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eCos

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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Gronky (talk | contribs) at 00:32, 3 February 2007 (import the eCosPro article (1 paragraph) into this one). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

eCos
DevelopereCosCentric
Working stateCurrent
Source modelOpen source
LicenseeCos License (GPL with exceptions)
Official websiteecos.sourceware.org

eCos (embedded Configurable operating system) is an open source, royalty-free, real-time operating system intended for embedded systems and applications which need only one process with multiple threads. The OS is configurable, and can be customised to precise application requirements, with hundreds of options, delivering the best possible run-time performance and minimized hardware needs. A thriving net community has grown up around eCos ensuring ongoing technical innovation and wide platform support.

eCos was designed for devices with memory size in the tens to hundreds of kilobytes, or with real-time requirements. It can be used on hardware that doesn't have enough RAM to support embedded Linux, which currently requires a minimum of about 2 MB of RAM, not including application and service requirements.

eCos runs on a wide variety of hardware platforms, including ARM, CalmRISC, FR-V, Hitachi H8, IA-32, Motorola 68000, Matsushita AM3x, MIPS, NEC V8xx, PowerPC, SPARC, SuperH and Nios II.

Included with the eCos distribution is RedBoot, an open source application that uses the eCos Hardware Abstraction Layer to provide bootstrap firmware for embedded systems.

History

eCos was initially developed by Cygnus Solutions which was later bought by Red Hat. In early 2002, Red Hat ceased development of eCos and laid off the staff that were working on the project who then formed their own company, eCosCentric, in order to continue development and provide commercial support for eCos. In January 2004, at the request of the eCos developers, Red Hat agreed to transfer its eCos copyrights to the Free Software Foundation. The transfer was finally executed in October 2005.

Non-free versions

eCosPro is a proprietary eCos and RedBoot distribution created by eCosCentric that is targeted towards developers looking to integrate eCos and RedBoot within commercial products. It is claimed as a "stable, fully tested, certified and supported version", however, some of the additional features have not be released as free software.

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