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Requirements for Embedded Linux
An anonymous reader sent in: "As Embedded Linux becomes established as a solid alternative to many proprietary OSes and RTOSes, demands on embedded Linux developers and providers are increasing. This detailed technical article by Nicholas McGuire sketches the top requirements for Embedded Linux systems including considerations of user interface, network capabilities, security issues, resource optimization, performance requirements and issues, and compatibility and standards issues."
and didn't get modded down to -1
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2) Take Linux to my place
3) Look lovingly into Linux's eyes and tell Linux its the only one for you
4) Give linux a back massage.
Bam, but be careful some people go to be with Linux and wake up next to FreeBSD.
One thing that I think may detract folks from using Linux as an embedded OS is its hackability. For example, TiVo is now hacked 10 ways from sunday. As long as it's adding hard drives and so on, the TiVo folks have been pretty cool about it, but when the encryption scheme for storing recordings was hacked, that leaves them open to legal problems.
While proprietary EOS's are more difficult (for many of the reasons outlined in the article), they can be much more secure (in the weak sense of security through obscurity) than Linux.
you all suck
Lots of info on Embedded Linux at the Embedded Linux Consortium
Computers are so fucking slow, here is the MINIMUM requirements if you wan't linux to run FAST!
1000 THz (thats over 500,000,000 times faster than whats avalible today)
1YB of ram (YB = yottabyte)
600YB hardrive
and of course, you have to install it from windows!
Don't look for this on the Jew York Times Bestsellers list.
I used to work closely with a development team that made the transition from a proprietary (and, may I add, unmaintainable and unreliable) embedded OS to Linux. Though some of the concerns in the article did come up, especially speed and size issues, those didn't hurt us much. After all, we could afford a better processor and more memory with the money we saved on royalties and maintenance expenses - these were substantial.
Unfortunately, if the many features of Linux and the transition from assembler to C didn't hurt us, the licensing did. Things went very smoothly until we needed to make some big changes to the kernel to accomodate a newer version of our hardware. At that point, there was a schism in the group: some of the developers wanted to change the kernel and release the product without source (the "who would find out?" crowd) and the rest of us knew that Linux was not going to fit our needs anymore unless we wanted to give our work away to competitors.
Well, the "who would find out?" crowd won the first round, and because of release deadlines we "slipped" the kernel changes into the next version of the product. And nobody knew. Except one of us told the legal department about what happened and they became very agitated.
Now our software runs on embedded NetBSD. It wasn't quite as robust as embedded Linux but it works well and we really can't complain. Transitioning to a new OS took a lot of effort but it was a necessary evil. After all, we couldn't risk getting sued out of existence to save a little money.
But the question I draw from this is: why not relax the GPL restrictions a bit for embedded applications? It seems like this area of the market will never be dominated by Linux until companies can stop fretting about licensing problems and start concentrating on coding instead.
-Name withheld so I don't get canned
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Since we do not have electricity or computers,
you are on the HONOR SYSTEM!
Please delete ALL of your files....
Thank Thee.
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There is quite a bit of info at http://more.sbc.co.jp/slj/docandtool.asp
It's mostly about the dev. version of zaurus, but I think it applies to others. enjoy
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Its a really good read!
I'm working on a project and I would need to make a Linux distro that loads up a simple, locked, X screen with a custom made web browser. How would this be most easily done? This is in many ways like an embedded Linux environment...
Why does CNN post every GOD DAMN MURDER that happens in Israel? Ohhhh .. that's right. America = Jewland v2.0 .... We're on the brink of WWIII and constantly digging ourselves into a deeper hole.
My gouess is that's the reason why 90% of Mac and Win users is using pirate software, that's not legally bought
an ask slashdot question.
why is it that there is no user with UID 66 (users.pl?uid=66), but there is a person with the nick 666 (~666). please post this to ask slashdot.
thanks.
$ rm -R /
/.mod --1 Anonymous Coward
$ wince.exe
$
Here is where the beauty of us Electrical/Computer engineers come out. When you get into funky/new hardware, you need us guys.
