02/28/06 5:00 AM PT

Samsung`s move will reportedly simplify consumer electronics designers` use of the first and most cost-efficient fusion memory, providing the code needed to quickly incorporate OneNAND`s operational instructions.

Samsung Electronics has announced that it is making the driver source code for its best-selling memory publicly available, a move that is expected to make it extremely popular among designers using the new Linux 2.6 operating system.

Samsung is providing designers of mobile devices and other consumer electronics with the basic driver for its fusion memory technology -- OneNAND -- not only on its own Web site, but also through that of the Linux/open-source community.

Simplification for Designers

Samsung`s move will reportedly simplify consumer electronics designers` use of the first and most cost-efficient fusion memory, providing the code needed to quickly incorporate OneNAND`s operational instructions.

OneNAND`s fusion architecture features a single-level-cell NAND core with SRAM and logic elements to emulate a NOR flash interface.

OneNAND provides a sustained data ``read`` speed of 108 MBytes per second, which is four times faster than conventional NAND flash memory , and a ``write`` speed of 10 MBytes per second, which is more than 60 times faster than multi-level-cell NOR flash memory.

Free Access

The driver for OneNAND will be available free of charge from the open-source community at the following Web addresses:

www.linuxhq.com/kernel/v2.6/15/drivers/mtd/onenand/