Thanks Iznogoud. A google search of "embedded linux" came up with an Intel ad first. The Wikipedia link begins with a remarkable list of current embedded linux uses. All I suggested was adding consideration of some developing energy technology systems. I have a lot of catching up to do, I like the linux tools I'm currently using, and am interested in learning more. I'll have more time later, but it would be nice to see more discussion of this topic within the TCLUG. Take care. ============================================================== *Takes big breath* > 1. Does anybody know how to seriously trim the Linux kernel and > configure it for close to real-time driver response?? Apparently, it is > agreed here we must all just accept current distros. > I can help you configure a kernel to have minimal functionality. It is not that hard. It will still be a protected OS with access permissions and proper scheduling. And it does not mean that it will not be a good real-time system. If your task is sufficiently simple, you can do it with a microcontroller which is a lot more robust and a lot more suitable for real-time systems. I coded an audio pipeline based on ALSA and POSIX threads and the real-timeness of it is remarkable. I was shooting for a real-time audio sequencer. > 2. Does anybody know how to use a simplified XWindow toolkit for close > to real-time response?? Apparently, some feel OpenGl or some network > add-ons is the GUI of choice. > Yes. You need to decouple the graphics from the "engine" of what you are trying to do. I can do it with POSIX threads. What you really want is to not have the graphics (and whatever lag goes with processing events) affect your real-time performance of the engine. It can be done. It is a question of architecting the communication of the engine thread with the graphics thread. I like to do stuff like that with unix pipes, where you have one thread write into the pipe and the other one read it. The reason is that you can leave the data waiting there (buffered) if the thread that is intended to read it does not get to it at the right time. It avoids MUTEXes, which would give you stalls and kill your real-timeness. Does all this make sense? I can provide with example code in C. > 3. I've suggested car analyzers as an interesting, useful Linux > beginning application. And some programming languages that might be helpful. > Embedded systems are mostly state machines and that is what microcontrollers are. There are a LOT of people who program real-time systems on off-the-shelf microcontrollers, and I can introduce you to some of them. Car analyzers, the way I understand your terminology, can be either an embedded system or a proper OS. I have examples for both. Go towww.nefmoto.com and you will find both. I can spare little time to work on other people's projects, but I can certainly try to point you in the right direction if it is something that falls within my reach. That is what lists like this one are about... _______________________________________________ TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota tclug-list at mn-linux.org http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list