Linux as an RTOS

Linux success in the embedded "space" is well-established. Last October VDC reported that Linux held a 40% share among embedded operating system choices by system developers. Smaller share slices were held by commercial OS vendors, in-house, "other" and "no formal OS". In the Linux wedge, free Linux distributions outpaced paid ones by more than 2-to-1. And the free side was trending upward, with free distros outpacing paid ones by more than 4-to-1 among future embedded project deployment plans.

But that's just one source of stats. More recently Embedded Market Forecasters (EMF) has come out with a report titled "Embedded Linux Total Cost of Development Analyzed", which it says is based on interviews with more than 1,300 embedded developers. In its summary EMF reported that, "Embedded Linux has achieved design parity with commercial RTOSes for most projects", Embedded Linux design outcomes are consistent with the outcomes of projects using OSes (operating systems) from commercial RTOS vendors", and "Use of a commercial embedded Linux OS is more effective than a non-commercial 'in-house' Linux development undertaking" and "Embedded Linux can be used in a mission-critical environment that requires MILS (Multiple Independent Levels of Security) or EAL (Evaluation Assurance Level) certification or POSIX (Portable Operating System Interface) conformance, when used in protected memory under a certified RTOS".

Dr. Jerry Krasner, president of EMF and author of the report, said ""This study shows that designing with an embedded Linux OS can be as dependable as designing with an RTOS".

- Doc Searls

Sources:

http://www.linuxdevices.com/news/NS2335393489.html

http://www.embeddedforecast.com/images/MDD_Release_052107.pdf