First Embedded Release Of 2.6-Series Kernel

An anonymous reader writes "LynuxWork's BlueCat Linux 5.0, based on a 2.6-series Linux kernel, is now available for public beta testing, with a projected final release date set for November. LynuxWorks claims this to be the first public availability of embedded Linux based on the new kernel. Key new features include: improved kernel preemption; 0(1) scheduler; improved POSIX threading support; Interested participants in BlueCat 5.0 beta program may apply at www.lynuxworks.com."

Comments

quite interesting ...

[Dreadlord]

I wonder if Sharp is going to use the new kernel in their next line of Linux based products, I have a Zaurus PDA and I'm quite happy with it, if the new kernel gives s better performance and stability, then I'm going for it.

Re:quite interesting ...

[xiopher]

I was wondering the same thing. How hard is it to compile the Linux kernel into a form you can install on your zaurus. I know it wouldn't be very useful. But I'm a geek and I think it would be a great exercise to do.

Who uses them?

[bluGill]

Nothing against the bluecat product, which seems very good, but why would you use it? Linux is free, and since their goal is embedded systems, I would assume the company has engineers on staff that can handle all the support issues, and configuring the system. With an embedded system you normally have a lot of work to do yourself to fit the system into your own hardware anyway, so roll you own seems like a no brainer decision.

Blue Cat has been around for a while, so appearently somebody is buying this. I'd just like to know what makes it worth it?

Re:Contrast with kernel reviewed by Dedicated Syst

[Anonymous Coward]

Well, for one thing the kernel verion to which you refer is 2.4.5!! I would say there is your first MAJOR difference!

Re:Contrast with kernel reviewed by Dedicated Syst

[Anonymous Coward]

How about this little gem:

Why did we test Red Hat Embedded Linux 7.2 in our RTOS evaluation program, although Red Hat and the Linux community clearly states that Linux is not meant to be used in real-time environments?
A lot of our readers explicitly asked for it. However Linux is not an RTOS! The reader should keep this in mind when going through the results published in this report.

Did you even read that article or do you make a habit of comparing apples to oranges? To pull up such a obscure link as a First Post leads me to the conclusion that you much work for QNX.

Re:Why bother?

[Anonymous Coward]

Do you know the difference between customer support and enterprise support? Do you know the level of involvement Microsoft provides for anyone licensing WinCE on a corporate level for the new products? Microsoft would send developers and consultants over to the campus, provide free training seminars and a bunch of other free software that you would have to pay otherwise.

Shut up with your "Any Key" and "My Windows won't print my AOL e-mail" complaints, that stuff used to be outsourced before (Software Spectrum, Moses Lake, WA, go check it out yourself, and as of recently was moved to India) and it is outsourced now.

Once you get hired with someone with a yearly software budget more than $5 from mommy's salary, you will learn the difference and how far Microsoft is willing to go even for measly 20K (their whole Mobile/Embedded division pulls in 300M, which is pittance for such a huge company).

Troll.

Re:NO - Legitimately Curious

[hubie]

Have you looked at ecos and RTLinux? I think there were one or two others but they don't come immediately to mind.

I can't say much about LabView and CE.NET, but I do work with VxWorks and it is easy to develop for and has a reliable performance. On the other hand, you pay alot for the licenses. We're doing R&D stuff and we just can't keep VxWorks in our budget (we just want to upgrade our processor board and it would run us something like $7k-$10k). We're considering other OS options and I would be interested in any other observations you have. If I am correct, one of the things that is appealing about QNX is that for our R&D work the license would essentially be very cheap or free (I think you don't pay until you want to use it commercially, if I recall correctly).

Re:Why bother?

[NullProg]

At this point it's almost no price competition with Linux - anyone looking at selling 1,000 devices can afford spending 3 grands on corporate licenses.
Drug dealers always give their wares away pretty cheap at first too. $3000 is about the size of my bonus last year. I'm glad the boss gave it to me instead of Microsoft.

Can Linux development provide the same level of support
Yes, we have boxes in the field which have been running over three years without problems. We only spent one month (me) on the initial development. What support are you talking about?

and you explain the problem, then they prepare the patch.
Using Linux we haven't had to patch anything.

it's safer to choose the one that consumers would be pleased with
The tvio users might argue with you on this. Our customers (enterprise) don't care what is in the box, just that it works.

Enjoy,

Re:Why bother?

[kpellegr]

Of course, when MS releases a new version, they drop support for the previous one in order to promote the new one.

Even yesterday, when I asked about support for CE.Net 4.1 for our BSP (board support package), they stated that they would only support 4.2

At least with Linux, *we* can decide when to move from one version to the next!