Re: Real time?

["Ian Wright" <Ian-at-iw63.freeserve.co.uk>]

Hi Jon,

I'm sure you are right, it was my first contact with QNX. What impressed me
though was their ability to compact all the stuff onto one floppy, including
web browser, server, editor, file manager and even a game! This got me
thinking that, if they can do all this, why are we having to download
massive files every time EMC is updated and also having to run large hard
disks to hold what must, largely, be unnecessary program stuff - all of
which will inevitably slow down the computer. So, it was really their
'dynamic HTML' which caught my eye and I wondered whether there could be a
way there of saving space and, presumably, program operation time by using
html and java with a minimal browser as they have to run the game, rather
than several megabytes of Tcl/Tk and scripts to do what, I assume, is a
similar job. Do you know whether QNX is actually some type of Linux or is it
something entirely different - its file structure certainly looks
linux-like.

Ian
--
Ian W. Wright
Sheffield  UK

----- Original Message -----
From: "Jon Elson" <jmelson-at-artsci.wustl.edu>
>
> QNX has been around since the 68000 CPU was created, back in the late
> 80's.  I'm sure it has gotten new features and such, but it is still aimed
at
> a somewhat different kind of use.
>
> Yes, EMC could be converted.  I would take a rough guess at about 1000
> man-hours of work for one of the developers at NIST to do this.  Probably
> 10000 Hours for one of us!  QNX is a commercial software package, and
> you have to buy it to develop software for it.  You may be able to run
> pre-compiled code on the free one, but I don't think you can do any more
> without a license.  QNX is not very expensive, but I think you DO need a
> license for every machine.  Maybe they are changing that plan.
>
> EMC will run on a small system.  I am pretty sure it could be set up to
> load from a modest flash memory card.  There are PC-104 systems
> that run from a deck-of-cards size to 2 or 3 times that size, which is
> still DARN small!  These systems often cost more than a desktop PC,
> just as a laptop costs more.
>
> You can also make some very small systems with desktop parts.  A micro
> disk drive, ATX motherboard and interface cards really don't take up
> much space.
>
> Jon
>
>
>