Snapgear Embedded Linux Distribution

Snapgear distribution can be used in designing any embedded linux device. This distro is based on uCLinux and includes support for wide variety of architectures such as x86, arm/xscale, etc. Snapgear linux is a full source package, containing kernel, libraries, and application code for rapid development of embedded Linux systems.

We can download the distribution from www.snapgear.org.

Snapgear History

1996 : Founded as Moreton Bay Ventures
May 2000 : Acquired by Lineo, Inc. Became Lineo Integrated Products Group
Oct 2001 : MBO/spin out as SnapGear, Inc.
Nov 2003 : Acquired by CyberGuard Corporation
Jan 2006 : CyberGuard Merged with SecureComputing

home gateway - an intro

Home gateway is always nostalgic device for me as worked with different brands for couple of years. And fortunate enough to be involved with the evolution of a home gateway product even though it is not the hot pick of the market.

Major players in the wireless router are Linksys, D-Link, Belkin, Netgear, Buffalo USRobotics, Trendnet, etc.. D-Link and Linksys are the leading brands.

Mainly, the features of a home gateway are,

1. One 10/100 WAN interface
2. Four 10/100 LAN interfaces
3. 802.11 b/g Wireless access point
4. Two standard phone jacks
5. DHCP/NAT/Passthrough Services
6. VPN mainly using IPSEC
7. Firewall with MAC/URL
8. USB Support

Most interesting fact is that a home gateway can be easily designed with only hardware cost in this world of open source under all-time favorite Linux.