What I propose that there should be a standardized set of low-level functions, with charts telling which platforms take how many cycles for each function. In this way, with just one layer, you could make truly portable code. Like a . In this way, the EEs could figure out how to make a set of hardware conform to a universal interface.
For instance, Motorola and Intel have two different Opcodes to ASCII Adjusted Addition. Motorola has AAA, Intel has something else (I forget right now). If you could make something at the very end change it, you could have code go from one device to another without much of a tweak. I realize that that is sorta the role of a compiler, but it needs to be ramped up. Linux on ANY device. Then we could focus on making it perdy.
Just my $.02.
Joe
As Embedded Hot Grits becomes established as a solid alternative to many cold cereals and other breakfast items, demands on embedded hot grits zealots and trolls are increasing. This detailed technical article by Natalie Portman sketches the top requirements for embedding hot grits in your pants without risking petrification.
Truth is here.
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You would have to be really, _REALLY_ stupid to consider embedded windows.
It has lots of disadvantages and no advatanges of any merit.
Where you trying to be funny ?
I think TiVo sees the hackability of its systems to be a selling point. Maybe if the company who made the iOpener (anyone remember thier name ?) had embraced the those who wanted to extend the usabilty of thier machines, they might still be around.
"Our products just aren't engineered for security,"
-Brian Valentine,VP in charge of MS Windows Development
This stupid rant comes up every time
4 20 12 424 3&mode=thread
someone mentions embedded linux.
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=01/12/18/192
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=01/12/05/17
Please look at these two postings and
you will find this exact same response...
word for word.
Angel could not believe what she was seeing. It was very late at night, and she had gone down the hall in her sorority house to get her hairbrush from Melissa. She wanted to be ready for tomorrow and the date with Frank. Since she was restless and could not sleep, she left her room to go to Melissa's. It was a little past midnight. As she rounded the corner, she began to hear unmistakable sounds of moaning. The door to Melissa's room was slightly ajar. Curious, she peeked in. It was then that she saw Pam down on her knees--her face between Melissa's legs! "Ooh. That's right," moaned Melissa. "Eat it good, now..." Melissa had her legs spread wide and had her hand behind Pam's head. Pam was fully dressed, and Melissa wore only a sweat shirt and socks. Pam was an Asian girl, a new recruit to the sorority. Melissa was the president of the sorority; people told her that she looked like Jennifer Jason Leigh. As Angel watched in stunned amazement, it nearly seemed as if the Asian girl was trying to pull her head away. Her arms were lax at her sides. "C'mon, I know you can do better than that," Melissa said. Pam at last pulled her face up from the blonde pussy. "I've never done this before," she said, whimpering. "Well, you're gonna have to learn," snapped Melissa. "You want in, don't you?" The Asian girl looked at Melissa, hesitated, and then nodded. "That's a good girl. Now I think you know how you get in..." To make her point clear, Melissa roughly grabbed at Pam's long raven hair and pulled her face back to her pussy. "Mmph." "Ah yeah. That's it..." Angel watched as the Oriental girl worked her tongue up and down the spread pussy. She wanted to leave, but it was as if she was transfixed. She couldn't believe that Melissa was abusing her powers as sorority president this way. Melissa pressed the captive girl's face deeper into her pussy. She began to gyrate on the bed, lifting her hips and moaning. Pam continued to lick the pussy, her nose buried deep in the hairy folds, her tongue flicking at the pink flesh. Angel was mesmerized by watching the cute Asian girl eat pussy. The girl knelt submissively before Melissa and was licking her vagina! It was amazing to see. And she even seemed to be getting into it more and more: her hands began to gently caress Melissa's thighs... "Mmmm. That's it. That's it. Lick my clit. Say how you want to eat my pussy. Say it." Pam looked up, her face glistening with pussy juice. She had dark eyelashes and a pretty upturned nose. "Say it," said Melissa, with an evil grin. "I want... to eat your pussy. I love to eat it..." "That's a good little whore." As Melissa pushed the girl back into her cunt, she happened to look up and catch sight of Angel. Angel gasped, already so weak in the knees she didn't think she could move. "Hey!" Melissa whispered hoarsely. "Get in here--!" Angel did not move. She thought she was going to faint. "Get