[ECOS] Some newbie questions

["Andreas Hofer" <ho at dsa-ac dot de>]

Hello, list,

I need some advice on the coice of the proper OS for our application and
eCos (for me) is one of the candidates.

We have developed a SA1110 based board used to perform CAN bus
communication. The CAN controller in use is the Philips SJA1000. Some
communication partners on the CAN bus expect our board to respond within
a guaranteed time limit of 40 Microseconds. Guaranteed means hard
realtime, right? Can eCos meet these requirements?

Since we already are using Linux on a similar board (but without the
realtime constrains we are facing now) the first thought was to use a
Linux / RtLinux or Linux / RTAI combo. This could give us the
possibility to reuse some code. On the other hand, there seem to be some
disadvantages: Lengthy startup, large memory footprint. Also, we still
have to port RTAI or RTLinux.

Since I don't know very much about eCos I would be glad to receive some
opinions about the pros and cons of the two approaches. How difficult do
you expect the adaption of eCos to a new SA1110 based board like ours to
be?

Any response is very much appreciated.

Andreas