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

[Nick Walter]

QNX is a Unix-ish real time O/S.  A real time O/S is generally used in
specialized equipment where the computer needs to control something (often
scientific/industrial equipment or special communications gear) with very
very precise timing.  I've encountered QNX controlling SS7 signalling
interface units at telcos.

Non real-time O/S's (All Windows, 99% of Unices) can't do these sort of
things because they can't guarantee a running program that it will have
continous or perfectly scheduled access to system resources.   A busy
network card might stall communications for a 1/4 of second, or a very busy
disk might stall reads for a 1/4 of a second, or a very busy cpu might make
a ton of processes stall, etc.  In the real time O/S biz, these stalls are
completely unacceptable because the equipment being controlled by the
computer might sustain some serious damage or fail in those time frames.

I know there were at one point 2 independant projects (one commercial) to
wedge real time functionality into the linux kernel, but I haven't heard
anything about them lately.

Nick Walter

----- Original Message -----
From: "IrishMASMS" <IrishMASMS at olug.org>
To: <olug at olug.org>
Sent: Friday, January 03, 2003 9:02 PM
Subject: [olug] 3Com NICs, QNX & "upgrading to W2K"


> Greetings fellow OLUGers!
>
> Telling the story of a recent eBay sale to CMM & WBH the other night;
> after we all laughed our ass off we wonder what they needed four 3Com
> 3C503-TP EtherLink II TP Network Interface Cards.
>
> Here is a picture of one of them:
>
http://mywebpage.netscape.com/IrishMASMS/images/3comEtherlink2TP/3comEtherli
nk2TP.jpg
>
> Yes, they purchased four 8 bit ISA NICs. And yes, I was also wondering
> what they needed them for and why they were willing to pay as much as they
> did.
>
> So, when the buyer emailed me back to let me know they had arrived & all
> was well I asked him what they needed them for.
>
> Here is his reply:
>
> <i>
> Irish,
> We have a $2 million boiler that produces steam to run our 25,000 pound
> forge hammers.  The cards go into computers that constantly monitor the
> boiler, keeping it within specs so it doesn't create a $10,000,000 pile of
> rubble.  Those computers are running software that will only run on a
> Canadian UNIX operating system called QNX (q-nix).  QNX, at least the
> version we are running, apparently doesn't recognize hardware manufactured
> after about 1994.  (We haven't been able to find any drivers, anyway).
> So, these cards are giving us some time to upgrade the entire system to
> Windows-compatible software, which will give us far more flexibility in
> hardware.  Of course, this should have been done before the existing cards
> started to fail, but (insert standard excuses here).
> To see pictures of the forging process, go to www.clifford-jacobs.com.
> Thanks for your help in this frantic operation.  And thank God for E-bay.
> Greg
> </i>
>
> So, I emailed him back:
>
> <i>
> Greg - I am surprised that those systems will not run Linux or BSD.
> FWIW, I have installed a few flavors of Linux & BSD on some of the oldest
> crap systems around, and they ran great.
> I would rather become a garbage man than migrate anything to M$ windoz! :)
> </i>
>
> His reply was:
>
> <i>
> Irish,
> I have little doubt that someone could make this boiler software run on
> Linux or BSD.  The problem then becomes an issue of getting support from
> the maker of the boiler software.  They are the ones insisting we use QNX
> or "upgrade" to MS 2000 Professional.  And this is not software you can
> just run out of the box.  We need the maker's support to make changes,
> etc.
> They claim QNX is a "real-time" OS.  Is Linux and/or BSD?
> Greg
> </i>
>
>
> That is all so far. Now for some questions for my fellow LUGers:
>
> -What is this QNX? I assume another *nix flavor?
>
> -What the hell are they talking about regarding  a "real-time" OS?
>
> -Any recommendations for this fellow, or should I say for whenever we get
> stuck in this same position?
>
> -Comments?
>
>
>
> Irish
>
> --
> A: No.
> Q: Should I include e-mail quotations after my reply?
>
>
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