Report from the Second Embedded Linux Expo and Conference

I suspect it will come as no surprise
that the second Embedded Linux Expo and Conference (ELEC), held
October 27, 2000 in Westborough, Massachusetts (near Boston), was
another great success. As in the case of last June's ELEC, the
event was well attended from both the attendee and exhibitor
perspective, and the day was permeated by a clear sense that
Embedded Linux is truly ``a market on fire''.
The Pre-Conference ``Hands-on Workshop''This time, there was an additional day--the day prior to the
one-day Conference and Expo--devoted to an all-day,
classroom-style, Embedded Linux hands-on workshop. The session was
conducted by Kevin Dankwardt of K Computing, a training and
consulting firm. I had the pleasure of attending that session and
can heartily recommend it to anyone who wants to learn more about
embedding Linux.There were about 25 participants, and we worked in groups of
two to a lab bench. Get this: our project for the day was (working
in teams of two) to convert the PC on each of our lab stations into
a remotely controlled ``headless'' (i.e., no graphics output)
embedded MP3 player. Basically, in the course of the day, we
started from Red Hat Linux 6.2 sources and built a minimized kernel
(starting from menuconfig) and file system, created and tested a
system image, compressed and transferred the system image to a
floppy diskette, booted from the floppy, and tested the resulting
stand-alone MP3 player. Incidentally, we used Busybox for embedded
utilities, syslinux to load Linux and GoAhead as the embedded web
server.And, it worked! By the end of the day, we were happily
controlling our Linux-PC based MP3 player remotely via html-based
play, pause and stop buttons using the browser on another team's
PC. Well, being an embedded Linux newbie myself, I must admit that
it was really helpful to be teamed up with a UNIX guru from the MIT
Lincoln Laboratory (thanks Mark!). In retrospect, I can't recall
the last time I've learned so much in a single day.If you'd like to see what you missed, you can view the slides
from the seminar online:
http://www.linuxdevices.com/files/elec-oct00/dankwardt/.Meanwhile Back at the Expo and
ConferenceThe event was nicely organized, with one large room for
``table-top'' style vendor exhibits and a second large room for the
technical presentations. Sally Bixby, RTC event manager for the
Embedded Linux Expo and Conference, provided these summary
statistics:

• 40 exhibitors
• 150 technical conference attendees
• 250 overall attendees of the event
• 5 representatives of the press
• Attendees came from 15 US states, plus five
  countries: Norway, UK, Indonesia, Japan and Canada

The exhibitors, who represented a broad range of software,
hardware, tools and services targeting the Embedded Linux market,
included ACT/Technico, AMIRIX Systems, Cirrus Logic, Cogent
Computer Systems, Computer I/O Corporation, Cowboy Industries, CSP,
DevelopOnline, Embedded Linux Consortium, The Embedded Community,
EMJ Embedded Systems, Generic Logic, Green Hills Software,
Highlander Engineering, I-Logix, Infomatec, Intrinsyc, Lanner
Electronics, Lineo, LinuxDevices.com, Embedded Linux
Journal, LynuxWorks, M-Systems, MEN Micro, Metro Link,
MontaVista Software, Neoware Systems, NETsilicon, Objective
Interface Systems, OnCore Systems, PalmPalm Technology, PEP Modular
Computers, QNX Software Systems, Reasoning, Tilcon Software,
TimeSys, Trolltech, Ultimate Solutions, WIN Enterprises and Xycom
Automation.
The Technical PresentationsAs in the case of the first ELEC event (last June), the
technical presentations were high caliber, avoided blatant
commercialism and spanned a broad range of topics and issues on
using Linux in embedded applications. We are making the speakers'
slide presentations available on-line, as we did following the last
conference. Please use the links provided in the Resources section
to view more information on each of the ELEC speakers and their
talks, including (if available) the presentation slides.I think all who attended the event in Westborough are looking
forward to one or more future ELEC events. Currently the RTC Group
has scheduled three ELEC's for 2001, adding a Japan event in
addition to the eastern and western US events.Resources

Rick Lehrbaum
(rick@linuxdevices.com) created the LinuxDevices.com ``embedded
Linux portal'', which recently became part of the ZDNet Linux
Resource Center. Rick has worked in the field of embedded systems
since 1979. He cofounded Ampro Computers, founded the PC/104
Consortium, and was instrumental in launching the Embedded Linux
Consortium.

email: rick@linuxdevices.com