| Roll-your-own embedded Linux service on a roll |
Mar. 08, 2006
TimeSys reports that its "LinuxLink" service for embedded Linux developers has surpassed the 2,000-subscriber mark, among other milestone achievements. LinuxLink targets developers creating and maintaining their own customized Linux distributions -- the largest group within the embedded Linux OS and tools market, according to the company.
In a fairly bold maneuver about six months ago, TimeSys dropped its Linux/tools distributor business model completely, launching LinuxLink as its sole product, albeit with several pricing options. The company claims the service offers greater flexibility than traditional embedded "distributions," which it says limit users to specific, supported configurations.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, TimeSys competitor Wind River disagrees. Glenn Seiler, a product manager for Wind River's Linux OS products, told LinuxDevices.com, "Dropping support for the customer is not in our cultural DNA. If we can reproduce the problem, we can support the customer. We may not have every embedded board, but I imagine that TimeSys doesn't, either."
TimeSys credits semiconductor manufacturers and embedded services contractors with helping make LinuxLink a success. It says that Freescale, Intel, and MIPS all distribute their latest Linux optimization through the service, and along with community-based embedded experts and TimeSys engineers, frequent the service's "Developer Exchange" community forum.
Another factor in LinuxLink's success, according to TimeSys, has been low entry cost. The "Access" version of LinuxLink is priced at about $3K per processor architecture, while a "Developer" version with Eclipse tools and a unique online BSP validation service costs about $5K per architecture.
Additional touted LinuxLink milestones include:- TimeSys has signed up global VARs (value-added resellers) in France, Israel, Greece, Turkey, India, and Southeast Asia
- About 70 specific processors are now supported
CEO Larry Weidman stated, "LinuxLink fills the previously unmet need for a commercial resource that connects embedded developers with semiconductor manufacturers and the Open Source community in a meaningful way."
Bob Rizza, a senior firmware engineer at Tiernan who leads a team using LinuxLink to develop an XScale-based router for developing economies, stated "With LinuxLink, we can download whatever we need, and don't have to create everything ourselves. The LinuxLink licensing model is much more flexible than proprietary Linux operating systems."
MIPS Technologies's manager of strategic alliances, John Wilkes, stated, "LinuxLink provides our customers with a commercial resource for the latest Linux from MIPS Technologies."
Embedded and real-time Linux expert Thomas Gleixner stated, "The TimeSys Developer Exchange builds the bridge between commercial development requirements and the Open Source Bazaar."
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