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Upside Article On Embedded Linux

Posted by Hemos on from the going-to-the-little-place dept.

Paddy wrote to us about today's Upside article on embedded Linux, and what it can/does mean for Linux. Talks a bit about Lineo, and the possibility of kernel forking - good summary of the landscape.

3 of 42 comments (clear)

  1. isn't kernel forking the point of the GPL? by jemfinch · · Score: 3

    Everyone seems so worried about kernel forking, but isn't that the point of GPL? That anyone can look at the code and make what changes they choose to make?

    Nothing is intrinsically special about Linux Torvalds. He concentrates on controlling the kernel for the main branch. But if there needs to be a separate branch for embedded systems, cluster systems, and other specialized systems, so be it. I don't want to see Linux become a "jack of all trades, master of none" in the name of not kernel forking.

    I say, for it and keep specialized code from cluttering my kernel :-)

    Jeremy

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  2. The meaning of "real-time" by cybaea · · Score: 3
    Customers that move from real-time operating systems such as VRTX and QNX to Linux sacrifice a few milliseconds worth of responsiveness, but gain the speed of the open source development community.

    The author seems to misunderstand the point of real-time operating systems, which is not to be fast (though, of course, that is always nice), but to have a guaranteed response time.

    So in a real-time OS you have pre-emptive scheduling and an upper limit on the time it takes to context switch. This way you can guarantee that an important signal ("this patient is about to die, doctor") is serviced (page the doctor, or whatever) in real-time and in the appropriate time (i.e. before the patient dies.)

    Do the current Linux kernel have this feature? There is no reason why it couldn't have: good ol' VMS had basic real-time features built in (pre-emptive scheduling), you could add the rest (I think the product was called ELN and was described as "the best kept secret in DEC"), and you could still use it as a "normal" operating system.

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  3. The point is... by Telcontar · · Score: 3

    'People like Linux, because they can basically have the same environment for both embedded applications and development. You don't want to cut it down too much or you lose that advantage," Torvalds says.'

    Having helped to build such a distribution, all I can say this is exactly the point. Developers can run his program on exactly the same platform that will be used for the product. The only difference is that the product does not have development tools (such as gcc) on it.

    This eliminates the need for cross-compiling and uploading the code to the embedded board, making life a lot easier. Also, developers can use a standardized platform they are familiar with.