Take Open Source Hardware Survey

Catarina Mota, David Mellis, and John De Cristofaro have put together a survey for the open source hardware (OSHW) community. The goal of the survey is to have a better understanding of open source hardware community, as well as why and how we use/make open-source hardware.

If you participate in OSHW, and are interested in giving us a better description of the community, please take the survey!



The survey will be up until April 15, and the aggregate results will be made publicly available in the form of a report consisting of graphics, percentages, and anonymous quotes.

For more information about Open Source Hardware see the Open Source Hardware Statement of Principles 1.0: http://freedomdefined.org/OSHW

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Cotton Candy: Ubuntu powered World's Smallest PC

Technology is getting more and more smarter and portable to use, Cotton Candy is one more example of such a useful device which makes technology, easy to carry and affordable to manage for everybody.

The Cotton Candy is a product of FXI Technologies, Norway, it is a USB stick sized computer device which allows users a single, secure point of access to all personal cloud services and apps through their favorite operating systems, while delivering a consistent experience on any screen.  The device will serve as a companion to smart phones, tablets, and notebook PC especially Macs, add smart capabilities to existing displays, TVs, set top boxes and other media that supports USB mass storage.

Cotton Candy is powered by a ARM® Cortex™-A9 1.2GHz Processor, 1 GB DRAM, support up to 64 GB of local storage capacity through microSD, Wifi and Bluetooth connectivity and will run on both Ubuntu and Android operating systems with a support for virtualization for Windows, Linux and Mac.

A USB and HDMI 1.3 connector are on hand to connect the Cotton Candy to your screen, and the little PC can play HD video, show various picture file formats and if you choose Android, run all the usual apps from the Android Market. The Bluetooth connection lets you use a wireless keyboard and mouse too.

Cotton Candy is soon to be released and currently available on pre-orders with a price tag of $199 or £139.

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Laptops/Desktops/Servers That Ready for Ubuntu - Ubuntu Hardware Certification

To ensure that Ubuntu runs smoothly in every laptops/desktops/servers, canonical has a program called Ubuntu Certification. Ubuntu certification is a program where ubuntu is working together with several laptops/desktops/servers and hardware providers to make sure that Ubuntu can work well on some product they produce.

Official Ubuntu (community) conducted some tests on every laptops/desktops/servers using predetermined testing and validation criteria before a servers/desktops/laptops or hardware awarded as 'Ubuntu Certified'. Some laptops/desktops/servers providers who have cooperated with ubuntu including Dell, Wipro, Lenovo, HP, IBM, Acer, Asus, Toshiba, System76, Intel, HCL Infosystems Limited, Citrix Systems, VMware, Sun, and Quanta.

List of  laptops/desktops/servers which have been certified by ubuntu can be seen here, at glance dell laptop series dominating the total of laptops that have been certified by Ubuntu.

So, if you've a plan to buy some new device (servers/desktops/laptops) and wondered if "can ubuntu works well there ?" , i think it is better idea if visiting this page first.

Besides of the project above, there are also Ubuntu community called Ubuntu Friendly which driven hardware validation programme for desktops, netbooks and laptops which running Ubuntu 11.10 and up, The aim of this community is to have a simple and quick way to look up how well machines work with Ubuntu releases. Ubuntu friendly now running in beta and planned to be  launch in April 2012. you can also participate in there, see following participation guide  or visit Ubuntu Friendly site. 

Reference site :
[1] http://www.ubuntu.com/certification
[2] https://friendly.ubuntu.com
[3] http://webapps.ubuntu.com/partners/certified-software/

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