in here! C'mon!" Pam pulled away, frightened. Angel, realizing that she had been discovered, pushed through the door and went in. She did not know what else to do. She had known Melissa for a year-and-a-half, and she was used to her giving orders. She had always acted like she was queen of the house. "I'm sorry... I..." "So, what do you want?" said Melissa, acting as if nothing was the matter. She sat up on the bed, not bothering to cover her nudity. There was a soft lamp on in one corner of the room. "I just came... over... I..." Angel could not speak or think coherently. She felt as if she were in a dream. Pam was standing, ashamed and looking away. "Uh-huh," said Melissa. A grin broke out on her face. "I suppose you'd like a little action, too, huh..." "No, I... I didn't... I, well..." "Well what?" "I'm sorry. I better go--" "Come here. Sit by me. I want to tell you something..." Angel obeyed, moving as if in a trance. "You're not going to tell," said Melissa. "That's for sure. Or I'll send you out of here so fast--believe me. You got that?" Angel nodded dumbly. She looked over at Pam, who continued to stand silently--apparently too ashamed to speak or act. "Good. I knew you'd see it my way," said Melissa, drawing close to Angel. "This is just a little initiation. Pam understands it's all part of becoming a Sigma Kappa. Isn't that right, Pam?" "Yes," said Pam, submissively, still not looking up. "But..." "But nothing. This is the way things are. At least while I'm president. Now Pam..." Melissa turned away from Angel, tossing her shoulder-length blonde hair. "Take off those clothes. I want to see that cute body of yours. All Sigmas have to have the right body." Pam hesitated, nervously flipping a strand of hair behind her ear. She wore gold hoop earrings. Then, slowly, she began to pull off her shirt. She wore a white cotton bra--her breasts small but firm. She then began to pull off her jeans. As she did so, Melissa was fingering her pussy. Angel, sitting so close, could not help notice. She was wearing only nylon pajamas, and she could not deny that her own pussy was starting to moisten. She looked away from Melissa, and saw Pam standing before them in her bra and panties... "That's nice," said Melissa. "But it will all have to come off..." Pam undid her bra, her round pert breasts falling out. The nipples were dime-sized and dark. Then, her face still averted, she peeled off her panties and stepped out of them. She now wore nothing but a gold chain necklace. Angel gasped, staring at the triangle of black hair. She had never seen another women naked before--especially such a beautiful one as Pam. "Very nice!" said Melissa. "Very nice, indeed..." Melissa reached out for a breast. Pam stood silently as Melissa pawed her breast, feeling it, her hand then gliding over her smooth tummy. "What have we here?" Melissa passed her hand over Pam's vagina. Pam groaned, shutting her eyes. Angel could not believe what she was seeing; but she could not rip her eyes away. Melissa rubbed the black pubic hairs, and then parted the lips of the pussy. Then, abruptly, she spoke. "Now, I think Angel would like your attentions--wouldn't you, Angel?" Melissa grinned. Angel flinched, her innermost thoughts read. She could not believe she was thinking such perverted things. She tried to think of Frank, but she continued to stare at the young Asian girl. She continued to stare as Pam sunk to her knees. "There we go! It's all part of initiation here..." Melissa, in order to help the process along, helped to pull Angel's pajama bottoms off. Angel only feebly resisted. Her eyes met Pam's from below. Her heart began to pound as she realized what was about to happen. When her pajamas were taken off, Pam's eyes dropped to where her tongue would soon be. "I think Pam is going to make a great Sigma, don't you, Angel?" Angel was amazed at how cavalier Melissa was about all this-- as if she had done this many times before. She heard herself whisper "Oh, you shouldn't" as Pam lowered her face to Angel's brown-haired pussy--but this was all the resistance she could manage. Her legs were close, but Pam nestled her face between them, inevitably making them wider. Her tongue made contact with her humid folds, licking hesitantly at first and then gaining in boldness. Melissa held Pam's hair, stroking it, pushing her face in farther. "That's right. Lick that pussy," she said. "Ohmigod," said Angel. "Yesss..." She looked down at the sight of Pam's pretty Asian face nestled in her pussy. It was amazing to her to have another girl between her legs like this. The room was very quiet--the only sounds to be heard were Pam's sucking on the wet inner folds of Angel's pussy. Pam flicked her tongue and lapped vigorously at the cunt. "I'd say she's getting the hang of it," chuckled Melissa. "A fast learner..." Angel leaned back, the first waves of passion coming over her. She brought