Surprisingly many companies developing and marketing systems based on 8-bit microcontrollers (e.g. 8051 clones, AVRs, PIC16s and PIC18s) are making plans to use powerful 32-bit microcontrollers and the Linux operating system as the basis for their next generation of products. My immediate thoughts were along the lines of “do these people realise what they are letting themselves in for?" The other source of ‘inspiration’ for this article came from a couple of outstanding software engineers from BT’s Martlesham labs who attended an advanced FTT course on Linux Kernel and Device Driver programming and who ‘introduced’ me to the exciting world of "Gumstix’.
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