“Red Hat scored a win for eCos on Monday by announcing a
partnership with Delphi to provide the OS for Delphi’s Mobile
Productivity Centers (MPC’s). The MPC provides hands-free use of
PDA’s and an interface to cell phones in automobiles. While eCos is
most definitely not Linux, the deal is a big advance for Open
Source technologies in the embedded space, said Red Hat CTO Michael
Tiemann.“
“The Delphi MPC (pictured installed) allows users to mount their
PDA’s or cell-phones in a docking station which, in turn, provides
voice control for such things as using the PDA’s notepad tool,
dialing phone numbers, or retrieving information. The device allows
for playback through the car’s FM radio, meaning users never have
to read content while driving.”
“eCos is an Open Source operating system designed to be highly
configurable and runs on a variety of platforms, including ARM,
Hitachi SH3, Intel x86, MIPS, Matsushita AM3x, PowerPC and SPARC.
According to Tiemann, eCos provides over 200 configuration points
allowing developers to strip the OS down to remarkably small
sizes.”