down her hand and began to caress Pam's silken hair. It was feeling so good... "Now let's see those tits of yours..." Melissa undid the buttons on Angel's pajamas. Angel was too lost in her pleasure to stop her. Before she knew it, she was stark naked, the cool air on her breasts. They were average size, the nipples very erect. Melissa leaned over and began to stab her tongue at the nipple nearest her. "Um," she said. "I've wanted you for a long time, Angel." Angel sunk down on the bed. Pam was licking her pussy very good, her wet pink tongue darting over the clitoris. Meanwhile, Melissa was working over one breast, and then the other. Angel was overwhelmed with the sensations of having two women enjoy her body. She had experience with men, but nothing that came even close to this. She was still a virgin, even. She did not let Frank get any farther than heavy petting--and now here she was with Pam licking her pussy and Melissa sucking her breasts! She moaned deeply, abandoning herself to it all. Melissa then brought her mouth to Angel's. She kissed her roughly, forcing her tongue into Angel's mouth. "It's good, isn't it?" Angel could only nod lazily, Melissa pulling away her mouth. "Now I think it's time you had a treat..." Angel did not know what was meant by this. She continued to stroke Pam's hair as the girl licked her pussy, wondering where Melissa had gone. She was not long in wondering as Melissa straddled her face--and brought her pussy down onto it. "Eat my pussy, Angel! Eat it good!" "Oh God..." groaned Angel. She could not get out anything else as Melissa's hairy pussy was ground into her face. Angel had no idea what she was doing. She only knew that Pam was making her feel so good, and that she could make Melissa feel that way too if she wanted. The pussy smelled strange, but not as offensive as she thought it might. The hairs brushed against her cheeks. She opened her mouth and brought out her tongue... "Oh yeah! That's it!" Angel licked at the pussy. She realized that there was no turning back now. Once you start licking a girl's pussy, then one could not deny being a lesbian. Strangely, she did not mind too much. She was enjoying Melissa's sweet cunt too much to care. She flipped her tongue up and down the wet slit, and then stabbed at the hard knob of flesh that was the clitoris. "Mmm, yeah," moaned Melissa, moving her hips. Angel reached around and cupped Melissa's ass, bringing the pussy even closer into her face. It seemed the whole world had become pussy. While she licked and slurped, she felt a burst of warmth shudder through her, and she realized she was coming. Pam began to noisily lick out the flowing juice. Just as the last waves of her orgasm subsided, Melissa let out a cry. "Oh God, yes! Eat me! Oh... God... YES!" Angel was flooded with pussy juice, the juice flowing off the sides of her face. It was amazing, but true: she had brought Melissa to orgasm with her tongue... Angel had assumed the "initiation" was over when Melissa lifted herself off--but she was wrong. "I think Pam deserves a treat now..." Angel, on her back and exhaustedly dizzy, heard as Melissa said something to Pam in a low voice. Pam then answered: "Oh, would it... would it be all right...?" "Of course! I said so, didn't I?" "Well..." "C'mon!" Angel soon learned what they were talking about. Pam climbed up on Angel's body--very delicately--and brought her face past Angel's, too shy to look her in the eye. She then positioned a soft breast over Angel's face. Angel looked up at it, the hard brown nipple pointed down at her. "Tell her to suck your tittie," said Melissa. "Suck my tit," said Pam, in a shy voice. Angel did not need the extra encouragement. She took the nipple in her teeth and began to suck on it. She ran her hands over Pam's smooth back as she did so. She wanted to return the pleasure that Pam had just given her. Once she had finished sucking on both breasts, Melissa had her next instruction: "Now, have her eat your pussy." Angel groaned as Pam brought her body up even farther. "That's right, you're a good little cunt eater, aren't you, Angel? Tell her to eat it." "Eat my pussy, Angel," said Pam. She sat on Angel's face as Melissa had before. Angel feverishly licked the dark, Oriental cunt, noticing the different taste of it and how tight the folds were. She cupped the girl's ass, her fingers kneading the flesh. Pam sighed, rotating her hips. It was not long before she let out a yelp and her body shuddered. Angel licked the hot pussy juice, licking until it was dry... Jenny woke the next morning with a black pubic hair in her teeth. She shivered, remembering what she had done the night before. Trembling, she ran for the shower. She cleaned herself vigorously, as if she were very dirty. But as the first shock wore off, she began to become aroused again--thinking about Pam and her delicious body. Maybe it wasn't so wrong after all...
