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TRON + Linux = "T-Linux"
An anonymous reader writes "The T-Engine Forum and MontaVista Software announced today that they are collaborating to combine the long-dominant Japanese embedded operating system, TRON ("The Real-time Operating system Nucleus"), with embedded Linux, in the hopes of creating a standardized software architecture for embedded devices that takes advantage of open source software and the benefits of Linux."
Marketing. I'm surprized they don't talk about how they're also Bluetooth+XML enabling it.
Plenty.
Embedded devices are becoming increasingly powerful, and are expected to do more. Have you ever looked into the capabilities of new high-end stereo receivers? It's almost exponential from year to year.
A lot of functions normally requiring a full computer are being moved into embedded devices. It makes it a lot easier to port in an application, if it uses an OS you're already familiar with.
Linux adds another layer of compatibility over the base OS. For optimal speed, yes, you'd want to tweak every line for the target hardware. But the hardware cycle is so fast, that sometimes it's nice to let someone else specialize in the performance tweaks. Lets you concentrate on functionality.
There's already a million ways that this is being done, but an open and high-quality (yet to be seen) alternative is always welcome.
...
Mentor, the makers of the real time operating system "Nucleus" (tm), would appear to have reasonable grounds for confusion with a product in the same market place "The Real Time Operating system Nucleus Linux" aka TRON-Linux.
http://www.mentor.com/nucleus/
Sure you can argue Nucleus is a general term, but I doubt that argument holds much weight when both names are used in the same market. Heck, these two are even in the same tiny corner of the computer word (realtime operating systems).
Of course, IANAL, much less a trademark specialist. Anyone more educated on the topic care to comment?
-Matt
Besides, it's just a start. Once you have such a moidel in place, other open source OSs would be just as welcome. You just have to start as simply as possible. Right?
This reminds me of the time I won $5 from a guy because he didn't believe me that "TRON" was short for "TRace ON"- (and the TROFF , well duh)~
Was the same guy who didn't understand why I kept calling ! "bang" >:)
"We are the music makers, and we are the dreamers of dreams."
All that I see RTLinux doing is acting as a microkernel that can switch between OS personalities. It just so happens that they lost their way and created a whole real-time OS instead of setting it up as a personality over the microkernel.
The other way of looking at the RTLinux patent is that they've patented the idea of running a VM hosted OS under a real-time system. Again, that just doesn't make sense as an enforceable patent or you could start patenting any specific combination of host and guest systems.
Maybe there is something buried in the patent that I didn't understand, but to me it just seems like patenting a specific case of the obvious. Then again, I thought (and still think) that patents like Amazon's one-click were asinine and unenforceable, yet no one's managed to knock the stupid thing down yet.
I do not fail; I succeed at finding out what does not work.
Noooo! Deutsche Telekom, take your hands off Linux!
For those who don't know them, about every product as a T prefixed: T-Mobile, T-Net, T-Systems, T-Online... and now T-LInux)
Oh man, the sky is the limit ... development in the OSS realm is *easier*, because you can compare notes with other professionals who have - quite often - explored territories you've only begun to chart.
- fully-understand-the-only-docs-I-can-find janx spirit becomes less and less evident ... of course, there is plenty of that janx in linux land, but I believe you're referring to OSS specifically from an 'edge' developers perspective here, not user. Guys on the edge deal with janx.
... all the way up to your personal communications system (conceptually, at the time, just-another-appliance).
Focus shifts, then, on feature and performance, and the ol' not-sure-if-I-am-doing-this-right-because-I-don't
As someone who has followed the TRON project since its earliest inception, this is really great news to me. TRON was - in the early 80's a conceptual framework for a computing on a massive scale.
Essentially, all devices in the TRON class - no matter their hardware design - would be able to communicate freely with each other, exchange information, and share load.
So, your fridges processor (or storage space) could be used as overflow if your microwave oven decides it needs just a little extra power to do what you're telling it to
I, personally, have been waiting for years to see what comes of TRON and the OSS movement - having had one foot firmly planted in both boats - and so for this sort of event to occur is very motivational indeed...
; -- the corruption of government starts with its secrets. a truly free people keep no secrets. --
..If you read and believe in the Bible, that's quite wrong.
Cain was not a terrorist. His goal was not terror, nor was it to overthrow a government, or liberate any supposedly oppressed people, yadda yadda. (Note: AFAICT, there was no government at that time.)
Cain was a murderer, plain and simple. His goal was to off Abel. Which he did with great gusto.
If you want a real Biblical terrorist, look at the rest of the Old Testament. God's probably the top-rated terrorist - the Great Flood and the Angel of Death and plagues in Egypt spring immediately to mind.
I'm unsure as to whether the Israelites can be considered terrorists. Sure, they slaughtered men and took the heathen women that were foolishly living in 'their' 'holy land', but then, their actions are more reminiscent of military conquest.
A brutal, bloody conquest, but a conquest none-the-less.
And now for something completely different: If you pray to God, you're supporting terrorism!