Why Linux?

Recent years have seen a broadening array of operating system (OS) software options for embedded and real-time system applications. Today, most non-desktop “embedded” systems are based on one of the following alternatives:

• Microsoft Windows, in its three “flavors”: Win98, WinNT, WinCE
• A wide variety of proprietary real-time OSes (RTOSes) — VxWorks, Lynx, QNX, pSOS,… (more…)

In response to a Slashdot discussion item on the growing use of Linux in embedded applications (located here), Jacob Lehrbaum of LinuxDevices.com posted the following comment . . . (more…)

Most Linux activity has focused on mainstream server and desktop applications, but it is in the embedded world that Linux may well have the biggest impact. (more…)

Lineo has recently announced one of the largest embedded Linux design wins to date: through a three-way partnership with Elitegroup Computing and Bast, Inc., Lineo Embedix Linux will become the software platform for Linux-based set-top devices in hotel rooms and apartment complexes throughout the US, Europe, and Asia (See… (more…)

Here, we take a look at a wide variety of interesting Linux-powered gadgets that don't fit into the other categories of this guide — everything from web-enabled digital cameras, to automobile telematics systems, to IBM's Linux wrist watch, to . . . (more…)

From the streets of the Silicon Valley, to Wall Street, and of course to Sand Hill Road, “Linux” was the catchword of 1999. All signs point to Linux continuing as both a hot financial and technological prospect into the new millennium. Putting IPO fever aside, there are strong technical and business reasons to consider using Linux for your next embedded development project. (more…)

In November, Cygnus Solutions was acquired by Red Hat (see story). Red Hat president Matthew Szulik described the merger as creating “a single, worldwide source that lets developers rapidly create Linux applications for servers and small devices — accelerating the adoption of open source technologies.” On January… (more…)

History, Motivations, and Overview of RTAI

It all started with a variant to NMT RTLinux that grew out of the need of having a periodic scheduler to enhance efficiency in control applications, when one can work with a basic period and integer multiples of it. (more…)

The Real Time Linux Workshop organized by the thinkingnerds was held in Vienna last week. This workshop was the first such workshop to bring together all the different Real Time projects that have appeared from Linux. Notable projects such as RTAI (Paolo Mantegazza), Kurt (Douglas Niehaus), and Linux/RK (Raj Rajumar) were presented to the 90 strong audience from industry and academia. (more…)

EE Times, in an story by Chappel Brown, reports that Endgate Corporation has developed a multi-processor system based on Linux, capable of dramatically reducing the time required to model complex analog systems such as optimal antenna shape designs. Predictions of antenna performance are based on highly complex multi-variable computations which can take weeks, even months, of computation using conventional… (more…)

“When dealing with real-time systems, the overhead of interprocess communications (IPC) becomes important. The formalized structures that are used in Linux for IPC can carry with them a significant amount of overhead. This can create timing problems for your applications. In this article, Frederick examines two of the best IPC mechanisms available under Linux — FIFOs and shared memory.”

The… (more…)

In March 1998, C. Wayne Wright Wright and Edward J. Walsh of NASA began development of a new Linux-based data system for the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center scanning radar altimeter (SRA). The goal was to significantly reduce system weight and volume and thereby to enable its installation on one of the NOAA hurricane hunter WP3D aircraft (see… (more…)

In this article, which appears in the “Crossroads” publication of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), Kevin Fu presents a fascinating interview with Victor Yodaiken. Yodaiken is the principal architect of RTLinux, a popular real-time version of Linux. In the interview, Yodaiken defines and discusses the requirements of real-time performance, and describes the methods and mechanisms that were… (more…)

This article shows how Moreton Bay turned a Linux router into an MP3 player! (See photo.) The Moreton Bay NETtel is a low cost Linux based embedded network appliance that was designed to provide a flexible embedded engine for creating dedicated networked devices. (more…)

This white paper, by Richard Greenane and Simon Dobson (Department of Computer Science, Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland), discusses the development of a LonWorks based control system that integrates LonWorks protocols along with standard PCs interconnected via Ethernet. This has the advantage of reducing the number of required LonWorks interface cards and connections, since they are not normally present… (more…)