CE Linux Forum
CE Linux Forum, otherwise known as the Consumer Electronics Linux Forum or CELF, is a non-profit organization that works to advance Linux as an open source platform for consumer electronics (CE) devices. It has a primarily technical focus, working on specifications, implementations, conferences and testing to help Linux developers improve Linux for use in CE products.
Initiatives
CELF has several key initiatives, including:
- a set of technical working groups, which produce specifications and implementations (usually patches against existing open source projects) to enhance Linux suitability for CE products
- hosting of conferences dedicated to embedded Linux (see below)
- providing hardware resources to open source developers
- funding for direct feature development, via contracting with a few Linux developers
- a test lab in San Jose, California, United States.
History
The forum is an outgrowth of a joint project between Sony Corporation and Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. Ltd. (also known as Panasonic). CELF was founded in June 2003 by several large consumer electronics companies, including Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. Ltd., Sony Corporation, Hitachi Ltd., NEC Corporation, Royal Philips Electronics, Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., Sharp Corporation, and Toshiba Corporation. As of 2009 CELF has about 30 members, consisting of consumer electronics manufacturers, semiconductor vendors, and Linux software companies.
Membership
ARM Ltd., AXE, Inc., Broadcom, Canon Inc., ETRI, Fujitsu Limited, Fuji-Xerox, Hewlett-Packard, Hitachi, Ltd., IBM, Intel Corporation, JustSystems Corporation, LG Electronics, Lineo Solutions, Inc, Panasonic Corporation, MIPS Technologies, NEC Corporation, NXP Semiconductors, Renesas, Royal Philips Electronics, Samsung Electronics, Selenic Consulting, Sharp Corporation, SnapGear, Sony Corporation, Toshiba Corporation, Yamaha Corporation[1]
Technical working groups and output
As of 2007, CELF had the following technical working groups:
- Audio, Video and Graphics
- Bootup Time
- Digital Television Profile
- Memory Management
- Mobile Phone Profile
- Power Management
- Real Time
- Security
- System Size
These working groups collect improvements to Linux and Linux-related software from CELF members, and help members coordinate on projects to enhance Linux in their respective technical areas.
The forum encourages its members to submit technical output directly back to the relevant open source project (for example, by sending enhancements to the Linux kernel directly to the Linux kernel mailing list, or to an appropriate technology- or architecture-specific mailing list.) Collected information and forum output is primarily located on the forum's wiki for embedded developers
Community Projects
The CE Linux Forum also has sponsorships to bring embedded projects to fruition. Thanks to grants from CELF, amongst others the LinuxTiny patches and the LogFS and SquashFS flash file systems have been pushed to mainline Linux.
CELF hosts the eLinux.org wiki, a wiki dedicated to Embedded Linux.
Conferences and jamborees
The forum has been the driving force behind the Embedded Linux Conference since 2005. Originally started as a conference in the USA in spring, there now also is a yearly ELC Europe in the Autumn time frame. Both conferences are very developer-focused and usually attract 150-200 Linux engineers. ELC is an English-language conference with several parallel tracks and lasts 2 or 3 days. The European conference has always been co-hosted: in 2007 it was hosted with the Real-time Linux Workshop in Linz, Austria; in 2008 with the NLUUG in Ede, Netherlands; and in 2009 with Embedded Systems Week in Grenoble. The 2009 and 2010 spring conferences in the Americas were co-organized with the Linux Foundation.
CELF sponsored the Linux Symposium from 2004 to 2008, hosting BoFs and sessions specific to embedded use of Linux and development of Linux capabilities for embedded use.
In Japan and Korea, CELF organizes Technical Jamborees every two months. Jamborees are smaller, have a single track, and are held in the local language.
See also
- Linux Foundation - Another Linux consortium