Embedded Linux Tools Market a Myth?

nadamsieee writes "EETimes is running a story that proclaims that the embedded Linux tools market is a myth The author, Dan O'Dowd, sites variety of problems (challenges?) with embedded Linux ranging from poor real-time performance to lack of broad developer support. Dan concludes: "Considering all of the possible support avenues, Linux support ends up being lower quality and more costly than the alternatives of using a homegrown operating system or purchasing a proprietary one." Maybe Dan should check out the success stories at LinuxDevices.com or perhaps try a more traditional embedded OS that also happens to be Free."

Comments

Look who the author of the article is

[Anonymous Coward]

Dan O'Dowd is President and chief executive officer of Green Hills
Software,Inc.
Green Hills sells compilers and RTOS for embedded
systems. (They have been the market for a long time).
No wonder he does not like Linux.

No kidding

[JoeBuck]

EE Times regularly gives space to marketing droids to flog their stuff, and regular readers know how to distinguish these marketing puff pieces from the very good stuff that the full-time staff writes.

If someone at one of the embedded Linux companies asks, EE Times will probably be happy to give them equivalent space next week to answer.

Typical...

[jasno]

Hello, Embedded Developer here.

First, let me point out that the article was written by the president and CEO of Green Hills, a vendor of proprietary development tools and several RTOSes.

Second, let me point out a mistake made by many, many analysts when talking about 'embedded' linux. The 'embedded' market ranges from 8-bit microcontroller based devices, to PC style hardware, to cell phones and set-top boxes, satellites and mars rovers. So it is very difficult to come up with an assessment of any technology that applies uniformly to the entire space.

I've worked in practically every segment of the embedded market(DSP based consumer electronics, 8-bit control systems, headless PC's, set-top boxes, cell fones, networking appliances). I've used a variety of tools/solutions ranging from expensive and proprietary to free and open.

I recently had a client interested in using embedded linux for a cell fone design. They were put off by the $80k price tag for vxWorks, and so they decided to try linux. They were able to squeeze the system down to around 2MB on an ARM9/TI-OMAP. The realtime performance was acceptable. And to support the development they purchased several JTAG BDM debuggers. Its not that they were looking for a free ride, but $80k for a proprietary OS with limited features didn't seem like good business sense.

Also, the support I've received on mailing lists and IRC is above and beyond anything I've ever seen from a commercial vendor. In fact, I used to work for one of the biggest RTOS vendors around, and I found it more difficult to get answers out of my own company than the linux community.