Embedded systems take center stage as interest in handheld devices grows

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InfoWorld: Embedded systems take center stage as interest in handheld devices grows

Oct 10, 1999, 16:54 UTC

by Nicholas Petreley

"Another fellow whose company is reluctantly moving to 32-bit software attended this show specifically to check out Microsoft Windows CE version 3.0 -- only to watch it blue-screen during the demo. That, among other things, eliminated CE as a possibility for his work..."

"Regardless, I can see now that Linux is very likely to succeed in the embedded systems space regardless of fragmentation because it is free (or nearly so, depending on where you get it)."

"So while most of the folks I talked to acknowledge that there are many embedded operating systems that are far better than Linux, they say the low price of Linux often makes the choice a no-brainer."

-- Uncle Bob (UNCLB0B@Y2KOK.ORG), October 10, 1999

Answers

What's up with that URL Uncle Bob? I'm not really interested in banner advertising.

-- @ (@@@.@), October 10, 1999.

Helloooooo? Anyone else out there tried to get to this article? What am I doing wrong with the address?

-- @ (@@@.@), October 10, 1999.

So now computers are being called embbedded sysytems"?

-- Cherri (sams@brigadoon.com), October 10, 1999.

Sorry about that...try this.

http://linuxtoday.com/story.php3?sn=10969

-- Uncle Bob (UNCLB0B@Y2KOK.ORG), October 10, 1999.


October 11, 1999

Embedded systems take center stage as interest in handheld devices grows

INTEREST IN EMBEDDED systems is exploding now that there is a fast- growing market for handheld computers, intelligent devices, network computers, and the like. That's one reason why I was excited to go to the Embedded Systems Conference in San Jose, Calif., last week.

Another was nostalgia. The first programming job I had back in the early 1980s was to write software for embedded systems. We didn't call them embedded systems at the time. As far as we were concerned we were building custom dual Z80 computers with some specialized hardware for digital signal processing.

We wrote all our software in Z80 assembler, cross compiled it on a Data General Eclipse system, and programmed the machines via a serial port. We debugged the software that wasn't time-critical with a Tektronix in-circuit emulator that pretended to be a Z80 CPU. Once we had a stable working version of our software, we burned the programs into erasable, programmable read-only memory (EPROM) chips and inserted them onto our system boards by hand.

Some things in the embedded systems world have changed since I did that work, but not as many as I expected. Several developers still use in-circuit emulators and burn EPROMs by hand. And a surprising number of developers are still trying to use 8-bit processors because they're so cheap. The problem is finding 8-bit processors, which is becoming increasingly difficult.

It seems the companies that serve the embedded systems vendors are moving much faster than the vendors would like in an industry where smaller/thinner/cheaper is the mantra.

I heard a number of attendees express disappointment that companies such as Intel and Microsoft seem oblivious to the need for cheap, simple, reliable solutions as they push the heavy 32-bit hardware and software. One attendee protested the fact that his company will have to spend much more for 32-bit processors when his soon-to-be discontinued 8-bit processor already does everything he needs.

Another fellow whose company is reluctantly moving to 32-bit software attended this show specifically to check out Microsoft Windows CE version 3.0 -- only to watch it blue-screen during the demo. That, among other things, eliminated CE as a possibility for his work.

When I asked him if he had considered using Embedded NT instead, he looked at me as if I had three heads. It's certainly more stable than CE, he admitted, but it's so bloated and expensive it's not even on the radar for his company. He is also discouraged by the price of alternatives like QNX. Embedded Linux seems more feasible, he added.

He's not the only one thinking along these lines. Despite the fact that there were only a few booths at the show devoted to Linux, I heard a lot of talk about how quickly Linux will sweep embedded systems. I wouldn't have predicted a quick success at first for Linux because it has one thing going against it with respect to embedded systems. The people involved in the ongoing development of the Linux kernel don't seem very interested in Linux as an embedded OS.

Unless a unified body of people direct the development of embedded Linux, it seems like it will evolve in dozens of directions. Lineo is talking about launching an independent organization for this purpose. But because everyone developing embedded systems has such specific needs, maybe fragmentation wouldn't be such a bad thing after all. We'll see.

Regardless, I can see now that Linux is very likely to succeed in the embedded systems space regardless of fragmentation because it is free (or nearly so, depending on where you get it).

So while most of the folks I talked to acknowledge that there are many embedded operating systems that are far better than Linux, they say the low price of Linux often makes the choice a no-brainer.

The question is, when people shop for intelligent devices in the future, will they care enough about what's running under the hood to pay more? As long as you get the user interface and features you want, do you care if your personal digital assistant or cell phone is running Linux, Windows CE, Embedded NT, or anything else? Let me know.



-- Uncle Bob (UNCLB0B@Y2KOK.ORG), October 10, 1999.



The unspoken horror of handhelds is that the microwave levels that people are doseing themselves with is high.

I will post a thread on the subject.

Just for a hint, the american radio relay assoc. is in the next town, I went 2 years ago about this issue. They gave me printed documentation on research that says that even 1 watt hand helds produce a significant amount of EMF's in the users head. 0.6 watts does also.

The hand held slipped past scrutiny in the 95 telecommunications law under the guise that "it doesnt cause whole body heating".

Ask state police in Conn. whatt kind of hand held radar they use. They will say, "laser". Why not microwave? They all know that 2 state cops fot brain cancer and they were young and they blame the hand held (near the head) microwave transmissions.

There is a giant experiment going on in the US and the people are getting exposed because of the need for the US digital industry to get ahead of the european wireless industry in the early nineties.

So, towers, hand helds, numerous microwave "digital" environments are blanketing the nation and no one is checking to see how much exposure folks are getting.

There was a standard in the 60's set for those at work, no one was supposed to get more than 10(?) milliwatts per square centimeter for and 8 hour day.

How many milliwatts per square centimeter are YOU exposed to in your home and work 24 hours a day? All the calls of your neighbors are traveling through your body. You are in a ever thickening soup of milliwatts per square centimeter. You are in a microwave bath. My brother in law is in the EPA. I called him in 95 about this. During the telecommunications act non-debate. He said then and now, that the political fix was in and no one was going to be putting any blocks to the wireless avalanche. Industry testing wsa done and maybe you heard, they said "we are going to do more testing". Thanks for the stonewall. What did your data say? Why wait till the nation is blindly swamped in a microwave bath.

-- bburke (bill52@rocketmail.com), October 11, 1999.


Aaaahh, much better thank you. One failure that I hope occurs is that the embedded chips shutdown in every single car phone in existence. People need to pay attention to driving.

-- @ (@@@.@), October 11, 1999.

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