[olug] 3Com NICs, QNX & "upgrading to W2K"

[Phil Brutsche]

IrishMASMS wrote:
> That is all so far. Now for some questions for my fellow LUGers:
> 
> -What is this QNX? I assume another *nix flavor?

http://www.qnx.com are the current folks.  These people might be using 
something different if it dates back to the early '90s, but doubtful.

> -What the hell are they talking about regarding a "real-time" OS?

Any operating system that can *guarantee* that a particular process 
*will* be scheduled within X amount of time is considered to be 
"real-time".  With $millions at stake if one of those boilers blow, it 
would be silly not to.

Linux, *BSD and other Unices can "only" do "best effort" scheduling. 
Most desktop and server operating systems fall into this boat, including 
WinNT/2k (Win 9x/ME just *barely* make it.  Win 3.x couldn't even make 
it to the dock to try to embark :)

QNX is one real-time operating system.  VxWorks is another.  Both are 
vaguely UNIX-like in terms of their APIs.

MS-DOS could vaguely be called another, since you're pretty much 
guaranteed to be able hog the CPU :)

One of the Windows variants specifically built to run embedded systems 
would qualify as well.

On modern hardware the Unices and Windows may be close enough to 
"real-time" for the needs of this particular application.

> -Any recommendations for this fellow, or should I say for whenever we get
> stuck in this same position?

I would say he's running stuff made by a *very* small number of 
companies.  He would be lucky to be able to find more than 1 vendor of 
monitoring software for that machinery on this whole continent.  It's 
their way or go out of business, and they (the software manufacturer) 
know it.

In other words, he doesn't have much choice :(

-- 

Phil Brutsche
phil at brutsche.us