[wplug] linux embedded appliances?

[Drew from Zhrodague]

> We all know that the Tivo is an linux embedded consumer appliance
> but I was just wondering....
> 
> Are there any others that are escaping me?
> 
> The reason why I ask is the reporter from the Post Gazette asked me
> and none came to mind.

	Which reporter?


> Surely there are plenty of industrial Linux embedded tools and 
> appliances out there but due to their proprietary nature, I
> can't name one either.
> 
> The coke machine around here comes to mind but that's a bunch of
> grad students goofing off and not a product.
> http://www-2.cs.cmu.edu/~coke/
> (sorry, I don't think the camera images work for ipaddrs outside 128.2)

	Looking arround my office, there are more industrial computers 
running linux than I could possibly fit into a large dumpster.

	On the consumer side of things, there are plenty of options. Some
of the Linksys wireless gw/router things run embedded linux. Some common
networking equipment (switches, routers, hubs, firewalls) runs embedded
linux, Broadcom I think. There are other set-tops like the Prismiq, which 
runs linux.

	There's a cell-phone which runs some embedded Linux, but I forget 
which one.

	Symbol is experimenting with Linux for their devices, but I 
haven't followed them in a while. They don't seem to be doing anything 
useful with their technolgy, 'cept making really obscure niche products 
that (apparently) very very few people want.

	As flash, RAM, and embedded equipment becomes cheaper, we'll start 
to have more appliances running Linux. Problem is fabcosts, and QA -- 
almost prohibitively expensive for a small company to go into production 
after the qa/testing phase. Most larger organizations aren't really paying 
attention, or the product is homogenized over time to not be interesting 
enough (or cheap enough) for the market.

	Does your dishwasher really need to run Linux? It certainly could,
but at what benefit? DVRs like the TiVo are a great idea, and require a
bit more of an operating environment to get the thing working than just a
cable box, dishwasher, or clothes-drier, but having Linux really allows
you to do more with your hardware, than if you write your code from
scratch.

	MP3 players are a good example of some appliances running Linux. I
did read, however, that TI built, marketed, and sold a unit that was
little more than a glorified DSP (as opposed to the more common ARM, or
others), and very very creative/efficient firmware.

-- 

Drew from Zhrodague		http://www.WiFiMaps.com
drew at zhrodague.net		Location Based WiFi