Slashdot Mirror
Behind The Coolest Gadgets - Linux or Windows?
An anonymous reader submits "Sister sites LinuxDevices and WindowsForDevices have kicked off what they're calling the Great Embedded Device Smack-Down, to see whether Linux or Windows Embedded powers the best and coolest devices. The Smackdown highlights more than 350 gadgets in nine categories, along with some entertaining "pre-game commentary" featuring the latest market share figures for the two OSes and a whacky clipart image of Stone Cold Bill Gates taking on The Tux."
was slash slashdotted, or was it a server problem?
I think we need to know.
iPod
You can't take the sky from me...
What runs an iPod?
I think they are neat and good for the community to toy with. Who knows what inventions could become from this?
I knew gats didn't like linux, but to resort to violance, I didn't think he was even that low.
404
My Linux popcorn maker maximizes the popped to unpopped kernel ratio. Far superior to my older Windows model.
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Are you a Chipotle Fan?
... just click on the link to see the "whacky clipart image", then hit the back button immediately after? Or was it just me? :)
it seems like this is all in good fun...
it's nice to see good-natured rivalry based on merits rather than name-calling and finger pointing.
You see, without that little doohicky, the universe stops.
http://propheteer.org
Our old TS models are great, but the new ACS are even better. Darn easy to use, and rock solid.
They run Linux, BTW...
There exists no way of exchanging information without making judgments. --Bene Gesserit Axiom
Doesn't the Windows model run hotter, though?
In a recent study, 100% of all robots that reported chose Linux.
It's embedded, so long as it runs seamlessly so that it does what it should why on earth is any customer going to give a flying fuck what OS it runs.
The table of how many devices of which type run which OS seems to only list which OS devices ship with. Linux has been ported to many Windows devices, so you cna flash them to Linux. While windows should work with many of the linux devices, I think it isn't trivial to buy a license to put it on your device that shipped with Linux & to then flash it to run windows.
If it runs Microsoft's software, then it necessarily has some sort of DRM on it. Thus, I'd have to favor Linux.
If someone says he and his monkey have nothing to hide, they almost certainly do.
Linux
Blaze a trail to the New World
If Microsoft wins the embedded device war, we can look forward to the following things:
1) Self driving cars which when infested w/ the Sassar2030 worm will all drive us off a cliff
2) All your personal information stored in a handheld device for your convience... and the convience of the 200+ Spyware programs that are automatically installed as you checkout at walmart
3) We will finally reach Jupiter only to find out the computer is controlled by a very evil looking red eye "I'm sorry Dave, but you need to download security patches"
After all, linux don't have price by quantity (i.e. for devices where price matters is a big advantage), could be use with no x86 processors, could be tweaked for supporting better the surrounding hardware and could require a lot less hardware/memory/etc.
Anyway, is weird that in the listing they don't put Linux thin clients and terminals, maybe is because almost anything that boots linux and X could work as one, so the market could not be so attractive.
1. The site is a linuxdevices.com..somehow i think this "grapple" will be biased.
/. before, but i'd better shut up.
2. that said, the truth in my experience is that linux supports damn near anything and if it doesn't, you can almost always find a third-party driver because drivers are easier to write when the kernel is open source.
3. that said, windows is the dominant OS and *a lot* of the mainstream hardware is designed specifically for it. it might be easier to use a device you buy under windows because most "pc hardware" is made to work with windows. it might take time to find the linux driver you need, but eventually you will have it.
4. continuing on what i said above, if windows hasn't written a driver for your device, you may never see a driver for that device. windows will never have drivers for apple mice/keyboards...they will continue to make their os support only what it needs to to stay on top. this is the difference between corporate and volunteer approaches.
i'm sure i've only scratched the surface of things that have been said 10000000000000000 times on
I'm against picketing but I don't know how to show it.
MacSense makes the "iPod for the home", in the form of their HomePod. It doesn't run MacOS; it runs Linux and Java (J9).
More info at GlooLabs.
I find it interesting that PalmOS is not even mentioned in the "PDA" category. Is it truly dead?
The cake is a pie
The iPod's OS isn't MacOS. It isn't even made by Apple. They bought the OS and most of the hardware spec from PortalPlayer and then customized it to their liking.
Tivo runs Linux....nuff said.
My Tech Posts on Twitter
fucking slashdotters :)
the windowsfordevices site loaded for me while the linux timed out.......gentoo using newbs might flock and go back to using windows. then again that might not be too bad
I want the the Ponto digital juke box (or the exclusive placement rights):
"Digipop can store up to 20,000 tunes (compressed in Ogg Vorbis or MP3) and soon will deliver video-clips, according to Ponto-i owner Andre Dias. Sound and video ports enable venues to connect Digipop to existing sound and TV systems.
