2009 08/18/2009 06/15/2009 63 With the pressure to decrease product development lifecycles, often with fewer resources, the challenges faced by embedded Linux developers have never been greater. Semiconductor vendors have become developers of the core Linux technology that enables their hardware and fully exploits its feature set yet Linux developers still lose valuable cycles enabling the hardware, customizing their systems, and integrating other software and tools. Designers find themselves locked into early software choices, unable to fully leverage the power of the open source community, and without the right tools to customize the software to their specific application requirements. This presentation addresses ways that developers can overcome these challenges, including using a Linux distribution that is tailored closely to their chosen hardware to help maintain the quality, control and consistency required to deliver commercial-ready devices to market faster. In addition to the control and trustworthiness of a commercial Linux OS, developers can reap the benefits of the open source community and deliver a customized platform to differentiate their end products. 06/15/2009