On Wed, 2012-04-25 at 00:59 +0100, Ian Stirling wrote: > (resent after error in sending address) > On 04/18/2012 06:18 AM, Robert Schwebel wrote: > > On Tue, Apr 17, 2012 at 05:20:22PM -0700, Tim Bird wrote: > >> With regard to your other question, I don't know of anyone running > >> Linux on only 1 MB. I have run Linux in about 1.5 MB of RAM but only > >> by "cheating" by putting the kernel into flash and using > >> Execute-in-place. > > > > We have been running with about 1 MB when working on the Cortex-M3 and > > EFM32 port recently, but it turned out that, even with xip, real work > > (more than a booting kernek) was only possible with 4 MB. > > This is likely to get suddenly more relevant in the next year or ten, > when microcontrollers able to run linux arrive. > That is - a system in one chip, not requiring RAM or ROM soldered on. > They don't - yet - exist. > > http://search.digikey.com/us/en/products/LPC4330FBD144,551/568-9450-ND/2840463 > > - for example - has 264K of RAM. > It's not going to be that long till linux becomes available in one-chip > form.
Existing full systems like the 700MHz Raspberry Pi run desktop Linux, have 256 _MB_ of RAM on-package (POP) and sell retail for $25, complete with SD, USB, Ethernet, HDMI, audio, floating point, and a GPU. On the other end, we have stuff like the NXP LPC1114, which puts a stand-alone 50MHz ARM Cortex M0 uC with 32K of RAM/Flash in a 5mm² device for $1.33 each. DIP form-factor if you want. So I think the industry's well within range of making single package Linux-capable devices with sufficient RAM, flash, CPU, and basic peripherals like oscillator, USB, and I²C/SPI in a 8mm² package for $5 today. In fact, the engineering effort for an ARM licensee to do that is significantly less than you'd spend trying to cut Linux's memory footprint in half. Ergo, the days of projects like Linux-tiny are behind us. -- Mathematics is the supreme nostalgia of our time. _______________________________________________ Celinux-dev mailing list [email protected] https://lists.celinuxforum.org/mailman/listinfo/celinux-dev
