State of the kernel – Jonathan Corbet, LWN.net

The Linux kernel is unique among free software projects. It is large, accepting contributions from a full 2,000 developers over the last year. Development is fast-paced, with major releases happening every 2-3 months. The kernel is the core of Linux, defining the capabilities and performance which will be available at all higher levels. This talk will look at the kernel development process and its current state. Attendees will learn what pressures drive kernel development, what has happened over the last year, and where things are likely to go in the near future. (60 minutes)

Jonathan Corbet, a founder of LWN.net (Linux Weekly News), is also the lead author of the book Linux Device Drivers, third edition, published by O'Reilly. He is an active kernel developer who consults with companies on kernel development and community relations. Jonathan got his first look at the BSD Unix source code back in 1981, when an instructor at the University of Colorado let him "fix" the paging algorithm. Ever since, he has dug around inside every system he could get his hands on, working on drivers for VAX, Sun, Ardent, and x86 systems on the way. He got his first Linux system in 1993 and has never looked back.

Real-time Linux technology – Paul McKenney, Distinguished engineer, IBM

Paul will focus on the realtime Linux -rt patchset, which represents an impressive advance in technology, with a single code base supporting realtime response from embedded systems to realtime enterprise-level SMP systems. This talk gives a high-level overview of a few of the underlying technologies that make this possible, including high-resolution timers, priority inheritance, threaded interrupts, and synchronization primitives (this latter being where the bulk of Paul's contributions reside). These technologies are helping Linux to bring realtime response into mainstream and enterprise workloads. (30 minutes)

Paul E. McKenney is a distinguished engineer at IBM and has worked on SMP, NUMA, and RCU algorithms for longer than he cares to admit (see this if you don't believe this). He has recently become quite interested in getting realtime response from mid-range SMP systems. Prior to that, he worked on packet-radio and Internet protocols (but long before the Internet became popular), system administration, business applications, and realtime systems, the latter on early 1980s eight-bit systems. He is extremely thankful that today's computers have much more than 64 kbytes of memory. His hobbies include running and the usual house-wife-and-kids habit.

What works and what's broken with embedded Linux development – Jim Ready, CTO and founder, MontaVista Software

Embedded Linux development is growing at a rapid pace, and has hurdled many technical barriers. Find out what obstacles have been surmounted, and what challenges remain for embedded Linux developers, from the point of view of someone with insight into the results of hundreds of development teams around the world. (30 minutes)

Called "arguably the one individual most responsible for establishing the embedded OS and tools market" by LinuxDevices.com and "an iconic figure within the IT industry" by SD Times, Jim Ready is the CTO and founder of MontaVista Software. As the co-founder of Ready Systems, he developed the world's first commercially viable real-time operating system (RTOS) product: the VRTX real-time kernel. Ready Systems, founded in 1980, merged with Microtec Research in 1993, went public in 1994, and was acquired by Mentor Graphics in 1995. During this period, Jim served as Ready Systems' President, and as chief technical officer (CTO) at Microtec/Mentor. Jim invented the category of embedded Linux commercialization in 1999 when he founded MontaVista Software to provide the Linux operating system to the embedded systems market, and to offer embedded-system expertise to the open source Linux community.

Unlocking the potential of embedded multicore processing – Dan Cronin, Freescale Semiconductor

Multi-core development has been receiving hard knocks from developers and industry insiders as the programming model continues to be outpaced by the technology. How do developers evolve to a concurrent design for multi-core applications? How do they handle load balancing and mixed asymmetric / symmetric multi-processing environments on the same device? Dan will address the embedded multi-core programming challenges, including asymmetric vs. symmetric multiprocessing and protecting the cores. He will then present a new world of multi-core programming, where Linux and other OSs live in harmony and developers have better visibility into multi-core architectures through enhanced simulation and diagnostics. (30 minutes)

Dan Cronin currently serves as Vice President, Worldwide Design (WWD) for Freescale Semiconductor's Networking & Computing Systems Group. Dan was promoted to this role in November 2006. Dan's career at Motorola and Freescale began in 1994 when he joined the Motorola Paging group in Boynton Beach, Florida, to work on the MCORE microcontroller and Hawk DSP programs. In 1999, Dan relocated to Austin, Texas, when he became a member of the Architecture and Systems Platform staff, responsible for development of Freescale's ARM and Power Architecture technology-based platforms. In 2003, he took on design management for the entire PowerQUICC III product family and subsequently became Director of Power Architecture Design for WWD. Dan was selected to participate on the Freescale Leadership Team in January 2006. Prior to joining Motorola, Dan worked at IBM Microelectronics, and he was a member of the Somerset design team in Austin. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering (BSEE) degree from Clemson University and a Master of Science in Electrical Engineering (MSEE) degree from the Georgia Institute of Technology.

The relationship between kernel.org development and the use of embedded applications – Andrew Morton, Lead maintainer, kernel.org

Andrew will summarize the kernel.org development and decision-making processes. Special focus will be placed upon how they impact the developers of Linux for embedded products, including the economics of using a modern kernel versus staying on a frozen older kernel version, and the economics of maintaining private patchsets versus merging work back into the public kernel. For those who choose to work with the kernel.org team, Andrew will look at how that can most effectively be done. (60 minutes)

The keeper of the mm tree patchset for the Linux kernel, and the kernel's lead maintainer, Andrew Morton works with Linux creator Linus Torvalds, kernel subsystem maintainers, Linux distribution companies, hardware vendors, and other parties to ensure that the public production kernel meets their needs. He is the final arbitrator on determining what code is accepted into the Linux production kernel, and is known for being a provocative public speaker. Andrew currently works at Google, and was formerly a fulltime OSDL fellow at the Open Source Development Labs. He was previously employed as principal engineer by Digeo Interactive, responsible for the base OS in Digeo's digital home entertainment products. Before Digeo, Andrew was a product development manager for Nortel Networks' R&D labs in Australia.

Driving the future of digital video – Joe Rigazio, Texas Instruments

The Texas Instruments emerging technologies VP explains the potential and demand for embedded Linux and digital video. He will describe the types of innovations that TI is seeing from its customers, and how software and hardware developers must work in tandem to meet ever-smaller market windows. (30 minutes)

Joe Rigazio is the worldwide general manager for Texas Instruments' DSP Catalog and Emerging End Equipment businesses, he also drives TI's mass-market DSP offerings as well as incubating exciting new applications which can leverage TI's DSPs. Joe began his career with Texas Instruments in 1986 in Silicon Valley. In 1999, he was tasked with creating and leading TI's third-party software business development, and subsequently became the lead executive for TI's catalog DSP products.