The jukebox includes a wired, remote serial pinpad that can control the machine remotely. For example, a bartender could use the pin pad to add credits to user accounts, which are identified by cards with barcode stickers. Ponto-i sells barcode cards for 50 cents each, printed with the venue's logo."
I am sure that linuxdevices.com will be really fair and impartial in a debate over Linux devices. How much credibility would we all be giving it if it came from Microsoft?
.-=Wit is educated insolence=-. -Aristotle
It runs Linux and it's miles better (pun intended) than the Windows CE counterpart Tomtom Navigator 3 which has occasional glitches.
If only it could run *BSD... ;-)
!ERR: Signature not found.
My favorite embedded device has always been the Windows CE gas station pumps. Because something like pumping gas, ordering Big Macs, and asking for directions all at the same time was just too vital a service for people not to utilize.
As the coolest 'gadgets.'
Well, I haven't read the article yet (and by the looks of things I won't be doing it either), but offhand the only thing that I have to say is that I've never seen a Pocket PC that can stack up to the Zaurus line of handhelds made by Sharp, on either the coolness factor or the gadget factor.
It will be interesting seeing how they weighed the Pocket PC PDAs against the Linux ones, and how the fact that a number of iPaqs can be ran with either PPC or some kind of Linux.
The portablility of X and access to many widget sets should make linux a breeze to port to any display. Linux and Unix can handle complex user interaction pretty well. The problem would be with dealing with proprietary formats. Even the the Open source community seems to have a good grasp of whatever obfuscation Microsoft or Apple throws out to confuse and capture the consumer (e.g. Samba, Open Office, Gnumeric).
No idea what OS it runs, tho, but I'd be interested if anybody knows.
Norman Cook's Ode to Sl
I believe most cable TV boxes in the UK are running a version of linux.
TV + Linux = Simpsons, Futurama and many other programs I don't get time to watch.
Avontech | Play dirty! They started it!
Seems like a bit of a waste since the two very best OS's are excluded. But we alternate OS'ers are a smug lot and will refrain from comment, (only grunts of contempt). M
Since the two quick reference guides aren't loading, I think it's time for Slashdotting jokes to commence. I'll start.
Too bad their webserver was running on one of those linux phones!
Help I'm a rock.
Hardware support for commodity PCs and specialized embedded systems means two different things. In an embedded system, you often don't have be compatible with unknown other devices. The embedded driver doesn't necessarily need to be shoved into a particular API. Code written for one implementation can easily be ported to another embedded implementation. The problem is getting a hardware manufacturer to release his source implementation for two reasons : 1) competitors could create a plug-in replaceable hardware component for the driver and 2) Microsoft doesn't like it when their minons aid and assist the Linux enemy. My keeping the driver closed they keep Bill Gates happy.
Can't handle the truth?
Looks like Slashdot put the smack down on linuxdevices.com
Any mirrors?
linuxdevices or slashdot?
Looking at the direction mobile phones are moving, I think it's a pretty good possibility that the the PDA, handhelds and Audio/Video Devices of the future will essentially be mobiles phones with these features.
:
:
Adding up the counts in those categories we have
Linux : 38+17+36 = 91
Windows: 74+24+8 = 106
If you add in the "other" category, you have
Linux : 91+38=134
Windows:106+22=128
Either way, it's really close, except for one thing - the future trend and the contributions made back to the OSS community as a result of the devices that use Linux.
The thing is, as more of these devices are released, more code and/or documentation and bugfixes will be released by companies back to the OSS community because they will be using many OSS tools in the development of these products, improving them if necessary in the process and finally releasing some of the improvements to the OSS community.
This will make it easier for more companies to re-use OSS tools and software and we have a potential cascade effect that could create a very wide development base for embedded Linux devices.
On the windows side, the situation is not the same - companies usually don't release their any portion of their code into a "public pool" for use by the community.
This essentially means, that while the numbers are an even split now, it looks like the Linux numbers will grow faster than the Windows numbers.
Now, also remember that with the devices comes whatever the devices are connected to - namely PCs, Macs and the like. Therefore, at the very minimum, this could lead to a much better awareness of the Linux OS. What follows awareness is usually curiosity - and since Linux is a quality product, curiosity can only be a good thing.
Therefore, I'd just say that although the numbers are an even split now, they actually represent the success of Linux in the embedded devices market and given time, this will seep into the desktop and that will be a good thing. Competition always is.
Find a job you like and you will never work a day in your life.
Well, considering at this time that the windows site is completely slashdotted, while the linux site is up, just a little slow from the slashdotting........
Don't Tread on Me
Game over. Next contest...
"If English was good enough for Jesus, it's good enough for everyone else."
If only it could run *BSD... ;-)
... then it would be dying!!! (badoom boom)
Thank you, thank you, I'll be performing here all week!
It lists the iPaq under Linux devices.
"...today consumers have been conditioned to think of beer when they see a bullfrog..."
