Subject: Re: IBM PowerPC - Linux Connections?

From: Mark Morrill <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 31 May 2000 12:55:49 -0600

on 5/31/00 02:21, Geir Frode Raanes at [email-masked] wrote:

> There are many defenitions of "embedded." One of my favorites is
> the negation form "not a workstation." You do not speak of an
> embedded system. Most embedded systems do not have expansion
> slots even if they do use the PCI bus. Some systems, like those
> targeted for telecom do have slots, but these slots are of
> industrial quality like VME or CompactPCI.
>
> When we say embedded we mean the kind of things that control your
> toaster - and thus can fit into a toaster. We are not speaking of
> full desktop systems squeezed into a mini-ATX box. Please adjust
> your consept of scale. Harddrives have movable parts inside and
> are as such not popular in the embedded world.

I know I'm not really looking for an embedded system.  I suppose I really
should be looking in the Intel world - there it seems so easy to build a
box.  However, I'm also looking for something that won't double as a toaster
by virtue of the heat the chip puts out.  Ultimately, I want my system to
run in a smallish box, say, 3" x 12" x 10".  And I don't want a big noisy
fan.

I brought my questions to the embedded list in the hope that I could get
leads to a kit that would allow me to prototype a system with off the shelf
components.  I've got a bit of the software research already happening on a
Lombard running LinuxPPC.  But I don't think I could take the PowerBook to a
manufacturer and say, "Make one of these, please"!  :)

> As to your idea of what it takes to to ready a system for
> production... Could we take that in private mail exchange?

That would be great!  I've got lots of software experience but mostly on the
Mac.  So you can imagine how hardware illiterate I am!  :)

Mark

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