Linux 2.6 introduces many new features that make it an excellent operating system for embedded computing. Among these new features are enhanced real-time performance, easier porting to new computers, support for large memory models, support for microcontrollers, and an improved I/O system. This whitepaper at LinuxDevices.com describes the new functions and features of the latest Linux kernel of special interest to embedded system developers. On other Linux kernel news, Linus Torvalds released Linux 2.6.0-test5 for general testing.
Linux 2.6: A Breakthrough for Embedded Systems
About The Author
Eugenia Loli
Ex-programmer, ex-editor in chief at OSNews.com, now a visual artist/filmmaker.
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may I never use 2.4 again! Geez does it make a difference, it even uses less memory! Everything is faster, much more responsive, and smoother feeling. I love! I’m sure embedded developers will also dig it. I’d love to see some nice solid benchmarks comparing 2.4 to 2.6 in all sorts of workloads. Anyone?
I had a patched 2.4 system on my laptop for a bit.
god did it do better.
and with the refinment of the 2.6 code, and all the stuff the patches did not provide me, I am gonna get a real treat 🙂
First distro who gets a working release gets some cash from me (As long as it is not mandrake.
it would be nice if it was say libranet.
Well, at least you aren’t picky.
I agree with you though, I hope Libranet 3.0 uses a 2.6 kernel.
Of course, you could just upgrade it yourself if you really wanted to.
Adopting the 2.6 kernel would definitely get my UK£, as I’m far too much of a noob to be integrating a new kernel to my existing debian HDD install
I’d like to see some real world benchmarks of 2.6 vs 2.4, also what sort of differences will this make to desktop responsiveness and general use?
Now, if only the gtkfileselector could hurry up and radically be improved!
Lots of difference in every area. Networking throughput should be higher with lower latency, the new scheduler plus pre-emptive kernel will make things more responsive (not to mention the fact that the scheduler can now handle interactive tasks much better), the new disk i/o scheduler will mean much more responsive disk usage, and so on and on it goes. Everything seems to have been touched and tweaked, in just about every area it outa be faster. For me it means that the load can be high and I can click on something and get instant feedback and response, with 2.4 it can be choppy and stuttery.
If your curious about redhat, they’ve had up to date rpms available for 2.6 on some people.redhat.com apt server (i forget the name, but you can find them pretty easily).
They work like a dream, except for acpi. Sleep states is not compiled in by default, same with software hibernate. Two of the best features for laptops (albi unstable, atleast for hibernate).
I can’t wait till 2.6 is fully integrated. Redhat 10 (or the version after next, whatever it may be called) is gonna rock. linux 2.6, gnome 2.4, (hopefully) kde 3.2. What else could one wish for?
So lets see. I get Linux-2.6, KDE-3.2, xouvert-0.0.1 and hopefully gcc-3.4 all this year. Someone please wake me up. 😀 It’s great to see my favorite projects coming to light.
So lets see. I get Linux-2.6, KDE-3.2, xouvert-0.0.1 and hopefully gcc-3.4 all this year.
Yes, you will have all this
Not to mention the HURD 1.0, Enlightenment 17, LaTeX 3 and
a secure version of Internet Explorer.
Definitly a good year !
I just love the way Linux doesn’t stand still, it’s not like MS where you have to wait three years and upgrade you’re entire server just to see an small performance boost in IIS.
Will this be the biggest leap forward since 2.4 + Gnome 2.0 and KDE 3.0 where released? And the distros should be able to get their acts polished up just in time for Christmas too!
Yes, IMHO, it will be a leap forward. Its just like night and day for me, its incredibly responsive.
a secure version of Internet Explorer.
I love early morning (for me) jokes. : )
That’s because it’s catching up.
I’m using it on my latop, got rpms from here:
http://people.redhat.com/arjanv/2.5/RPMS.kernel/
ACPI is not working, and I had problems with USB and Synaptics touchpad, but now it works great.
i thought they stopped making linux when it was evetually found out it was created by a master race of aliens that wanted to take over our computer networks
I think it was as much irony as the rest of his comment.
hey, for my laptop, allI care about right now is that he sound works properly. I need ACPI for that.
Are there any 2.4-test4/5 packages for SuSE 8.2, btw?
Err, I meant 2.6-test4/5, of course. Sorry.
First distro who gets a working release gets some cash from me (As long as it is not mandrake.
http://store.gentoo.org/
omicron@xerxes omicron $ emerge -p development-sources
These are the packages that I would merge, in order:
Calculating dependencies …done!
[ebuild N ] sys-apps/module-init-tools-0.9.12-r1
[ebuild N ] sys-kernel/development-sources-2.6.0_beta5
The LiveCDs contain binary packages for those who don’t want to compile everything.
Very well written, even though clearly a Linux pundit. Oh yeah, did anyone else RTFA (as in, fine article, of course)?
Redhat RPM work fine here but some prob come out :
– usb-uhci module has been renamed uhci-hcd
– mousedev, keybdev and joydev module are not found but the mouse, keyboard and joystick work fine
– I have not found Broadcom BCM4400 driver for 2.6, the driver for 2.4 dont build with 2.6…
The problem for the module rename is handled fine in gentoo. You have one module file for 2.4 and 2.6. So you can change the name. But I have not found this in redhat.
And the missing driver is really a stop for me, no net is impossible!
But in general, 2.6 feel a lot better than 2.4, and i’m sure the embedded market will love it
I have had problems with the 2.6-test4 kernel. Basically, with the 2.6 kernel I was unable to access port 80 and 8080 on my Linksys router. At first I thought this was a problem with how the IP configuration was set up. However, booting to the latest 2.4 kernel I had let me connect to the same ports.
Full description of the problem is at http://luni.org/pipermail/luni/2003-September/013075.html .
If someone has a fix for this problem, I’d love to know about it.
22 comments and only 1 of them is talking about embedded linux.
As someone just mentioned yesterday about my consistent views on this topic. I am not going to repeat them.
But when traditional embedded OS providers stopped talking about embedded linux — you know that embedded linux is dead.
It only looks at the bright part of 2.6 and avoid tottaly talking about any downside, and there is at least one: an increased memory consumption.
Which is quite a serious downside for emebedded systems, I think!
There will be patches to mitigate this downside (embedded or not within the “official” kernel), but still I dislike these “everything is perfect” articles..
… there is at least one: an increased memory consumption…
I wasn’t aware of that; what percentage increase in memory consumption are we talking about. Also, what else are the downsides of 2.6?
Thanks in advance
Well, I seem to be the only one having performance issues with the 2.6 test kernel… It seems to be a problem with the new O(1) scheduler, as I have the same problem with ck patches. Applications are taking an eternity or two to start or to close. My cursor in XFree is shuttering when I load new pages with Mozilla… I don’t have these problems with 2.4 & preempt patches.
“But when traditional embedded OS providers stopped talking about embedded linux — you know that embedded linux is dead.”
That’s one way to look at it.
The other two is:
It has been accepted.
The competition is dead.
>Also, what else are the downsides of 2.6?
For the memory consumption, I don’t know exactly but I remember seeing that complaint on the LKML.
In the LKML, it was said that apparently the embedded developpers have been slow to take into account the 2.6 kernel, so the needed patches/driver won’t probably be all there at the beginning..