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FAQ of RED-Linux

What is RED-Linux?
RED-Linux is a Realtime and Embedded version of Linux. It's based on Linux version 2.2.14. In additional to the original Linux capability, it improves the realtime behaviour of the Linux kernel in many ways. RED-Linux support
  • a short kernel blocking time
  • a quick task response time
  • modulized and runtime replaceable CPU scheduler
  • a general scheduling framework
In addition, in this SDK, a modified version of the LRP (Linux router project) is included to produce an embedded kernel image. Bochs are used as the system emulator.

Can I run my legacy Linux application on RED-Linux?
Yes, RED-Linux treat all old, existing non-realtime applications as low priority tasks in realtime system. Every application can be executed in the same time as realtime tasks.

Can I put RED-Linux in my embedded system?
Yes, you can. In fact, most of the Linux kernel can be compiled as modules. Every modules can be loaded at boot time or runtime. You can use this feature to reconfigure Linux to fit your requirement.

How do I write a realtime application under RED-Linux?
Currently, you must use GSI(general scheduling interface) to write a schedule allocator yourself. We'll release an allocator library in the future. After the allocator library is relased, you can use it to implement popular scheduling algorithms such as rate monotonic, earliest deadline first and time-driven schedulers. Please refer to the white paper for the realtime architecture of RED-Linux. In the SDK, you can find al_RM.c which is a very simple allocator supporting two-process rate monotonic scheduler.

Which Linux distribution is used by RED-Linux?
You can use any distribution. However it's more convenient if you use Debian because the default root directory comes from LRP which is based on Debian 2.1. In theory, any glibc 2.0 based system is usable.

How can I get more information about RED-Linux?
Visit our website at http://linux.ece.uci.edu. Our white paper is here . We also have several papers related to RED-Linux.