[ECOS] Re: Please help!

[Jonathan Larmour <jifl at eCosCentric dot com>]

Tuong Nguyen Manh wrote:
> Dear Sir/Madam,
>  
> I am develop a USB project which uses ARM as MCU, I intend to load
> operation system into the board. I am so confused about Linux RedHat and
> eCos, could you please tell me the aim of using each one?? Can I use
> RedHat for my development? If the answer is yes so which RedHat version
> I should use??

Linux is big. Very big. eCos is smaller and more efficient. Smaller than 
the uClinux variant too. Linux has been ported to more hardware, eCos has 
been ported to many, including ARM. Linux is not real-time, eCos is. eCos 
was designed from the start for the embedded space; linux wasn't, and 
frequently it shows. eCos can run on smaller hardware that Linux simply 
can't. eCos has arguably a more favourable software license when it comes 
to extending the kernel. There are more benefits to eCos over Linux, but 
I'll stop there.

However one thing that may make a difference for you: eCos only has 
client-side USB, i.e. it can act as a peripheral that is plugged into a 
host. Linux has a USB host stack which means it can have peripherals 
plugged into it, i.e. like a PC. However most embedded folks (admittedly 
not all, but most) only want USB for client-side anyway, so you may find 
eCos fits your needs fine.

Jifl
--
eCosCentric    http://www.eCosCentric.com/    The eCos and RedBoot experts
--["No sense being pessimistic, it wouldn't work anyway"]-- Opinions==mine


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