About Annabooks

Annabooks was launched with the release of The XT-AT Handbook, in 1988. The little guide provided basic technical information on the PC open architecture. Other books on PC hardware and firmware followed. Shortly after the founding, Annabooks was instrumental in convincing Microsoft to license MS-DOS and other products to the embedded market, and Annabooks became Microsoft’s first embedded license distributor. Throughout the 90’s Annabooks expanded to include training classes and conferences. Annasoft (Annabooks Software) was created to provide more technical support and consulting services for the embedded market. At the turn of the century, Annabooks was sold to RTC Group to continue the focus on book publishing.

In 2004, former Annasoft employees came together to rekindle the spirit of making embedded development a little easier and founded SJJ Embedded Micro Solutions, LLC. Articles, books, training, and consulting services focused on Windows XP Embedded. In 2008, SJJ acquired RTC Books and the Annabooks name brand from the RTC Group. Four years later, SJJ Embedded Micro Solutions, LLC became Annabooks, LLC. Today, we continue to offer different education avenues for learning technology. Here is a timeline of our history:

 

  

1988 – Annabooks is founded in San Diego, CA. After creating the first backplane PCs and the company I-BUS in the early 80s, John Choisser teamed with John O. Foster to create “The XT-AT Handbook” later to become “The PC Handbook”. The shirt pocket sized handbook was packed with technical details on the PC architecture. The handbook was a must-have for hardware and software developers looking to build their own embedded PCs. BiosMaker (later to become Annabios) and Promkit soon followed. Around this time, Annabooks became Microsoft’s first distributor for MS-DOS to the embedded market.

1989 – The XT-AT Handbook by John O. Foster and John P. Choisser
1989 – Promkit by John O. Foster and John P. Choisser
1990 – Biosmaker by John O. Foster

1990’s - Expanding on the need to help OEMs build embedded PC systems, several industry experts signed up to be authors and cover some of the key PC technologies of the decade. Edward Solari wrote the successful ISA & EISA Theory & Operation, and he would later write and co-write several other books including the equally popular PCI Hardware and Software Architecture & Design with George Willse. Two Intel Engineers, Brian Dipert and Markus Levy, wrote the earliest book on flash memory: Designing with Flash Memory. Annabooks also started a PC development training course with several of the authors taking part. As new PC technologies were being developed, other authors covered USB and PCI-X, and there were even a few non-PC related texts. Peer-to-Peer Publishing was aquired.

1992 - ISA & EISA Theory & Operation by Edward Solari
1993 - PC Keyboard Design: The PC Compatible Keyboard Design Reference by Gary Konzak
1993 - Designing with Flash Memory by Brian Dipert and Markus Levy
1994 - PC 8042 Keyboard Controller Kit by Gary Konzak
1994 - PCI Hardware and Software Architecture & Design by Edward Solari and George Willse
1995 - The PCI Handbook by Brian Dipert
1995 - The Internet Joke Book by Brad Templeton
1996 - Fuzzy Logic for Real World Design by Ted Heske and Jill Neporent Heske
1996 - DOS Buttons v 2.0
1996 - Power Management that Works by James C. Bunnell
1997 - The Embedded PCs ISA Bus: Firmware Gadgets, and Practical Tricks by Ed Nisley
1998 - Interrupt Driven PC System Design by Joe McGivern
1998 - USB Hardware and Software by John Garney, Ed Solari, Shelagh Callahan, Kosar Jaff, and Brad Hosler
1998 - PCI HotPlug Application and Design by Alan Goodrum
1999 - Developing USB PC Peripherals by Wooi Ming Tan
1999 - Raidbook: A Storage System Technology Handbook 6th Edition by Paul Massiglia - Select for Intel Corporation's Recommended Reading List
2000 - Windows NT Embedded Step-by-Step by Sean Liming
2000 - Programming the Motorola M68HC12 Family by Gordon Doughman
2000 - USB Handbook by Kosar Jaff
2000 - PCI Power Management by George Willse, Edward Solari, Jim Ewertz
2000 - USB Peripheral Design by John Koon

2002 – Annabooks is sold to The RTC Group, the leader in embedded market for tradeshows and magazines. Annabooks become RTC Books. Several new book titles were published:

2003 - Windows® XP Embedded Step–by-Step by James Beau Cseri
2003 - Embedded Networking with CAN and CANopen by Olaf Pfeiffer, Andrew Ayre, and Christian Keydel.
2003 - Windows® XP Embedded Advanced by Sean Liming

 

2004 - SJJ Embedded Micro Solutions, LLC. is founded.

2004 - Seanliming.com is created
2004 - Speaker Participation at Windows Embedded DevCon 2004 - Taipei, Taiwan

2005 - sjjmicro.com website is created with new online store

2005 - Published: Windows® XP Embedded Supplemental Toolkit by Sean Liming
2005 - Published: Stop 0x7B whitepaper, one of the first of many applications notes and white papers to come.
2005 - Speaker Participation at MEDC 2005 World Tour: Germany, France, United Kingdom, Malasia, and Australia.

