KLM also using Linux in their Entertainment System
The intercontinental KLM flight from Sao Paulo to Amsterdam was using a fairly
new (05/2007) Boeing 777-300, and it was equipped with something like an 8"
wide screen entertainment system, not unlike the one that I saw some months
back in a Shanghai Airlines flight.
This time I had the luck to see the Linux based system boot twice. The boot
time is horrible (on the order of 4 minutes) and you can see many hardware
details. It's using a Geode type CPU and a realmagic GPU, has a natsemi
Ethernet chip and the credit card reader is actually a USB HID device.
All over the place they have fairly low-level debug code spit out to the
console, this really looks like "it worked on one developer board, ship it to
the airline" product. You can see mistakes in shell scripts ("ls: no such file
or directory" and similar stuff from init scripts, as well as debug code from
their UI applications.
It would really be interesting to get my hands onto an Ethernet link in that
in-plane network. Guess one could have quite a bit of fun with that :)
I've taken a series of snapshots throughout the boot process. Will post them
once I'm back home and find time to wade through the holiday pics.
I don't work for Google - no matter what the rumors say
A number of people have recently independently approached me about rumours that
I'm now working for Google/Android, after having left OpenMoko, Inc. in
November 2007.
According to one source, some friend who visited Android was told by Android
that I would be now working for them. There is no truth to this.
Please put an end to those rumours. I'm not working with or for either Google
or Android. There also are no plans to do so, and there have never been any
negotiations, aside from the usual Google headhunters that approach anyone
visible in the FOSS world every so often - which I always decline, indicating
that I am not interested in a dependent employment position, no matter for
which company.
I will continue to be doing freelance contract work on projects that are
interesting to me and within my fields of expertise. Should anyone chose to
approach me with an interesting technical Android system-level and/or hardware
related project, that would certainly potentially be interesting. But I'd look
at it like any other inquiry.
Back from holidays
I'm currently sitting at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport, waiting for the last
connection in my Recife - Sao Paulo - Amsterdam - Berlin return trip.
I'll be wading through the several thousand emails over much of the next
couple of days, so please give me some time to get back to you.
