[Editor: this is a reposting of a “Request for Discussion” (RFD) of a proposed embedded Linux newsgroup (comp.os.linux.embedded) in the Usenet group news.groups. Please post any comments directly to that newsgroup.]

Request for Discussion (RFD)
unmoderated group: comp.os.linux.embedded

This is a formal Request For Discussion (RFD) for the creation of a world-wide unmoderated Usenet newsgroup comp.os.linux.embedded. This is not a Call for Votes (CFV); you cannot vote at this time. Procedural details are below.

Newsgroup line:
comp.os.linux.embedded Linux operating system on embedded hardware

Rationale: comp.os.linux.embedded

It is becoming apparent that the Linux operating system has a very bright future in the area of embedded applications; internet appliances, wireless internet access, personal digital assistants, television set top boxes, medical instruments, dedicated control systems, etc. The potential for the growth of Linux in this area is highlighted by the fact that roughly 95% of all newly manufactured microcomputer chips are used for embedded applications.

Industry has already embraced Linux for use in embedded applications for several reasons. The cost of licensing a commercial operating system and the power of the open source development model are some of the more prominent ones. The TiVo personal video recorder, and the Empeg MP3 car player are two examples of consumer products that utilize embedded Linux. Samsung has recently announced plans to market the world's first Linux based PDA, named Yopy. Sony already
uses Linux based systems for developing applications for it's Playstation2 game machine. The industry has further demonstrated it's commitment to Linux by the recent announcement of the formation of the Embedded Linux Consortium (ELC). It will consist of roughly 50 member companies including IBM, Lineo, Motorola and Red Hat.

Linux development has historically been oriented toward desktop and server applications and the current comp.os.linux.* hierarchy largely reflects this heritage. The unique nature of the technical issues of using Linux for embedded applications, and the potential for enormous growth are the two main reasons for the proposal of this new Usenet newsgroup.

There will be some overlap of the charter of the proposed group will that of the existing comp.os.linux.portable newsgroup. This is unavoidable since some embedded devices are designed with the intent to provide portable computing resources of a rather general nature (PDAs for example). However, the universe of embedded devices that would not be classified as a portable computer is very large (e.g. TV set top boxes, medical instruments). It is the contention of the proponent that the proposed group is sufficiently disjoint from the existing comp.os.linux.portable newsgroup that the efficiency and viability of both groups would not be negatively impacted.

Topics related to the use of Linux on embedded processors are already frequently discussed in several existing Usenet newsgroups and mailing lists. Statistics for such postings during the period from Jan 1, 2000 to Jan 31, 2000 are shown in the table below. The Usenet statistics were gathered using “Power” keyword searches from the Deja search engine at http://www.deja.com/home_ps.shtml

Newsgroup or Mailing List / Posts / Search Keyword

comp.arch.embedded / 151 / “Linux”
comp.dsp / 41 / “Linux”
comp.realtime / 24 / “Linux”
comp.os.linux.development.system / 17 / “embedded”
comp.os.linux.hardware / 8 / “embedded”
uclinux mailing list / 135 / N.A.

Total Postings: 376

Average/day: 12 (376/31)

Charter: comp.os.linux.embedded

The proposed newsgroup is intended to be a public forum for the discussion of the development and use of the Linux operating system on embedded hardware platforms. Topics considered appropriate for posting to the group might include (but are not limited to);

• Software Related Topics
  
  
  • Embedded Linux distributions (e.g. Lineo Embedix, Mobile Linux)
    
  • Software APIs for embedded Linux development (e.g. Cygnus EL/IX)
    
  • Development of user applications for embedded Linux
    
  • Integrated Development Environments for embedded Linux
  
  
• Hardware Related Topics
  
  
  • Linux based emulators and debuggers for embedded hardware
    
  • Existing Linux support for specific hardware
    
  • Development of device drivers for embedded Linux

Topics that might appear welcome on the surface, but in fact are not include; general questions about embedded hardware with no reference to Linux, questions about embedded or real time programming that are not specific to Linux, such as “What is multithreading?”, or “What is a deadlock?”, etc.

One time postings of commercial product announcements or postings of a commercial nature that are replies to another posted inquiry will be considered appropriate. However, as in most other Usenet groups, repeated or in-discriminant posting of commercial advertisements will be prohibited. Postings using MIME, HTML formats are discouraged since many Usenet readers do not use web browsers. The posting of source code and binaries for the purpose of distribution shall be prohibited. However, a small snippet of source code or a small patch would be considered acceptable.

End Charter.

Procedure:

This is a request for discussion, not a call for votes. In this phase of the process, any potential problems with the proposed newsgroups should be raised and resolved. The discussion period will continue for a minimum of 21 days (starting from when the first RFD for this proposal is posted to news.announce.newgroups), after which a Call For Votes (CFV) may be posted by a neutral vote taker if the discussion warrants it. Please do not attempt to vote until this happens.

All discussion of this proposal should be posted to news.groups.

This RFD attempts to comply fully with the Usenet newsgroup creation guidelines outlined in “How to Create a New Usenet Newsgroup” and “How to Format and Submit a New Group Proposal”. Please refer to these documents (available in news.announce.newgroups) if you have any questions about the process.

Distribution:

This RFD has been posted to the following newsgroups:

news.announce.newgroups
news.groups
comp.os.linux.announce
comp.os.linux.development.system
comp.os.linux.portable
comp.arch.embedded
comp.dsp

This RFD has been posted to the following mailing lists:

[email protected] (discussion of Linux on systems without a MMU)

To subscribe, send a mail message to [email protected] with 'subscribe uclinux' in the body of the mail message.

Proponent: John Peterson [email protected]

 
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