eCos
{{lowercase|title=eCos}}
eCos (
embedded configurable operating system) is an
open source, royalty-free,
real-time operating system intended for
embedded systems and applications which need only one
process with
multiple threads. It is designed to be customizable to precise application requirements of run-time performance and hardware needs. It is programmed in the
C programming language, and has
compatibility layers and
APIs for
POSIX and
µITRON.
Design
eCos was designed for devices with memory size in the tens to hundreds of
kilobytes
(1), or with real-time requirements. It can be used on hardware with too little
RAM to support
embedded Linux, which currently needs a minimum of about 2 MB of RAM, not including application and service needs.eCos runs on a
wide variety of hardware platforms, including
ARM,
CalmRISC,
FR-V,
Hitachi H8,
IA-32,
Motorola 68000,
Matsushita AM3x,
MIPS,
NEC V8xx,
Nios II,
PowerPC,
SPARC, and
SuperH.Included with the eCos distribution is
RedBoot, an
open source application that uses the eCos
Hardware Abstraction Layer to provide
bootstrap firmware for
embedded systems.
History
eCos was initially developed by
Cygnus Solutions which was later bought by
Red Hat. In early 2002, Red Hat ceased development of eCos and laid off the staff that were working on the project
(2) who then formed their own company,
eCosCentric, in order to continue development and provide commercial support for eCos. In January 2004, at the request of the eCos developers, Red Hat agreed to transfer its eCos copyrights to the
Free Software Foundation(3). The transfer was finally executed in October 2005.
Non-free versions
eCosPro is a
proprietary eCos and
RedBoot distribution created by
eCosCentric that is targeted towards developers looking to integrate eCos and
RedBoot within commercial products. It is claimed as a "stable, fully tested, certified and supported version"
(4), however, some of the additional features have not been released as free software.
See also
References
-
[{{Citation|last=Larmour|first=Jonathan|title=How eCos can be shrunk to fit|newspaper=Embedded Systems Europe|pages=34|date=May 2005|url=http://i.cmpnet.com/embedded/europe/esemay05/esemay05p32.pdf|format=PDF}}]
-
[NEWS, Red Hat backs away from eCos?, linuxdevices.com, 2002-06-19,weblink 2007-04-01, ]
-
[PRESS RELEASE, Red Hat to contribute copyrights held in the eCos code base to the Free Software Foundation, Red Hat, 2004-01-13,weblink ]
-
[PRESS RELEASE, eCosCentric announces eCosPro Developer's Kit, OSNews, 2003-09-02,weblink 2007-03-31, ]
External links
{{Real-time operating systems}}
ECosEcOSECosECosECosECOS
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