements for both daily office work and professional business. The Kingsoft Office 2012 can be run on the Windows 7 and is also compatible with all the latest Microsoft Office formats, it will create, view, edit and save documents created with Microsoft software, Meanwhile, Microsoft Office can also open Kingsoft files without having Kingsoft Office installed on that computer. The standout feature of Kingsoft Office 2012 is its incredible efficiency. Quick and easy to download and install, it takes up minimal space on your hard drive. This allows for the capability of your computer to never slow down or ever become sluggish as with some other office suites. Moreover, Kingsoft Office 2012 has a built-in PDF converter, which allows users to convert all Kingsoft files as PDF files. That means users can open, read and edit any PDF files, as well as save documents as plain text documents or export them as PDF files by using Kingsoft Office 2012. In addition, Kingsoft Office 2012 increase a new features, which is automatic spell check. Now a built-in spelling checker you can use to proof your document, if the word is spelt incorrectly a red underline will appear beneath the word. New features: Chief among these is a new Blank Document icon and Open icon included for times when no document is yet opened. These options can aid you in quickly creating new documents or opening any pre-existing documents. The updated version has also corrected certain bugs, including launch speed, scroll bar, Table Style option, and more.And an important bug is that you need not enter the serial in the new updated version, in another way, it is a totally free version without any serial.

Brick and Click Solutions

Brick and Click Solutions connects the dots, from brick and mortar location/events to (click) website, blog, Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, Mobile, Email and more.  We make sure your presence and performance on each dot is the best it can be, and specialize in managing those dots as well.   Digital/Social Marketing and Communication Strategy, Presence, Integration, Management, Training.  Next step? Click Contact tab

B2B Application Services

Diagram: B2B Application Services B2B Application Services enable businesses to improve their internal and external operations. B2B hosts different application systems can be created by bundling different application modules that are developed to target specific business requirements. The following are some of the application systems:

	B2B e-Supplier Services
	B2B e-Supplier Services are services provided through an e-Supplier system hosted by B2B. The e-Supplier system is currently connected to many major buyers such as Tesco, Carrefour, 7-11, Parkson, Watsons, Resorts World, etc. The key features and benefits of e-Supplier system are:
	Improve efficiency through electronic document exchangeSuppliers can use a single system to send and receive business documents to and from one or more buyers. Examples of business documents are purchase orders, invoices, goods receipt notes, etc. Ensure process compliance with multiple buyers Buyers can implement their respective processes and document standards in the system so that all suppliers shall comply to the processes and standards by using the system. For example, if a buyer requires purchase order acknowledgement, the system shall automatically send an acknowledgement once the intended supplier views the purchase order. Automated validation and conversion for efficient exception handling and processing Suppliers will be assisted by the system to process the documents to be sent to or have been received from buyers. The assistance can be in the form of price or product information validation or buyer location code conversion. Provide multiple access channels to meet different needsSuppliers can access the system through a simple web browser, with direct system integration or through simple emails. The preferred access method of a supplier shall be determined by the frequency and number of document exchanges between the supplier and all the buyers.

	B2B e-Storefront Services
	B2B e-Storefront Services are services provided through an e-Storefront system hosted by B2B to enable a supplier to set up an online web store which has more information and features than a normal home page. The following are the key features of an e-Storefront system.
	Provide dynamic web presence Most web sites have static information that is hardly changed. The design is also not updated from time to time. With e-Storefront system, supplier can update web contents easily and refresh the design to follow seasonal changes. Building a better customer relationshipB2B e-Storefront system enables a supplier to capture all buyer information and manage the information in a centralized database. The system also allows supplier to capture all sales and operation history of each customer. Better customer relationship can be achieve by having frequent and closer interactions with customers through mass emailing of announcements and online instant messaging. Publish product information more effectivelySupplier can capture all product information in the system and create different product catalogs for different customers as different customers may require different products and pricing. Improve operation efficiency Supplier can make use of e-Storefront system to exchange documents with customers. The documents are quotations, request for quotation, product brochures, etc. The electronic document exchange improves efficiency and reduces cost.

What is Software Engineering?

Software Engineering is the systematic aproach to the development, operation and maintenance of software. Software Engineering is concerned with development and maintenance of software products.