Liberate your mind in two clicks or less.
Step one, configure and install the Linux kernel. Step two, configure and install uClibc, step three configure and install BusyBox. Step four, setup the bootloader (depends on architecture). Step five, reboot into a working system...
-Erik -- --This message was written using 73% post-consumer electrons--
Can i trust slashdot for good quality MS bashing now? I dont know ...
Why bother w/ Linux when RHAT has a perfectly
fine GPL'ed real embedded OS???
Did your dev team look into using Windows CE.NET or Windows XP Embedded ?
cpeterso
I'm looking to build a small embedded application (basicly a remote control car), I sure know there are better things to use, however I want to be able to use the parts for other projects.
Where would the best place to look for such devices?
I'm a big retard who forgot to log out of Slashdot on Mike's computer! LOOK AT ME.
"As Embedded Linux becomes established as a solid alternative to many proprietary OSes and RTOSes"
If anything,the embedded Linux hysteria has died down quite a bit. Linux has it's share of problems in the embedded marketplace. Large memory footprint, filesystems that need time to shutdown, interrupt latency to name a few. I work in the single board computer industry and we've seen a sharp decline in the requests for embedded linux support over the last year.
They stab it with their steely knives,
But they just can't kill the beast.
"As Embedded Linux becomes established as a solid alternative to many proprietary OSes and RTOSes..." Thanks for that. I needed a good laugh.
My company recently went down the path of evaluating several embedded linux suppliers, including Hard Hat Linux, LynuxWorks, RTLinux, and others. This evaluation was for an embedded communications platform.
There are many "real-world" issues that will arise when considering Linux instead of some of the more established embedded OS players (WindRiver/pSOS, Green Hills, Keil, QNX, et al -- see Embedded Systems Programming magazine for a pdf summary of embedded OS providers). These real-world issues, which will vary in importance among organizations for various reasons, include:
In short, development in the embedded world tends to have many more complications associated with it. That's not necessarily bad -- in fact it often makes it more technically challenging and thus professionally satisfying -- it's just something that ought to be recognized, acknowledged, and taken into account when OS decisions are being made.
Andy
I guess the distinctions between embedded and non-embedded systems are disappearing.
Traditionally, embedded systems have a minimal user interface (number pad and 7-segment displays come to mind), minimal ROM and RAM, no mass storage, and hard real-time requirements. For a system like this, Linux (or any desktop, mini, or mainframe OS) seems both inadequate and bloated.
Today's definition of an embedded system seems to be "a portable general purpose computer system". Perhaps we should just call it that rather than use the term embedded system.
Devices running embedded Linux are free as long as you tell everyone where you stole them...
At our last meeting, a couple of cool folks from BlueMug in Berkeley came and talked about an embedded Linux prototype they built for a client (photos). Their presentation slide is also online here (2MB PDF).
At the meeting before that, Rob Wehrli of Arizona Cooperative Power came to talk about Clinux (photos). His presentation is online, too.
Enjoy!
This is common issue in the embedded world and sometimes is the main reason linux isn't used. I have been in a situation where linux was considered and one of the reasons it lost out was that we felt the amount of real intellectual property we could put into it was limited. We make our systems from parts that other vendors could also buy and so our software really makes a big difference. In these cases, we felt that we had to use either a BSD based system or a proprietary one that allowed us rights to change the full source. We are currently with the proprietary model but the licensing charges are keeping us looking BSD again.
-- soldack
"Note: Windows XP Embedded was not tested directly"
Hey! _My_ keyboard doesn't have a 'mu' key!