Genode OS Framework version 8.11 released Nov 21, 2008

With the release 8.11, we reached an important milestone of the Genode project with regard to the applicability of the framework for realizing real-world applications.

The version 8.11 of Genode addresses two crucial requirements for the practical use of the framework, the availability of device drivers and a way to enable existing C code bases to be ported to Genode. Our new device-driver API called DDE kit allows for the reuse of existing C-written device drivers at low engineering costs. For facilitating the porting of the wealth of existing Open-Source libraries to Genode, we have complemented the base framework with a C runtime ported from FreeBSD. Among the numerous other changes and additions described in our detailed release notes are a new API for asynchronous notifications, the consistent typification of capabilities, and a new experimental feature called managed dataspaces.

Learn more about all the new features and changes described in our comprehensive release notes...

Download the release 8.11 of the Genode OS Framework...

Live-CD image demonstrating Genode Oct 23, 2008

We have made the default demonstration scenario of the Genode OS Framework available as ready-to-boot ISO image.

In preparation of the upcoming Genode source-code release 8.11, we have made our default demonstration scenario available as bootable CD image. So for just trying out Genode, you won't need to touch any source code. This version runs on Qemu, VirtualBox, or PC hardware. Download the ISO image at Genode project website...

Genode FX on Virtex-4 FPGAs Oct 16, 2008

As we are constantly extending the range of platforms supported by Genode FX, we have now documented the process of adapting our FPGA graphics solution to new platforms by the example of the Virtex-4-based ML405 board.

Our detailed porting guide will enable third parties to deploy our technology on custom FPGA boards in a straight-forward way. The guide takes the popular ML405 evaluation platform as example but the described methodology should be easily applicable to other boards as well. In addition to the ML405, we have added new example projects for the Spartan-3E and Spartan-3AN platforms to our public subversion repository. For your convenience, we have compiled the Genode FX release 2008-10.

Visit the Genode FX product page...

Newsletter archive online Sep 25, 2008

For those of you who do not receive our newsletter via email, we have created an online archive of our past mailings.

As we have published our second newsletter today, it is time to start archiving these mailings. If you are not receiving our newsletter on a regular basis via email, you can now read the past newsletters online at our newsletter archive.

Genode FX running on PowerPC of Xilinx Virtex 5 FPGAs Sep 17, 2008

With the release 2008-09, Genode FX supports the PowerPC 440 as available in certain Xilinx Virtex 5 FPGAs.

The Virtex5 series marks the high end of FPGA products from Xilinx. The Virtex5 FPGA featured on the ML507 board provides a full PowerPC 440 core. With the release 2008-09, Genode FX supports the ML507 board. Applications developed for Genode FX can now be compiled for the Microblaze architecture and the PowerPC without source-code modifications. The ML507 demo project that comes with the official release operates the PowerPC at 300MHz and uses the DVI connector for video output at a resolution of 1024x768.

Genode FPGA graphics project launched Aug 27, 2008

Genode FX brings a fully fleged graphical user interface to FPGA platforms such as Xilinx' low-cost Spartan3 series. The first release features a ready-to-use demonstration project directly executable on widely popular Spartan3A Starter Kit boards.

Just three week after the launch of the Genode OS Framework, we have released our second major asset as an Open-Source project. Genode FX is a composition of hardware and software that enables the creation of fully fledged graphical user interfaces as system-on-chip solutions using commodity FPGAs, e.g., Xilinx' low-cost Spartan3 series. The integrated solution complements the Microblaze soft core with custom hardware for interconnecting display and input devices. On the software side, the heart of the project is a complete GUI software stack especially tailored to resource-constrained embedded systems. In addition to leveraging the Microblaze architecture, support for the PPC core as featured in high-end Virtex5 FPGAs is on the way. This prospect makes Genode FX a solution that scales with the demands of current and future applications. The release features a complete demonstration project ready to use with widely popular Spartan3A Starter Kit boards. Learn more about Genode FX...

Genode Labs on the web Aug 21, 2008

Since the release of the Genode OS Framework, both our project and our company were covered by a number of websites including OS News and Heise.de

To our delight, the initial release of the Genode OS Framework two weeks ago helped to spawn public interest in our project and our company. Genode Labs was featured on the front pages of TU Dresden's department of computer science, OS News, Heise Online, and the Saxxess IT Portal.

Genode OS Framework version 8.08 released Aug 06, 2008

We are happy to announce the first official release of the Genode OS Framework.

After intense preparation work during the past weeks, we released the first official version of the Genode OS Framework. This version contains all base components, services, and device drivers to execute a provided interactive demonstration scenario on both Linux via libSDL and bare PC hardware via the L4/Fiasco microkernel and our custom device drivers. Visit genode.org to learn more about the Genode project and download the latest release...

Launch of the genode.org project website Jul 29, 2008

Today, we launched the community website for the Genode OS framework and announced our first release for the 6th of August.

Until today, the official information about our operating system project called Genode was rather sparse. With genode.org, we have now created a central place on the web with all information and resources available around Genode. There you can find the latest news about the progress of the project, documentation, tutorials, a community-maintained wiki, mailing lists, and much more. The website represents a shift away from our past group-internal mode of development towards Genode as an Open-Source community project. We hope, the website will help us to foster a vivid and healty development community that connects well with other Open-Source projects. The first official release of the Genode OS framework is planned for the 6th of August. Visit the genode.org project website...

Thanks for your feedback Jul 15, 2008

Thanks to all of you who helped us to improve many details of our website. Our RSS stream is now available at a meaningful address.

Since we launched the first version of this website two weeks ago, we received a lot of feedback. Thanks to all of you who provided us with helpful suggestions! Some of you noticed the slightly irritating frame-based redirection, which we used as an interim solution while the domain-name transfer of genode-labs.com was pending. Now that the domain-name transfer is completed, you can actually bookmark individual locations of the website and receive our RSS feed from the following non-cryptic address: http://genode-labs.com/news/news/RSS

Company website launched Jul 01, 2008

With the move into our new office space, Genode Labs leaves behind its planning period and becomes a physical place.

With our new website, we provide a central place with all information regarding the business of Genode Labs and our projects. Currently, the details about our products and services are rather sparse. In the following weeks, we will successively extend the website with more in-depth coverage about our projects. In addition, you can expect us to launch a dedicated project website for the Genode OS Framework in July.

To get the latest news about us and our products, we recommend you to subscribe to our newsletter, which will be delivered at a low rate of one email every one or two months. Subscribe to the Genode Labs newsletter...

Moving into our new working environment May 31, 2008

On the 15th of May, Genode Labs officially started its operation.

While seeking affordable office space in various parts of Dresden, we came across the Bonhoff Unternehmer Zentrum, which is a private foundation focused on supporting startup companies. Their nice office building in Dresden-Löbtau provides us a nice and affordable place to work. In case you want to visit us, our address is: Genode Labs, Tharandter Str. 13, 01159 Dresden, Germany. Visit our office building via Google Maps...

Genode Labs founded May 14, 2008

Our new website provides the latest news about Genode Labs, our products and general information about the company.

Our company named Genode Labs has now started to exist. Because of our chosen legal form, its official name wears the additional information "Feske & Helmuth Systementwicklung GbR". After moving into our new office space, our first action will be the official release of our existing software, scheduled for the begin of July. This initial release will be accompanied by the launch of dedicated project website that will aggregate all information about the Genode OS Framework and invite developers to participate. Beside preparing this release, our natural focus during the initial phase of the company is the acquisition of new projects. We look forward to see how the official launch of the project website will stimulate the interest in collaboration with us.