The primary goal of software engineering is to provide the quality of software with low cost. Software Engineering involves project planning, project management, systematic analysis, design, validations and maintenance activities.

Linux OS for ARM - Linux Kernels 2.4 and 2.6

Linux Kernel

When selecting a hardware platform for any embedded system project, it is essential to evaluate the software support provided. Platforms which offer full software support speed up time to market by enabling full focus on the customer's application. Technologic Systems provides Linux support for all our on-board hardware and our full line of PC/104 peripherals. The Linux Kernel is the default operating system shipped with the TS-7000 single board computers. Some third-party accessories provided directly by Technologic Systems also have guaranteed support through the provided Linux Kernel.

Note on versions: The Linux Kernel is available for all the TS-7000 single board computers. The TS-7200 series and the System-on-Modules use the version 2.4 as the default, although version 2.6 is also available for user development/installation. The TS-7800 series and the LCD-Ready FPGA Computers uses the 2.6 as the default Kernel (except the TS-7300).

Real-Time Linux

For better system responsiveness and guaranteed hard real-time service (high QoS), we can also provide real-time Linux operating systems either through RTAI (Real Time Application Interface) and other real-time interfaces or through modifications done to the standard Kernel closely coupled to the hardware.

Linux Distributions

Technologic Systems provides Linux distributions that can be as small as 4MB of on-board flash or as large as a complete embedded development environment or a embedded server running out of a Large flash media.

The small Linux distributions are based on the Busybox project. The TS-Linux is a mini-Linux distribution, shipped by default on the TS-7200 series, that includes Busybox, web-server, dropbear-server, FTP-server, and more.

For larger and more complete Linux systems, we make use of the Debian Linux distribution, enabling a desktop-like environment to run on a rugged and low-power embedded platform. The user can take advantage of all the benefits Debian provides, including a full GNU C/C++ development environment, many Linux services (NFS, FTP, SSH, web server, telnet, mail, database) and various Linux libraries and utilities.

In addition, any other Linux distribution that provides ARM support, such as the Fedora project, can be used with our TS-7000 ARM computers. Contact us should you need an alternate Linux distribution available for our ARM computers

Learn more

Linux Bootloader for ARM - Linux Boots Linux

Some of our more recent products, such as the TS-7400 and TS-7800 computers, make use of Linux as the default bootloader. This feature is enabled by our fast bootup process together with a bootload Linux user-space utility.

By using Linux as the default bootloader, all the benefits provided by Linux, such as libraries and various binaries, are available for users in a very early stage of the bootup process. This by itself is enough reason to avoid bootload-specific software such as RedBoot and Uboot. Our fast bootup solutions enable the Linux features to be available to the users in less than 2 seconds after power on. Why make use of a complex and heavy bootloader to load Linux when you already have Linux after 1 to 2 seconds?

Our Linux bootloader enables loading of Linux or any other operating system from a binary file (operating system image) stored in any Linux filesystem type (NFS, MTD, SD Card, etc). This also makes it easier and faster for Kernel and OS developers to deploy their software. For example, one can make use of this solution to test/debug a 2.6 Kernel or WinCE image while booted to Linux 2.4 Kernel.

eCos/RedBoot - Feature-Rich Bootloader

Technologic Systems provides eCos/RedBoot solutions for our TS-7200 ARM9 computers. eCos is an open source, royalty-free, real-time operating system intended for embedded applications. RedBoot is a complete bootstrap environment for embedded systems based on the eCos Hardware Abstraction Layer.

On the TS-7200 embedded computers, RedBoot is used as feature rich boot-ROM monitor that allows manipulation of the on-board flash, JFFS and YAFFS images, loading and execution of a kernel or executable from either tftp (trivial ftp), http or flash, and gdb debugging stubs. From RedBoot, one can load and execute any standalone binary. Most commonly, a Linux kernel or a Windows CE binary is used. One can also write applications within the eCos environment and load them with RedBoot.

TS-BOOTROM - Proprietary Bootup Firmware for ARM

Our ARM single board computers have specific BOOTROM firmwares which perform basic hardware initialization tasks and allow our computers to boot an operating system from different storage media.

