OLPC Laptop - an open source substandard ?

[Rob Savoye]

Gabor Dolla wrote:

> When I asked the size of the current code I meant the size of the source 
> code not the binary... How many lines of source code ?
> Is the source code documented or commented ?

   I agree this is probably better as a longer term goal, than trying to 
get done right away. I'm not sure how many lines the source code is, but 
it is well documented and commented. A little history... We originally 
designed eCOS at Cygnus, to give us a complete software stack for 
embedded systems. Many of our customers needed something more hard-real 
time to replace their roll-your-own kernels. We also made eCOS support 
other RTOS APIs, like Micro-Itron, so eCOS is very heavily used by 
Japanese industry these days. To ensure a solid product, we developed a 
solid testing infrastructure, good documentation, and the configuration 
infrastructure.

   Redhat decided to get out of the embedded systems business at one 
point after they bought Cygnus, and so the eCOS team I had built setup 
their own company, eCosCentric in Cambridge to support eCOS. They are 
now the primary developers and maintainers of eCOS, and I'd suggest 
utilizing their expertise for a project like this if possible.

	- rob -