Introduction

Embedded Linux distributions have been around for quite a while. Single floppy distributions, mainly targeting the X86 architecture, like the Linux router project (lrp) and floppy firewall are well known by now. This first step into embedded Linux distributions was accompanied by a fair amount of 'home-brew' embedded Linux variants for custom devices, expanding the architecture range into powerpc MIPS and ARM, from which development kits are now starting to evolve. Embedded Linux is more and more becoming a usable and easy to handle Linux segment. But what is the position of embedded Linux? Where does it fit into the other embedded OS in the 32bit market? In this article a few thoughts on the 'why embedded Linux?' will be sketched out, as I belive, positioning embedded Linux quite high up on the list of first-choice embedded OS and RTOS.