For example, on power up, the TS-7200 board executes proprietary Technologic Systems boot-code, then immediately executes RedBoot. The TS-BOOTROM is stored in flash memory and is used to perform the first hardware configuration, such as the EP9301 initialization and TS-7200 hardware specifics, and to load the eCos/RedBoot system. The TS-BOOTROM serves as a reusable way of initializing and checking hardware so that it's not necessary to rewrite standard code for every desired OS. Some of the TS-BOOTROM configuration tasks include:

• initializes the processor
• turns off the watchdog timer
• configures the serial UART to 115200 bps
• initializes and tests SDRAM and FLASH
• loads and runs RedBoot from flash

There is an intermediate boot loader on the TS-7000 computers which use the NAND flash technology, named TS-NANDBOOT. For the TS-7200 series, this is required because the EP9302 processor can't handle NAND devices. The TS-NANDBOOT contains specific routines to read the NAND flash memory and load the TS-BOOTROM, allowing the computer to boot from NAND.

Technologic Systems also designed the TS-SDBOOT used in the TS-7300, TS-7400 and TS-7800. TS-SDBOOT allows the processor to read/write code to an SD Card right after power up, using the TS-SDCORE FPGA IP core. Using this improvement, our boards can be designed to fully boot from an SD Card.

The TS-7800 SBC uses a more sophisticated bootup firmware which allows booting from either a micro SD Card, full-size SD Card or from the on-board 2k-page NAND flash. It allows loading of Linux to a shell prompt in under 2 seconds. Technologic Systems is able to provide more functionalities to its proprietary BOOTROMs, should you need further support. For more information regarding custom firmware designs, contact Technologic Systems.

Solutions for ARM Operating Systems & Bootloaders for ARM Single Board Computers

Technologic Systems' ARM solutions stand out in the market. The ARM processors we use are ideal for embedded systems that require low cost, low power, low instruction-set complexity, and high processing performance. Since our design techniques focus on overall ruggedness and reliability, our experience with the ARM architecture has allowed us to create the ideal line of ARM single board computers for hostile environments and demanding applications.

On the software side, our ARM computers are shipped with Linux running out-of-the-box. We decided to provided Linux as the default operating system because we embrace the open-source vision and believe in the benefits provided by an open-source community of developers. Experiences of users in the open source community provide the support developers need to succeed in the embedded industry. Due to the widely varied challenges common to the embedded industry, we believe this kind of support is more useful for development than the support found in commercial and proprietary solutions.

Technologic Systems provides software solutions for its ARM computers which include bootup firmwares and complete Linux operating systems and distributions. In addition, we offer tailored software solutions that leverage the potential of our computers, such as fast bootup Linux (under 2 seconds bootup to Linux) and the Linux boots Linux mechanism.

TS-4200 Atmel ARM9 with Very Low Powe

Hardware Description

The TS-4200 is a low profile, credit card sized TS-SOCKET Macrocontroller module which features a 396MHz Atmel ARM9 and a 3K tile low power Actel A3P125 FPGA. With 64MB or 128MB RAM and a bootable 256MB on-board flash drive with our new XNAND technology, the TS-4200 is a powerful and extremely reliable embedded solution. External devices can connect to the TS-4200 via Ethernet, USB host, USB device, I2C, SPI, UARTs, or GPIO. Additionally, an external 16-bit address/data bus can be implemented through the use of 21 DIO pins. The two 100 pin downward-facing general-purpose headers make it easy to interface the TS-4200 with a standard TS-SOCKET baseboard or a baseboard of your own design.

The TS-4200 can run at a full 396MHz while consuming under half a Watt. The following features help meet this goal:

• Efficient switching regulators
• Low power Atmel CPU containing individual peripheral clocks that can be disabled when not required
• Low power Actel FPGA clocked by the CPU only when needed
• Low power 1.8V mobile RAM
• Ethernet and SD card that can be disabled to save power

Hardware features include:

• Ethernet MAC and PHY
• 2 USB host (12 Mbps) and 1 USB device (480 Mbps)
• Up to 6 UARTs (1 Auto-485 capable)
• MicroSD card connector (or external full size SD)
• 256MB XNAND storage
• SPI
• I2C
• I2S
• 4 ADC inputs
• RTC*
• 8KB NV SRAM*
• Up to 78 DIO/GPIO**
• Temperature Sensor***
• Watchdog timer
• Random number generator

TS-SOCKET Description

TS-SOCKET is an embedded computer standard designed and controlled by Technologic Systems, Inc. It defines both a form factor and a connection pin-out and is based on two 100-pin low-profile connectors, allowing secure connection between a TS macrocontroller (CPU board) and a baseboard. Please refer to theTS-SOCKET Standard and Embedded Macrocontrollers resource for more information.

