Preface
Today more than ever before, networking is a hot topic. Any electronic gadget in its latest generation embeds some kind of networking capability. The Internet continues to broaden in its population and opportunities. It should not come as a surprise that a robust, freely available, and feature-rich operating system like Linux is well accepted by many producers of embedded devices. Its networking capabilities make it an optimal operating system for networking devices of any kind. The features it already has are well implemented, and new ones can be added easily. If you are a developer for embedded devices or a student who would like to experiment with Linux, this book will provide you with good fodder.
The performance of a pure software-based product that uses Linux cannot compete with commercial products that can count on the help of specialized hardware. This of course is not a criticism of software; it is a simple recognition of the consequence of the speed difference between dedicated hardware and general-purpose CPUs. However, Linux can definitely compete with low-end commercial products that are entirely software-based. Of course, simple extensions to the Linux kernel allow vendors to use Linux on hybrid systems as well (software and hardware); it is only a matter of writing the necessary device drivers.
Linux is also often used as the operating system of choice for the implementation of university projects and theses. Not all of them make it to the official kernel (not ...
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