Configurable challenge
1 min read
BSP tackles the challenge of embedded Linux on a configurable core in an fpga. By Philip Ling.
Linux continues to make waves in the embedded market and, although it seems to have taken a long time, embedded Linux is now cited by some as the most pervasive embedded operating system today.
It’s hard to make that statement without comparing it to the server/desktop domain and the dominance of Windows. But the landscape is – and always has been – very different in the embedded world, where no single operating system has been dominant.
Given this notorious fragmentation, for Linux to have gained such a foothold in the embedded world is testament to its strengths. Not least of these strengths is its commercial attraction; it remains open source and license free.
However, that hasn’t been enough for it to penetrate the embedded barrier. The biggest reason has been its lack of real time capability. Whether a particular application really needed hard real time or not was often moot; the fact that embedded Linux couldn’t deliver it was usually enough reason not to use it.
