In this technical article, Nicholas McGuire examines the requirements of embedded systems and suggests some key issues that need to be addressed in order to improve Linux for use in embedded applications. From the foreword . . .

“What is an embedded device? Is it simply a low-resource 'PC', so all you need is a scaled down Linux and off you go? Not really. In this article, a few thoughts on principal differences will be brought up that may need direct addressing by the embedded Linux community to foster the use of Linux in the embedded market.”

“Some key issues to be considered include:

• Trusted kernel vs. untrusted user-space
  
• Life time configurable vs. closed can-systems
  
• Dedicated resources vs. dynamic user-demands
  
• User-space applications vs. kernel-space applications
  
• Real-time demands in embedded devices”

“Looking at these issues and considering possibilities to improve how Linux could satisfy the demands of embedded systems in a better way is the objective of this article. The possible solutions are based on RTLinux systems, as real-time (RT) demands are fairly common in embedded devices; but the mechanisms presented apply to any RT or non-RT embedded Linux . . .”

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