We've rounded up 150 of the COOLEST Linux devices from all over the far east! (And...uh..the 1 or 2 available in the U.S.)
Even better, both run on Linux/Apache servers, so it's Linux 1 - Linux 0.
It think my Blueberry (Blackberry 7510) smacks 'em all down.
Phone
Email
Web
PDA
Java
Yummy. It may be some fork of Linux, but I'm not sure.
© 2004 The SCO Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
whatever the status are now, the open modular architecture of time will tell you what the clock is..
freespirit
For embedded systems, you want simplicity, reliability, and understandability. Neither Linux nor Windows give you these. Sure, Linux is more reliable in certain ways, but we're still talking about a hulking system that's not needed in 99% of embedded devices. And, yes, Linux is "understandable" in that you can get the source code for the hundreds out thousands of lines of code in the kernel, but that makes very little difference. In the typical embedded device, you need an "OS" that's about 4K in size, if that.
19 windows Thin Clients and No Linux models? Very odd!
Wait.. VIA-EPIA series boards... never mind... they're just only counting the pre-installed ones.
The Linux Gateways, servers, AP link is the same link for Tablets and Webpads. This should be the proper link.
I don't want knowledge. I want certainty. - Law, David Bowie
But surely you are worried about having to pay out SCO for each kernel you use...
The Neo-Bohemian Techno-Socialist
But if a windows worm causes my car to kill me, I want it to be MyDoom. No offense, but if I'm going to die a horrible screaming death, I think it should at least be ironic.
Just look at the statistics in the table, Windows is in more PDA's and Cell Phones, Linux is in more Robots. What's cooler, a PDA or a Robot? A PDA keeps track of your phone numbers, a robot will push you down the stairs. Linux wins again!
My Other Computer Is A Data General Nova III.
Just for fun, how about an all-in-one gadget? Most of the components in things are pretty small so i reckon you could make an all in one GPS, Multi-system mobile phone (including satelite?), Wireless (and Bluetooth and Infrared) Hard-drive, Camera (crappy little one if you have to) and maybe even have room to fit an FM radio and a transmitter and several useful I./O ports. And of course it would run Linux;) and have some essential software - media player, tetris, acoustic modem mode etc.. Afew years ago this would be far fetched but it should be do-able now surely? even if it was the size of an old brick-phone (and hopefully robust and water proof) it would be worth it and judging by the cost of most of the components it wouldnt be totally far-out expensive! I dream that one day I will be able to read slashdot anywhere on the face of the earth for practically no cost..
This comment does not represent the views or opinions of the user.
Seeming as http://windowsfordevices.com/ runs Apache on *nix, they might just be biased. They may be inclined to spoil a good story with the truth.
WINDOWS!
Just means the windows guys don't know how to setup their servers ;)
Actually, it appears to me that both may actually be run by the same people. Although it would be easy to check up on that, I didnt do it yet.
Don't Tread on Me
Sure, Andre the Giant might have fended off a horde of midget wrestlers. But in the embedded arena, where do PalmOS and Symbian fit into the market share? As a developer, I'm targetting the market that I can best reach. Microsoft's platforms have heavy prices in incompatibility and anticompetitive actions of Microsoft itself. But among its competitors, while Linux might lead, it's not alone. I don't expect "LinuxDevices.com" to cover that dimension of this story, but where are the numbers we can use to get the real big picture for these little platforms?
--
make install -not war
I didn't have licenses for any other software so to stay legit I installed Windows Me. Oh.. what's that?.. ..! Oh god! AH!!--
I can never quite figure out why a moderator would waste perfectly good mod points on posts like the one above. If you follow the links, it's obviously a parody of an earlier posting by the original poster (who is clearly a troll). The kicker is that the post above which accuses the poster of being a child molester and includes the creative word "cuntrag" is not "flamebait" but "off-topic". Slashdot - dontchyaluvvit?
We all know windows is the most stable OS for embedded devices.
"Software is like sex: it's better when it's free."
...and a whacky clipart image of Stone Cold Bill Gates...
More like:
Worst clipart image ever.
Here is a similar comparison:
Number of Vehicle Models:
Ford 15
Rolls Royce 2
The clear winner in terms of reliablity, availability and overall goodness? Ford
There are no thin clients on the Linux side! I don't get it... last time I heard, LTSP was doing quite well...
Right. So it's off topic that the original poster is in fact a cuntrag.
And the GNAA is in fact the nuts on your neck.
FR3D MB0G0 says "Linux? Not! Can't preserve Three Laws if anybody can modload a new kernel driver into their heads. You need something really secure like OpenBSD! Just look at this videocam mounted on PDP1 K3n0b3, who's running Linux 2.2 and wuFTPd. You can clearly see the shadow of the chainsaw on the back of your head there... That'd never happen if he were running OpenBSD."
Bill Stewart
New Fast-Compression-only CPR http://preview.tinyurl.com/dy575ks