Subject: RFD: comp.os.linux.embedded

From: "John C. Peterson" <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 11 May 2000 13:57:46 -0700

[FYI: this is a reposting of an RFD that is currently under discussion in
  the Usenet group news.groups. Please post any comments to that newsgroup.]

                     REQUEST FOR DISCUSSION (RFD)
               unmoderated group comp.os.linux.embedded

This is a formal Request For Discussion (RFD) for the creation of a
world-wide unmoderated Usenet newsgroup comp.os.linux.embedded. This
is not a Call for Votes (CFV); you cannot vote at this time.
Procedural details are below.

Newsgroup line:
comp.os.linux.embedded   Linux operating system on embedded hardware

RATIONALE: comp.os.linux.embedded

It is becoming apparent that the Linux operating system has a
very bright future in the area of embedded applications; internet
appliances, wireless internet access, personal digital assistants,
television set top boxes, medical instruments, dedicated control
systems, etc. The potential for the growth of Linux in this area is
highlighted by the fact that roughly 95% of all newly manufactured
microcomputer chips are used for embedded applications.

Industry has already embraced Linux for use in embedded applications
for several reasons. The cost of licensing a commercial operating
system and the power of the open source development model are some
of the more prominent ones.  The TiVo personal video recorder,
and the Empeg MP3 car player are two examples of consumer products
that utilize embedded Linux. Samsung has recently announced plans to
market the world's first Linux based PDA, named Yopy. Sony already
uses Linux based systems for developing applications for it's
Playstation2 game machine. The industry has further demonstrated
it's commitment to Linux by the recent announcement of the formation
of the Embedded Linux Consortium (ELC). It will consist of roughly
50 member companies including IBM, Lineo, Motorola and Red Hat.

Linux development has historically been oriented toward desktop
and server applications and the current comp.os.linux.* hierarchy
largely reflects this heritage. The unique nature of the technical
issues of using Linux for embedded applications, and the potential
for enormous growth are the two main reasons for the proposal of
this new Usenet newsgroup.

There will be some overlap of the charter of the proposed group
will that of the existing comp.os.linux.portable newsgroup. This
is unavoidable since some embedded devices are designed with the
intent to provide portable computing resources of a rather general
nature (PDAs for example). However, the universe of embedded devices
that would not be classified as a portable computer is very large
(e.g. TV set top boxes, medical instruments). It is the contention of
the proponent that the proposed group is sufficiently disjoint from
the existing comp.os.linux.portable newsgroup that the efficiency
and viability of both groups would not be negatively impacted.

Topics related to the use of Linux on embedded processors are
already frequently discussed in several existing Usenet newsgroups
and mailing lists. Statistics for such postings during the period
from Jan 1, 2000 to Jan 31, 2000 are shown in the table below. The
Usenet statistics were gathered using "Power" keyword searches
from the Deja search engine at http://www.deja.com/home_ps.shtml

  Newsgroup / Mailing List         Posts     Search Keyword
  ========================         =====     ====== =======
  comp.arch.embedded                 151     "Linux"
  comp.dsp                            41     "Linux"
  comp.realtime                       24     "Linux"
  comp.os.linux.development.system    17     "embedded"
  comp.os.linux.hardware               8     "embedded"
  uclinux mailing list               135     N.A.
                                     ---
  Total Postings                     376

  Average / Day                       12     (376/31)

CHARTER: comp.os.linux.embedded

The proposed newsgroup is intended to be a public forum for the
discussion of the development and use of the Linux operating system
on embedded hardware platforms. Topics considered appropriate for
posting to the group might include (but are not limited to);

  o Software Related Topics

    + Embedded Linux distributions (e.g. Lineo Embedix, Mobile Linux)
    + Software APIs for embedded Linux development (e.g. Cygnus EL/IX)
    + Development of user applications for embedded Linux
    + Integrated Development Environments for embedded Linux

  o Hardware Related Topics

    + Linux based emulators and debuggers for embedded hardware
    + Existing Linux support for specific hardware
    + Development of device drivers for embedded Linux

Topics that might appear welcome on the surface, but in fact are not
include; general questions about embedded hardware with no reference
to Linux, questions about embedded or real time programming that
are not specific to Linux, such as "What is multithreading?", or
"What is a deadlock?", etc.

One time postings of commercial product announcements or postings of
a commercial nature that are replies to another posted inquiry will
be considered appropriate. However, as in most other Usenet groups,
repeated or in-discriminant posting of commercial advertisements will
be prohibited. Postings using MIME, HTML formats are discouraged
since many Usenet readers do not use web browsers. The posting of
source code and binaries for the purpose of distribution shall be
prohibited. However, a small snippet of source code or a small patch
would be considered acceptable.

END CHARTER.

PROCEDURE:

This is a request for discussion, not a call for votes. In this phase
of the process, any potential problems with the proposed newsgroups
should be raised and resolved. The discussion period will continue
for a minimum of 21 days (starting from when the first RFD for this
proposal is posted to news.announce.newgroups), after which a Call For
Votes (CFV) may be posted by a neutral vote taker if the discussion
warrants it. Please do not attempt to vote until this happens.

All discussion of this proposal should be posted to news.groups.

This RFD attempts to comply fully with the Usenet newsgroup creation
guidelines outlined in "How to Create a New Usenet Newsgroup" and "How
to Format and Submit a New Group Proposal". Please refer to these
documents (available in news.announce.newgroups) if you have any
questions about the process.

DISTRIBUTION:

This RFD has been posted to the following newsgroups:

  news.announce.newgroups
  news.groups
  comp.os.linux.announce
  comp.os.linux.development.system
  comp.os.linux.portable
  comp.arch.embedded
  comp.dsp

This RFD has been posted to the following mailing lists;

  [email-masked]  (discussion of Linux on systems without a MMU)

       To subscribe, send a mail message to <[email-masked]>
         with 'subscribe uclinux' in the body of the mail message

Proponent: John Peterson <[email-masked]>

--
 ___|___  | John C. Peterson, KD6EKQ | "640 K is all the memory you
  -(*)-   | mailto:[email-masked] | will *ever* need..." - Bill Gates
  o/ \o   | San Diego, CA   U.S.A    | See http://www.linux.org/ for info

** Sent via the linuxppc-embedded mail list. See http://lists.linuxppc.org/