TS-4200 Power Consumption

Under normal operation with TS-8200 baseboard and RS-232 driver, the TS-4200 consumes about 375mW (75mA @ 5V) of power.

XNAND Technology

Technologic Systems XNAND technology is an ultra reliable and industrial grade user-space device driver that uses Reed-Solomon codes, extra checksums, and a RAID-based technique to allow any Linux filesystem to be used with confidence on SLC NAND flash. Our TS-BOOTROM can also boot from XNAND for an ultra-reliable bootup. Please refer to the XNAND whitepaper for more information.

Software Description

The TS-4200 SBC boots to Linux 2.6.36.2 from either a microSD card or on-board XNAND drive. The 256MB on-board XNAND drive is enough to store a bootable kernel image, initial ramdisk image, and a minimal version of emDebian "Squeeze (Grip)" Linux. Storage memory can be expanded through the microSD card socket. A bootable microSD card must contain a Linux kernel image, an initial ramdisk image and a valid Linux root filesystem. The fast Linux bootup solution was optimized for speed and includes kernel, initrd, and filesystem (Busybox) tweaks. Since this board boots to an initrd (initial ramdisk) with a read-only mounted filesystem, it is possible to have something other than a shell prompt running after bootup by editing the /linuxrc shell script on the initrd. Additional TS-4200 software features include:

• Boots Linux 2.6.36.2 out-of-the-box in less than 3 seconds (to a shell prompt).
• MicroSD card pre-installed with minimal Debian "Squeeze" Linux distribution.
• Un-brickable design ensures 100% recoverability from microSD card in case of on-board XNAND drive erasure.
• Startup Linux mini-root scripts allow flexible root and backup filesystem selection (microSD, XNAND, NFS, USB flash), as well as software field upgrade support.

Linux OS and Debian Support

Technologic Systems' TS-4200 ARM Systems on Modules (SoM) are compatible with a wide range of Operating Systems (OS's). The Linux choice is highly recommended and our products are totally integrated with the open-source vision. The board ships with Linux 2.6.36.2 Kernel running out-of-the-box. There is no proprietary source code in the kernel since all the hardware specific functionalities are handled by user-space utilities (such as sdctl, nandctl, xuartctl, etc.). The Linux kernel includes driver support for on-board hardware, enabling quick time to market of end-users applications. Examples and source codes are also available for downloading.

The compact initial ramdisk filesystem is based on Busybox and uClibc and is improved for performance and flexibility. Specific Linux scripts and utilities that handle the TS-4200 functions are included. In addition, the full Debian binaries and services are available from the initial ramdisk after mounting the microSD card.

The TS-4200 TS-SOCKET macrocontrollers are configured to load Debian "Squeeze" Linux from the on-board XNAND drive or microSD card during boot up time. The on-board XNAND flash uses a minimal emDebian "Squeeze (Grip)" Linux distribution that has been compacted to fit in the 256MB space and leave about 124MB free for the user and includes utilities such as apt-get for installing and removing programs. The microSD card uses a full featured Debian "Squeeze" Linux distribution which includes a complete GNU C/C++ embedded development environment. In addition, Apache Web Server, FTP, SSH, Telnet, and Samba network services are available with C/PHP/Perl for embedded CGI development.

Eclipse IDE for ARM and Windows

The Eclipse IDE configured for embedded development with the TS-SOCKET system running Debian Linux is provided on our FTP site. Technologic Systems makes use of the Eclipse Europa release and the DSDP+CDT plugins in order to provide an advanced embedded IDE. Installation is easy and includes support for ARM crosstool chains, cygwin runtime-libraries, and a Java Development Kit. The Eclipse environment is already configured to allow a quick start to TS-SOCKET development. At start-up, the installed 'helloworld' example shows the user how to use the Eclipse functionalities, including cross-compilation, build-management configurations, binary download to the ARM SBC target, target management via SSH, FTP, telnet or serial console, client-server debugging with Eclipse debug view, etc.