Interest in Embedded Linux Remains Low

burnin1965 writes "According to EE Times interest in embedded linux remains low. I was surprised to see their headline considering I just purchased a Sony TV which runs linux and I assisted my brother in setting up an Actiontec DSL modem which runs linux. A few years back I had only heard of devices that ran embedded linux and now that they are starting show up everywhere interest is low? The survey did bring up three issues which should be addressed by the embedded linux community, whether those issues are misconceptions or actual problems. 1) Incompatibility with software, applications, and drivers. 2) Performance or real time capability. And 3) support."

Comments

Re:It's about economics

[ricklow]

You've got it exactly backwards. If you're going to make a million of something, you want the bill of materials cost to be as low as possible, whereas you aren't as worried about the non-recurring engineering. That's why Linux, with it's larger memory footprint, but lower development cost, is often non-competitive.

Look at the latest Linksys WRT54 router. They've abandoned Linux and gone to VxWorks, despite the huge up-front cost for WindRiver tools, but they can use half the memory chips. This is a big win on a large production run.

On a limited production item, you often can't afford commercial tools, because it will make the selling price of your product non-competitive. Just the price of one copy of the VxWorks tools will probably add about $20 to the BOM cost on a production run of 1,000.