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Linux in Web Appliances
Lawrence_Bird writes "Reuters put a piece out overnite commenting on
the use of Linux in web appliances. It has a
few quotes from Linus and comments specifically
on TiVo Inc. " Comments on the RH IPO, Linux on Merced, and a
few other bits.
"Torvalds, who manages a worldwide network of programmers who contribute their code to Linux,..." He does /what/ with us? It'll sound like he's a ring master. He may manage our code, but I've yet to have him call me up "Okay... today you're working on this..."
Yes, its all good. Everyone is embracing Linux, it's small, it's stable, it's scalable, yadda yadda yadda. But doesn't anyone get this 'flavour of the month' kinda feeling? How many of these companies are doing it because they like Linux, rather than not liking Microsoft?
Tho, again, it sounds like an interesting use of Linux. I've always wanted to log into my toaster.
"Old man yells at systemd"
dont type in all caps unless you want to be labelled a DAVEO. i.e. a moron.
Linux is overkill for appliances. The old stable technology of X10 controls is more than enough. And it uses the house A/C wiring as its communications conduit. What more could you want? Let's start using our brain instead of taking the current hot item and trying to apply it everywhere.
This is interesting, although not new (I once read someone was porting the Linux kernel to run on both a Laser Jet III and Furby--probably neither is true, but both are interesting).
It seems fairly obvious, though, once you learn a bit about what it takes to create an operating system, that it's easier to borrow ideas and--more importantly--implementations from somewhere else that to create them yourself from scratch. It seems only logical that the people who are creating embedded systems are better off using existing solutions to existing problems (provided they solve those problems) rather than create new solutions. So, articles like this are in some sense old news--they are telling us something we already know will happen, since, unlike most other kernels, the source code is entirely and freely available for perusal and borrowing.
As far as Linux being the flavor of the month: Of course it is. At any given time the media has to have its darlings. But that doesn't change the fact that the Linux kernel is stable, has been in production for years, and has a long history of reliability behind it. What the last 6 months of media attention does buy for Linux is a mainstream acceptability which would otherwise have been very difficult to come by. How would people in corporate IT shops have come to find out about this "wonderful new operating system" if not from the media? This is a good thing--even if the media is over-hyping linux to the point where you roll your eyes at "Yet Another Linux Cover Article" on Generic Computer Users magazine.
Seriously, though--a year ago, everyone that I knew who had heard of Linux was in academia. My old comrades from CS 101 were studying the Linux kernel years before I entered the corporate marketplace. When I set up my first Linux box here (November '97) nobody knew what they heck I was doing--"Hey, that's a weird DOS prompt"--and nobody was interested.
The huge exposure is a good thing, of course; let the "flavor of the month" thing run its course, and in the end, the people who really Got It will still be using it, and the ones who latched on to the Linux Fad will meander on to the Next Big Thing (maybe Java again?).
darren
(darren)
SO INSTEAD OF READING THE MESSAGE, YOU CHOOSE TO ATTACK THE MODE OF DELIVERY...
Last I knew, support for turning off Caps Lock is included in Linux.
--
Win dain a lotica, en vai tu ri silota
Okay. So why does your toaster need a windowing system in the first place?
I agree that a toaster with X would be a bad thing. If your toaster was misconfigured, it would hang and never eject the toast. The "Black Toast of Death".
--
Win dain a lotica, en vai tu ri silota
Get the CD and post it on the Web! Linux VCR's for everyone!
Heard on the radio the other morning that Fox TV etc will be suing TiVo and Replay TV if they don't pony up royalties/licensing fees to the networks. True????
I WOULD LOVE TO HAVE LINUX ON MY VCR. MAYBE THEN IT WOULD STOP BLINKING 12:00! LOL. BUT SERIOUSLY, MORE LINUX INSTALLATIONS, EVEN IN OUR TOAST-R-OVENS AND FOOD PROCESSORS, IS A GOOD THING IN MY BOOK.
how come TiVo has not released the source to the modifications they made to the kernel ? They released a product with linux embedded - shouldnt they release the source ?
Sometimes people spend so much time wondering what the policies are, that they forget to ask.
TiVo will send ANYONE who requests our changes to the Linux modules a CD for a charge of $24.95.
If you are intereseted, please send email to me.
Regards,
Richard Bullwinkle
TiVo Webmaster
webmaster@tivo.com