Jimen Ching wrote: snip
My second comment concerns Linux and embedded systems. At my new job, I am now working with Linux on a single board computer (SBC). These SBC's have PII processors (1.2Ghz), 1Gig RAM, Gigabit Ethernet, etc. I hardly consider this an 'embedded' system. Though we use this SBC for a very specific purpose, I have a hard time convincing myself that I am working on an embedded environment. Of course, I have also worked on the Microchip PIC17X processors. This is an 8bit processor (10Mhz), with 906 bytes of RAM for data, 32K bytes of RAM for code. The only communications with it is via a serial port or a JTAG emulator. Comparing these two environments, its pretty clear which one is 'embedded'. Every time I hear someone talk about 'embedded Linux', I just have to give off a little chuckle. ;-)
You actually can run linux on fairly small things (though a PIC is probably a bit too small). My ipaq for example runs linux, as does my phone (http//www.tuxscreen.net -- sorry, sold out). The phone especially feels rather "embedded". 16MB of RAM is plenty, but 4MB of flash can get a bit tight when squeezing in a full linux system with X. The hardware is controlled and such. It certainly feels embedded.
I can't say that I've done work with a microcontroller personally, but I've helped people work with them before. Assembly is your friend when you've got less than 1k of RAM and only 8k or so for code :)
However, if you have lots of rom and ram, uClinux is always a possibility. It doesn't require an MMU and lets you use a lot of the stuff you'd expect from a UNIXish OS without the fuss of doing everything by hand.
--jc
--MonMotha
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