SOCs: Say Goodbye To C's?

Rick Lehrbaum writes: "This [LinuxDevices.com] article describes a new class of Linux-friendly system-on-chip (SOC) ICs that are taking over the 1-chip microcontroller mantle from simpler architectures like the 8051 and 68HC11. And they're going to vastly accelerate the use of embedded Linux in thousands of new designs for intelligent devices, Internet appliances, and embedded systems. Devices covered in the article include include: Intel StrongARM SA-1110, NEC VR4181, STMicro STPC, Mot MPC823e, IBM PPC 405GP, NETsilicon NET+ARM, Aplio/TRIO, Axis ETRAX, LinkUp L7205, Alchemy Au1000, and Cirrus Maverick EP9312." I'd like a walkman-size computer based on that IBM 405GP that runs on AAs for a week ... sort of neat how open source OSes can seep into things like this.

Comments

Meanwhile, back in reality...

[Silverpike]

Disclaimer: I am a design engineer on the embedded PowerPC team, interpret this accordingly.

Before I begin: don't be misled. The 68HC11 and the 405gp are two totally different ballparks. They do not compete in the same space.

faeryman sez:

I've followed the development of the for a while now, even having a few email conversations with Jonathon Thompson, Quong Ho Thoc, and Hagr Itstein (three lead developers). I told them about a few of my concerns but it looks like marketing prevailed :(
I am relatively new with the 4xx PowerPC team, but I've never heard of any of those people; I don't think they are developers (much less lead ones).

I don't see Linux being the right tool for this. I don't want to see this product fail since I know IBM is a good company. By all means everything else they made was a success, but the IBM 405GP looks like it will be a flop.
Umm, our customers sure seem to think it's the right tool. We got so much demand for Linux on 405 that we had to hire extra people to fully support Linux. As for 405gp being a flop, I don't know what planet you are on. 405 is selling so fast that it put a strain on our short term capacity. I don't consider a chip to be a 'flop' when Ericsson, Nokia, Cisco, and Alcatel use them in their products...

(1) Security - This is a big concern for me. Imagine some evil hacker getting control of this baby...now imagine if this was used in your bank or a military instituion. See the problem?
Umm, no, I don't. How exactly do you associate a SOC device with an Ethernet port automatically vulnerable to hackers? Is the 405gp somehow deficient in this regard?

While I commend the design of Open Souce, perhaps allowing the innerworkings of this to be accessable by a hacker is not good, even more so when it's an embedded system.
You are confusing connectivity with security. This article is about SOC's, and as far as their design is concerned they must be properly secured like any other computer system. Save the security tirade for a different forum.

(2) Expansion architecture - Check the specs on this thing. While a PCI slot is normally a good thing, wouldn't MCA or a propietary bus be better suited for this?
Are you f*cking kidding me? MCA? How many MCA devices can you buy? Not just cards, I means chips (which is what the vast majority of 40x's will be talking to). Almost zippo. Now how many different PCI devices do you think you can find?

Linux runs on the MCA fine, and I think it's low overhead and fault-tolerant properties are better than a run of the mill PCI slot for this. Or a new bus design could be implemented. IBM benefits with better performance, we as a comunity benefit from more GPL code being released. Sound good?
Absolutely not. The whole point of choosing PCI is because it is commodity, fast, reliable, and supported by almost every modern OS. It seems that you are desperate to reinvent the wheel here.

3) Operating system - [flamesuit] I like Linux, but I don't think Linux is the best tool for this. IBM has made the decision to go with Linux, so I'll respect that.
Like I said before, our customers want Linux. Linux is not the only OS we support. Actually you can put damn near any OS on the planet on it; IBM doesn't have support for them all however. You want a lighter weight OS than Linux? Fine, use OS/Open, which is IBM's little creation (works very well and supported too).

Scalibility and performance are key here, and QNX can deliver better than Linux.
Well, if you think so, then there's no reason you can't run it on 405gp.

Again, I don't like being negative but I don't think the IBM 405GP will do that well. I want to be proved wrong though, I want to see Linux progress and gain market share, and I want to see IBM be profitable....but Linux just ain't gonna cut it for this one my friends. Please tell me I'm wrong.
Well, since you asked so nicely... :)

Glad we're finally getting rid of those...

[Imperator]

...annoying microcoulombs. If there's one metric unit I can't stand, it's the C. In fact, the prefix should be removed entirely, because you need to use the HTML character entity µ, which timothy doesn't seem to know about.