Why not Linux?

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ittgx

I am a developer of XPe and I trust this real time system
is very good in deed.
But some customers asked me whether they could choose
Embedded Linux such as Hardhat Linux instead.
I have no perfect reason to persuade them and now I am in
trouble with our further cooperation.
Tell me about it.
Thanks in advance.
 
ittgx said:
I am a developer of XPe and I trust this real time system
is very good in deed.
Click to expand...

XPe is NOT a realtime system!
But some customers asked me whether they could choose
Embedded Linux such as Hardhat Linux instead.
Click to expand...

It depends on what you want to do with XPe...
If it is only controlling-functions without any User-Interface, then why
not use Embedded-Linux...

If the goal is to handle "normal" (or stupid) users, then you can also use
XPe, because its UI is "known".

--
Greetings
Jochen

Do you need a memory-leak finder ?
http://www.codeproject.com/tools/leakfinder.asp
 
ittgx said:
I am a developer of XPe and I trust this real time system
is very good in deed.
Click to expand...

You're using an add-on to make it real-time?
But some customers asked me whether they could choose
Embedded Linux such as Hardhat Linux instead.
I have no perfect reason to persuade them and now I am in
trouble with our further cooperation.
Tell me about it.
Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...

I'll admit that when we were first doing our project here, I wanted to know
why not linux. The simple answer was: Time and money. It would have taken
longer for me to learn how to set up an embedded linux, our applications
would have had to be rewritten, and that would have meant employing new
people, because we just don't have anyone here who could have done it. Why
don't we have anyone? Because they're too expensive. Same for support
people. We do have unix systems in use here, but they're very old
established systems, and we can't do anything new with them. The support
people know them in very limited ways, and that's OK because nothing much
changes with these systems - but those people all know windows stuff as
well, and find it easier to support.
 
Hello,

Everyone has good responses there. The other thing to consider is the
progression of the embedded market over the last 1.5 to 2 years. An article
that demonstrates these changes is on page 50 of the latest Embedded
Computing Design (Vol 1 No.4). You can order your copy of this magazine from
www.embedded-computing.com. The gist of the article is that embedded
providers are losing the opportunity to create function specific devices
with custom built hardware, and custom software. Companies want a quick time
to market (no 1 answer from most of our customers), and increased
interoperability within their existing network. Since most companies are on
a MS based network using Windows clients this makes XPe a good choice. XPe
also gives you the ability to add common (desktop) functionality to your
embedded solution. (This doesn't mean solitare :))

The above answer is also correct about XPe not being real time. If you need
real time functionality consider CE, or better yet contact VenturCom about
their RTX extensions for XPe.

Another advantage is this newsgroup. Although there are several embedded
linux newsgroups available this NG seems to be very quick to respond to
issues, workarounds, etc... I know personally I read the new posts every
morning and help out where I can. Hopefully this will give you the
information you need!

Brad Combs
Imago Technologies
 
You got pretty good answers so far, but they cover wide aspect of XPe
usages.

Let me ask you?
1. Do you know how to use Linux, Windows or you know them both?
2. What type of devices you need to make(functionality GUI/Headless, etc)?
3. How much time can you spend on your project?
4. On what level is your Windows XP programming knowledge?
5. On what level is your Linux programming knowledge?

CE, XPe, Linux, or some custom OS they are not good, they are different and
useful for different types of usage.

Regards,
Slobodan
 
Slobodan said:
You got pretty good answers so far, but they cover wide aspect of XPe
usages.

Let me ask you?
1. Do you know how to use Linux, Windows or you know them both?
2. What type of devices you need to make(functionality GUI/Headless, etc)?
3. How much time can you spend on your project?
4. On what level is your Windows XP programming knowledge?
5. On what level is your Linux programming knowledge?
Click to expand...

These are the questions!
CE, XPe, Linux, or some custom OS they are not good, they are different and
useful for different types of usage.
Click to expand...

That's the clue!

Regards
-Davide
 
I'm not sure that I understand your comments.

Yes I have asked questions. If he needs good answer how to persuade client
why XPe is better than Linux.
Then he must know what he can do with XPe, and what he can do with Linux.

Consider the yesterdays question regarding the usage of XPe and Office.

Choice is clear you must not use XPe for this purpose it is forbidden. Also
this is just an example. You must not use XPe as general purpose OS.
You can use Linux for what ever you like if you know how to do it, of
course.

But if question was I want to use XPe to run games intended for PC. Then
Linux would not be an option.

If question was I want device that will receive commands trough RS232 and
send responses back. Then the best thing would be to write ASM program that
would replace BIOS. No OS-es necessary.

So there are no clues. Only questions, that need to be answered.


Regards,
Slobodan
 
The 'clue' is start thinking that "CE, XPe, Linux, or some custom OS
they are not good, they are different" instead of blindfold defend one
of them.
Essentially my intention was to say that you have got the point in that
discussion... but sometimes my english is quite poor ;)
 
I'm glad that we cleared this up.

My English is not good, so sometimes I have problems with understanding the
meaning of some sentences.

Regards,
Slobodan
 
Slobodan Brcin said:
You got pretty good answers so far, but they cover wide aspect of XPe
usages.

Let me ask you?
1. Do you know how to use Linux, Windows or you know them both?
2. What type of devices you need to make(functionality GUI/Headless, etc)?
3. How much time can you spend on your project?
4. On what level is your Windows XP programming knowledge?
5. On what level is your Linux programming knowledge?
Click to expand...
6. how many devices do you plan to sell ? 1000? 1000000?
7. how portable are your applications?
 
Hi,

Could you please enumerate the forbidden applications of
XPE. I plan to run MSDE on the server as a local database
which is part of my application. I also run ASP .NET and
applications using .NET 1.1. Am I hitting on any forbidden
items here?

Thanks
Sincerely
Arya
 
Hi,

Could you please enumerate the forbidden applications of
XPE. I plan to run MSDE on the server as a local database
which is part of my application. I also run ASP .NET and
applications using .NET 1.1. Am I hitting on any forbidden
items here?
Click to expand...

It's not so much certain apps that are forbidden, as certain types of use
for the device. XPE should not be used as a general desktop OS, but only
in devices serving one specific purpose (for example a cash register).

Sometimes it isn't very clear to me either: for example if you have a file
server in your network you're supposed to run Win2000 or 2003 server on it,
but it is allowed to use XPE as the basis for a network attached storage
device, there's even a predefined template for it in target designer -
where's the difference?
 
i think your question 7 is just a different way of asking a few of the
others (4 & 5), but question 6 is a majorly important one, if volumes
are large enough and price realy matters (i know it allways matters
but sometimes more than others) then some of the cheaper per item oses
do have their advantages
 
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