What is Digg?33 Comments
- doublebackslash, on 10/12/2007, -4/+26No.
That is not what a real time OS is about. It involves running interrupt events within a given deadline of an interrupt event arriving at the CPU. That means that no matter what is running, even a kernel driver, it has to be stopped and put away and the interrupt code allowed to run.
That is real-time in a nutshell, it is not for games, or servers, or everyday desktop use. It is for embedded applications where the device has to behave in a very predictable way, it will actually slow down the computer, since every bit of code has to have extra checks to ensure preemtability. - snoopl3s, on 10/12/2007, -2/+16Yay, now this means we don't need to install the trouble-prone real-time kernels for music creation!
- bloodylip, on 10/12/2007, -1/+15Either your teacher doesn't know what he's talking about, or I know someone who will be failing his operating systems class this year.
- noseeme, on 10/12/2007, -2/+11I would be interested to read more about how this works.
Anyone have any resources? - geoffp, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8For what it's worth, those of us who use Linux for professional audio production and such have been using Ingo's patches for years. They're necessary for low-latency audio routing and recording.
Low latency in recording is essential because when you're recording a project with many tracks, the last thing you need is for every take to end up 10-30ms behind every other track. Your whole project can fall apart rather quickly that way, unless you're really into wasting time shifting your takes back and forth by a millisecond, trying to get them all to line up.
Personally, I'd call audio production a "desktop" application. It's certainly not always "embedded." - Whitey04, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8Hey! He *just* covered that in an undergrad class.
He's an expert!
--And now for something completely different.
Its nice to have real time in the kernel and built in. This should make linux more attractive to embedded systems (where linux has already made significant inroads). - thorseth, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7If Linux is to function as a music home studio OS (fixed low audio I/O latency), then this could become handy.
Remember that GarageBand is bundled with every mac so this might be a bigger "niche" than one would think. - SuperSloth, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6I doubt QNX is that worried yet. It has been in the industry for over 25 years and have wuite a large number of custmers. They have a reputation for being highly reliable, a reputation Linux only has when compared to Windows. QNX is POSIX compliant and x86 based, so there's no clear incentive for current customers to abandon QNX for Linux.
- pred8tr, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6Wow! This is awesome! I wonder how far along it is though? Is it ready to compete in the manufacturing and wharehousing industry with other NON-FOSS RTOS's like QNX?
- rorian, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5schrodiggity why use a window manager at all just to play a game? Run X & quake4 directly from the commandline so X is only supporting 1 process :P
Also, I fail to see how this benefits the mainstream, unless applications requiring real-time kernel calls are written to utilise this functionality. Then my next question is, aside from niche applications and audio editors, what applications are there, really, for real time processing for the general user? - hurfydurfur, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4I wondered the same thing. Is QNX worried?
- Cablito, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Besides controlling Anti-Air missiles? Not much really.
- tmcc, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Other than the fact that the end user can do ANTHING to Linux that they want.
But you know, who needs flexibility when you're building specialized, application specific devices. - Cablito, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3Hey I tried to launch a space shuttle I found on my backyard but it crashed because my 100 bucks pentium 4 running linux kernel was not real-time enough to control the process. Dammit this 15ns~30ns timer precision, I thought it was a real-time OS all along!
- UKsHaDoW, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2Embedded systems is what a real time OS is going to be mostly used for. Where timing is important.The only real time windows OS is Windows Ce
- hurfydurfur, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1If I was going to start considering RTOS's for audio production, I don't think GarageBand would be in my stack. However, that wasn't your point I suppose. The OP pretty much has it hit on the head. It's niche. Gamers and surfers don't need a rtos. I played around with QNX a few times and it's really not useful to me (gamer/surfer) but also because there's very little software out there.
To answer the OP: when someone asks what rtos is good for, I say 9-11 systems. RTOS is good for running software where if it fails, dies, hangs, lags ... someone dies or something equally critical.
Didn't think about the audio production side. Maybe you're sampling a ming vase being dropped ... then if your software lags, dies, hangs .. someone _would_ die. :D - MrUnderbridge, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2Just FYI, summary (article?) probably should use present tense, as 2.6.18 is currently available. It's not hard to put it in either, just 1 entry in the kernel config.
- XVampireX, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2You can't really say an OS, more of a kernel than OS, the OS is everything, the Kernel and what you operate.
Real Time may be a pretty nice thing for really serious stuff, but it's not good for Desktop usage, just stay as you are unless you do 1 thing, and _need_ to do it really well. - AdmJollyRoger, on 10/12/2007, -3/+3No where in the article do they go into depth about what real time means, they just keep repeating the phrase "real time" like a buzz word. All that does is show that the author has no clue what he is writing about. This is way print media is better than amatuer blog "journalism".
- UKsHaDoW, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0What?
- InfoAddictOS, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Would this give better latency when running game servers? I know setting low latency options in the kernel was the recommended path for steam servers.
- tmcc, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0i440, why do you post under so many names?
- XVampireX, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2You kids shouldn't use ANY WM or DE. When you start a session, start it as a terminal session, you'll get a little window of the terminal and just work your way to the game.
- Cablito, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1dugg down by someone who is clueless about kernels I supose
- Cablito, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1Nano-seconds as far as I know.
- williamdyer, on 10/12/2007, -3/+2It will make VoIP work better. Less jitter. acoustic echo cancellation, etc.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -9/+2it's about time, sch I assume u use another X server for game like me. Quake family always r0xx on linux but do u tried Wolf ET or Neverwinter nights? huge difference :/
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -8/+1of course, I use enlightenment when I'm playin quake. doesn't help too much but it still helps.
- skadge, on 10/12/2007, -12/+2Bye bye RTAI :)
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -23/+7w00t I coulda sworn that there was an extremely small I/O delay in quake4 linux compared to windows. this is greatly appreciated.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -22/+4doublebackslash
yo dawg I know what a Real Time OS is. I'm takin Operating Systems CS-303 right now and we *just* covered it. besides that, everyone will benifit here's what TFA says:
"Additionally, embedded Linux developers or normal desktop users wishing to build kernels capable of achieving millisecond-level real-time responsiveness will no longer have to apply patches."
I hope you've satisfied your smugness quota for the day please RTFA and STFU, you condecending ass.
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