About ERTOS Software
If you are new to this site you may want to read this page to avoid having expectations that we cannot (and don't intend to) fulfill.
What ERTOS software is about
We provide operating-system (OS) software for embedded systems.
Embedded systems are quite different from desktop and server platforms, and consequently the OS software for them is quite different. For example, unlike the ubiquitous PC platform, embedded system platforms are not standardised. This means that there is a lack of standard device interfaces. Likewise memory sizes vary over orders of magnitude, with almost no lower limit. Even processors built from standard cores differ significantly in their instruction-set architecture, e.g. whether or not they have a floating-point unit, the different characteristics of their memory-management unit, non-standard instructions for digital signal processing, etc. Embedded systems also have I/O devices that are quite different from those of PCs.
What not to expect
For the above reasons, you should not expect:
- a replacement for the OS on your PC
- a big set of standard drivers
- support for X windows, major games, etc
- binaries that “just work”
This applies specifically to Wombat, our Linux server. Wombat is not meant as a simple replacement for a native Linux system. It is meant to provide a legacy environment for systems that are designed to utilise the underlying L4 microkernel and its associated OS, Iguana. A typical setup would run the embedded real-time software as native Iguana applications and use the Linux environment to support legacy or add-on software and user interfaces.
What to expect
Embedded systems software needs to be configured and built for the specific platform that it will be deployed on. Therefore we provide:
- source for everything
- access to source repositories
- a sophisticated build system
- cross-compilation tools for some popular architectures
- configurations for a small number of popular platforms to get you started
- sample projects to show you the way
- a few extra tools that we've developed
Need Help?
If you experience problems, try the Kenge Users mailing list. We encourage you to use the mailman interface subscribe to the list and view the archives.
We are also happy to talk to you about commercial arrangements to help you deploy our software in your systems, we have such arrangements in place with a number of small and large companies.