The Hindu : Front Page : Linux computer shrunk to size of postage stamp

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, May 06, 2007
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Linux computer shrunk to size of postage stamp

Special Correspondent

— Photo: Special Arrangement

SMALL BUT POWERFUL: LinSeed squeezes a Linux-based computing engine on a stamp-sized piece of silicon.

Bangalore: ``Honey, I've shrunk your Linux computer!'' It's now the size of a postage stamp.

Yet, it has all the power of a full-sized board — complete with 32 megabytes of memory; 16 MB of storage and the interconnects needed to fuel any standard Linux application.

The Bangalore-based EI Labs India has just released ``LinSeed version 1,'' a single chip embedded Linux computer that original equipment-makers can use to create a host of handy devices, including wirelessly connected pocket computers.

It will save device-makers from having to create their own custom chips — and almost halve the cost of the end product, explained Krishna Vaidyanathan, EI Labs founder and Chief Executive. If bought in quantity, the LinSeed will cost around $100 a piece — and the company also offers an evaluation board which developers can use to build their applications around the LinSeed chip.

In the few weeks since the product was announced by this wholly `desi' company, the chip is being widely discussed on the Web's Open Source technology sites — and a number of enquiries are known to have come from industrial product makers who see in this an easy way to craft small handheld controllers for plants and warehouses.

Mr. Vaidyanathan, who began his career with the (Indian) Defence R&D Organisation in Kochi, went on to help build the research efforts of Philips in India before co-starting this product development company in 2004.

EI Labs is also fuelled by the efforts of R. Devanathan, who came from R&D with the Tatas, and Nalini Ramachandran, who did postgraduate work in geography at Queen Mary's Chennai, before she guided the company's geographic information systems group.

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