ControlEngineeringOnline: Manufacturing Does Windows … Linux Knocks at the Door

“Most manufacturing applications and much PC-based control build
from a Microsoft Windows foundation. Linux use is growing in both
server and embedded areas. Meanwhile, real-time operating systems
gain notoriety as embedded control grows.”

“The principal driver in defining the future of manufacturing
control is now communication, and communication is now tied
inextricably to the Internet. Openness in the strategic sense
is now defined less by architecture than by protocol, and the
availability of the full suite of Internet protocols is an
important consideration in the selection of a platform. This
fact points more toward Linux than toward CE as the platform of
choice for the factory given the extreme breadth of protocol
support it offers,” says Ken Crater, president of Control.com
(Hopkinton, Mass.), while presenting the challenge to
engineers.”

“Who hasn’t seen the Penguin, symbol of Linux? It was plastered
on everything from coffee mugs to T-shirts at the last Comdex.
Linux is an “open source” operating system meaning that the source
code is available to developers. Programmers can add or delete
components to tweak their system to its optimum performance. New
components or bug fixes are sent to originator and code czar, Linus
Torvalds, who compiles the changes and issues occasional new
releases of the “official” code. Thus, Linux is an OS written by a
community of developers communicating almost exclusively via the
Internet.”

Complete
Story