2006 - First year XPe training courses were offered

2006 - Released Windows XP Embedded Supplemental Toolkit - Tools Release 2
2006 - Speaker Participation at MEDC 2006 World Tour: France, India, Australia.
2006 - Published: Windows® Embedded for Point of Service / POS for .NET Step-by-Step by Sean Liming
2006 - Anounced partnership with EMAC, INC to develop Development Kit for .NET Micro Framework

2007 - .NET Micro Framework Kits are available

2007 - Speaker Participation at MEDC Las Vegas
2007 - Released Industrial Development kit for Windows XP Embedded
2007 - Released eBox-3851 Thin-Client Development Kit for XP Embedded Feature Pack 2007
2007 - Created First WEPOS / POS for .NET Class
2007 - Embedded Development Kit (EDK) for .NET Micro Framework Released

2008 – SJJ Embedded Micro Solutions, LLC. acquires RTC Books to expand book publishing efforts.

2008 - New .NET Micro Framework Training Course is announced
2008 - Three videos created to address common development issues with XPE / WES2009
2008 - Speaker Participation at ESC-WEST 2008
2008 - SJJ Embedded Micro Solutions, LLC. acquires RTC Books to expand book publishing efforts.
2008 - New WES 2009 Training course created and a new 4th Development Day is added
2008 - Embedded Development Kit Plus (EDKplus) for .NET Micro Framework Released
2008 - DUA Administrator v1.0 is released
2008 - RoboticsConnection.com uses EDKPlus in Traxster Micro Framework Robotics Kit

2009 – Annabooks.com is re-launched

2009 - Annabooks.com is re-launched and previous titles moved to new website
2009 - Real-Time Development from Theory to Practice - Featuring TenAsys® INtime® by John R. Malin and Sean Liming
2009 - Company moves to Yorba Linda, CA

2010 - Windows Embedded Standard 7 Education programs created

2010 - Three New WES7 application notes published
2010 - New WES 7 Advanced Training Course is anounced with a 3rd Development Day Option
2010 - Professionl's Guide to Windows® Embedded Standard 7 by Sean Liming
2010 - The PC Handbook 8th Edition by John P. Choisser and John O. Foster

2011 - New Annabooks Online Store and Book Sales on Amazon.com started. Some older book titles are re-released for the Kindle readers.

2011 - Windows XP Embedded Advanced, Windows XP Embedded Supplemental Toolkit, and The PC Handbook are published on the Kindle
2011 - First new book delivered as eBook only: Professional's Guide to POS for .NET by Sean Liming is made available on the Kindle

2012 - Merge of the two business units are official SJJ Embedded Micro Solutions, LLC. becomes Annabooks, LLC.

2012 - Professional's Guide for .NET Micro Framework Application Development published on the Kindle.
2012 - SJJ becomes the distributor for SecureBuss™ - standalone USB firewall solution.
2012 - Annabooks, LLC. websites updated to reflect new business focus

2013 - Windows Embedded 8 Standard Educational Programs created

2013 - Professional's Guide To Windows® Embedded 8 Standard by Sean Liming
2013 - New WE8S Advanced Traning Course is anounced
2013 - Open Software Stack for the Intel® Atom™ Processor by Sean Liming and John R. Malin; The book is added to Intel's Recommended Reading List
2013 - Eclipse Starter Guide for AP® Computer Science by Sean liming and John R. Malin
2013 - Presentation at the first Intelligent System Conference & Pavilion
2013 - Starter Guide for Windows® System Image Manager by Sean Liming and John R. Malin

2017 - Start Guide for Windows 10 IoT Enterprise by Sean Liming and John R. Malin

2018 - Java and Eclipse for Computer Science by Sean Liming and John R. Malin

2019 - Company moves to Rancho Mirage, CA

2021 - First non-technical books published

2021 - Professional’s Guide to POS for Windows Runtime by Sean Liming and John R. Malin
2021 - New Annabooks Online Store Launched
2021 - Our Mother Away From Home by Tanya Katnic
2021 - A Recipe for Love by Tanya Katnic
2021 - Treasures of the Heart by Tanya Katnic

2022 - New Chip-to-Cloud program started

2022 - Starter Guide for Windows® 10 IoT Enterprise, 2nd Edition by Sean Liming and John R. Malin
2022 - First article published for MCU Strategy for Azure
2022 - First FPGA articles published for Altera Max 10 and Nios II
2022 - Annabooks COM Terminal free utility released

2023 - Chip-to-Cloud program continues

2023 - Final articles of FGPA Phase 1 for Altera Max 10 and Nios II released
2023 - First set of articles covering Azure RTOS on MCUs are published
2023 - Start Guide for Windows 10 IoT Enterprise 2nd Edition, Addendum 1 published

2024 - C and Visual Studio With Introductions to Azure IoT C SDK, Azure Sphere, and Eclipse ThreadX by Sean Liming and John R. Malin