Embedded Systems Design - Europe - August/September 2007 - (Page 14)

market study about how and when to obsolete a processor, one of a system developer’s biggest fears. As we saw in a recent Freescale announcement (www.embedded. com/200000783), the CPU vendors are trying to make it as easy as possible for designers to migrate to a higher performance processor. In the case of Freescale, they claim that designers can easily migrate from 8 to 32 bits using their Flexis family of microcontrollers. This is a good example of an incremental performance boost. But in most cases, step-function leaps of performance can only be had by switching to a new family of devices, rather than just moving up the ladder within a family. LINUX Here’s one that caught me by surprise, at least until I gave it some thought: the number of people not considering Linux for their next project jumped from 34 percent to 48 percent, and from 27 percent in 2005, as Figure 3 shows. Keep in mind that while the number of people using Linux is relatively high, the number of people not using it who would consider using it has dropped off. That’s attributed to the fact that it’s not “new” anymore. A higher percentage of those who would consider it have already done so. ESD editorial review board member Bill Gatliff thinks that we’re ﬁnally turning the hype corner on Linux and realizing it’s not right for all applications. “People are getting realistic about it.” Here’s what Barr had to say: “I was surprised a few years ago at how strongly Linux came on. There always seem to be some interesting new technologies, but they are not always adopted. But Linux actually succeeded, and a lot of people were using it in telecomm apps and so on, for stuff that looks like a PC. Clearly that trend is continuing, but obviously at a slower pace.” And it’s not rocket science as to what the number one reason is that people are interested in Linux: cost 14 Why are you interested in embedded Linux? Low cost 56% 61% 58% 37% 46% 43% 32% 39% 39% 31% Performance 15% 17% 14% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 39% 38% 67% 71% 69% Adaptability/ extensibility Personal control of its features and migration Avoids the commercial alternatives Memory requirements 0% Figure 4 2006 (N = 631) 2007 (N = 486) Base = Those who use or are considering using Linux 2005 (N = 1,167) My next embedded project will likely use: 41% Commercial OS 47% 50% Open-source OS without commercial support Internally developed or in-house OS Commercial distribution of an open-source OS* 0% Figure 5 10% 27% 19% 34% 15% 17% 16% 16% 17% 20% 30% 40% 50% 2006 (N = 727) 2007 (N = 676) Base = Use/plan to use operating system *Indicates response option not asked in 2005 2005 (N = 1,303) (Figure 4). A reason people are shying away from Linux is that the cost numbers between forecast and actual didn’t exactly add up. While the kernel itself may have been free or relatively inexpensive, the support costs climbed faster than expected. And third-party tools were required to implement application-speciﬁc functions, which also adds to the cost. Looking at commercial operating systems (OS) in general, there’s a pronounced drop in their use (Figure 5). But surprisingly, this drop isn’t balanced by an increase in the use of com- mercial distribution of open-source operating systems. That’s potentially bad news for the OS vendors. Barr reasons that this drop is because “for operating-system technology, the cat is out of the bag. Fundamentally, every RTOS is the same as every RTOS. What you need is a way to divide your problem into tasks and have sufﬁcient computing power. Then you want to have a priority-based pre-emptive kernel. And they’re all the same, whether you get your OS out of a book or with free source code included, or you get something else free. Unless AUGUST – SEPTEMBER 2007 | embedded systems design europe | www.embedded.com/europe 012-013-014-016-017-018-019_ESDE14 14 6/09/07 13:26:05 http://www.embedded.com/200000783 http://www.embedded.com/200000783 http://www.embedded.com/europe

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Embedded Systems Design - Europe - August/September 2007

Contents News Cover Feature: Annual Study Uncovers the Embedded Market DSP Serves the Convergence Needs of Small Business Embedded Test Offers Unique Value for Serial I/O The Software Detective: First-Fault Data Capture Boards May Shrink But Performance Doesn't New Products Advertising Contacts

Embedded Systems Design - Europe - August/September 2007

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