Date: Mon, 15 May 2006 05:17:21 +1000 (EST) From: Ian Smith <smithi@nimnet.asn.au> To: gnn@freebsd.org Cc: freebsd-small@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Embedded FreeBSD Presentation... Message-ID: <Pine.BSF.3.96.1060515044837.12297A-100000@gaia.nimnet.asn.au> In-Reply-To: <m2slncsj91.wl%gnn@neville-neil.com>
next in thread | previous in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
On Sun, 14 May 2006 gnn@freebsd.org wrote: > At Sun, 14 May 2006 09:16:48 +0200, > Eduardo wrote: > > Is this really possible:? Sorry for be a bit unoptimist, but in the > > embeded space the o.s.must follow some rules that freebsd (nor > > linux, *bsd, windows, etc..) can't: > > > > - size: The o.s. must be minimal. Freebsd kernel, now, is a bit huge. > > - realtime: The o.s. must do some tasks at fixed times, this tasks > > can't wait for nothing. > > > > The size one can be fixed, but the realtime not. It needs a new > > scheleude, irq manager,...; so a great kernel rework. I've been subscribed to realtime@ (& small@) forever just for interest, and scarcely a peep on the former .. yes it would be great to see that sort of work done. Meanwhile uPs are getting bigger at such a rate that at least the size issue has become less critical - ie, doable. And getting fast enough that kHz slicing and rtprio will do for lots of applications that aren't less than millisecond critical .. > Perhaps you mis-understand the thrust of this drive, in that we are > not talking about turning FreeBSD into an RTOS, at least not in the > short term, but about making it more amenable to embedded. Saw your slides and think it's a terrific project, for what a fairly clueless, mostly broke yet still fascinated lurker's view is worth :) > There is much to do but it will be a gradual process. Size and > configuration are the first things to address. > > > Also, you forget the PowerPC chips. They are in a lot of embedded > > devices and now freebsd has support for them (6.x). > > We did not forget them but amongst those who have shown interest in > this project ARM and MIPS are the clear leaders. If we find people > who wish to address the PowerPC chips as well, all the better. One > other important component in this work is focus. We cannot be all > things to all people, at least not at the outset, so two different > processors and two or three reference boards for each are where we > plan to start. These are still Big Iron to me; I'm slowly kitting up to play with a little twin-cpu ATtiny45 board in mostly assembler using avr-tools and such, which I know isn't related to what's going on in here at all, but I'll be lapping it up anyway .. Best o'luck, Ian
Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?Pine.BSF.3.96.1060515044837.12297A-100000>