Linux Kernel 2.6: the Future of Embedded Computing, Part II (Linux Journal)
Linux is easily the fastest growing operating system in the embedded world. The introduction of kernel 2.6 has boosted the use of Linux in real-time applications. It still does not come close to a real hard RTOS, and nursing such expectations is incorrect given the vast differences between the characteristics and requirements of general and real-time applications. But it can be expected that RTOSes with kernel 2.6 as the basic kernel now can compete with the biggies of the embedded world and offer the embedded developer community a reliable and free embedded operating system."
Posted Mar 29, 2004 19:15 UTC (Mon)
by clugstj (subscriber, #4020)
[Link] (1 responses)
Posted Mar 29, 2004 22:46 UTC (Mon)
by irios (guest, #19838)
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The operating system on a DVD player would definitely be considered embedded software and it would offer user input (limited) and display output. But even after updating the firmware, the device would (most likely) remain a DVD player, and not much more than that. That said, it is true not all embedded systems have hard real-time restraints. But most embedded applications are uncomfortable with loose timing, and usually need at lease some sort of soft real-time support: 2.6 provides just that, which is one of the reasons why 2.6 is going to make Linux boom in the embedded space, quite likely blowing "other competitors" out of the water.
The author seems to think that "embedded" and "real-time" are the same Linux Kernel 2.6: the Future of Embedded Computing, Part II (Linux Journal)
thing. They are not.
Real-time means there are hard constraints on how long certain operations
can take or the system will fail.
Embedded just means that there is not a normal user I/O system (i.e. no
keyboard/mouse/display) and not direct user interaction with the system.
Real-time systems are usually embedded, but an embedded system could have
no real-time constraints on it.
Embedded, AFAIK, does not mean that there is no user IO: what it usually means is that it is a fixed-purpose device, where this purpose has been narrowly defined at inception, with no inmediate means to load new software that may wildly change the functionality.Linux Kernel 2.6: the Future of Embedded Computing, Part II (Linux Journal)