A start-up in the French Alps near Grenoble is readying its second Linux SBC (single-board computer) the size and shape of a USB memory stick. Calao's USB-S8815 is based on a 333MHz ARM9 processor, runs Linux 2.6, and has 128MB each of flash and RAM.

Technologic Systems is readying a rugged WVGA touchpanel PC based on a fast-booting ARM9-based single board computer (SBC). The TS-TPC-7390 Touch Panel Computer incorporates the Debian Linux-based TS-7390 SBC, which is equipped with a 200MHz ARM9 CPU from Cirrus and a Lattice FPGA (field-programmable gate array).

Yoggie will offer its tiny Linux-based hardware firewall in the PCMCIA ExpressCard form factor. Available next month, the Gatekeeper Card Pro firewall fits completely inside host laptops, and runs 13 different applications aimed at keeping Windows-based PCs safe from viruses, spam, malware, and other security threats.

Tiny Core Linux is a very small (10 MB) minimal Linux GUI Desktop. It is based on Linux 2.6 kernel, Busybox, Tiny X, and Fltk. The core runs entirely in ram and boots very quickly . Also offered is Micro Core a 6 MB image that is the console based engine of Tiny Core.

With the EMB-2500, SATA storage connectivity has come to an ITX form-factor, single-board SoC computer.

Canadian single-board computer (SBC) startup Virtual Cogs has started shipping its first product: a miniature, modular, embeddable, Linux-based computer. The VC21 is comprised of a Freescale i.MX21-powered processor module, along with a dozen stackable, "Cog"-branded daughterboards that add cameras, touchscreens, sound cards, and so on.

Calao Systems has started shipping half a dozen expansion modules for its tiny USB key-sized Linux computer. The company has also launched a new low-powered USB computer that runs FreeRTOS, and offers CAN and LIN (local interconnect network) bus expansion.

Diamond Systems announced that it has originated a new, mezzanine-style expansion standard for SBCs (single board computers), COMs (computer-on-modules) and other embedded products. Involving a single low-cost connector and expansion modules "three-fifths the size of a credit card," the standard will be open and support any host form factor and processor, the company says.

An open developer community has desiged a tiny ARM9-based board for industrial applications, such as serial device servers. Manufactured by SystemBase of Korea, and designed by the "Embedded Module Developer Community" (EMDC), the "Eddy 2x" board comes with "Lemonix" real-time Linux and Eclipse-based "LemonIDE" tools.