--- In "Michael" <> wrote:
>
> > Well I dont doubt that you are right. But there's a difference
> > between software support and a defective product.
> >
> > It should work. If I need support in modifying that's a different
> > issue. Luckily there is this group that does the support for
their
> > defective distro.
>
Thanks for you reply Michael, I was a bit surprised not to have had
any feedback from TS before now.
> Unfortunately this is a double-edged sword especially in the
embedded
> world. If you are just starting working on a new project then
having the
> latest software can only be beneficial for you. But when we
release a
> product and people start and then finish developing their own
applications
> on it and begin shipping their own product based on our product,
it can be
> disasterous for them if we start shipping a different, un-expected
software
> state on their board.
>
> As a simple example of the trouble this can cause even in a
trivial
> application, we provided one customer with a simple mechanism to
replicate
> custom software to flash media using a PC running Linux for use on
a product
> we designed for them. They verified it worked, but a couple weeks
later we
> got a call that there were suddenly big problems - replication no
longer
> worked reliably - some units would get into really bad states
after booting
> while other units seemed to work ok. Turns out they had upgraded
the Linux
> distro on their PC and suddenly hot-plug started working, causing
things
> like auto-mounting to occur when we were trying to run simple dd
commands on
> the underlying media.
That seems to be a rather different situation. If a client updates
from win98 to XP he may well expect some custom software may present
issues. I don't see how that relates software on the board.
I take you point that upgrades need to be done with due reflection
but we should be discussing TSlinux not someone's desktop linux.
It makes sense for TS to provide a system in a consistant state so
that customers with a derived product do not need to repeat thier
testing cycle everytime they order.
This is presumably why your kernel updates are available on your site
but you still ship with an older version. That makes perfect sense.
Your hands are not tied in this respect.
In a similar way you could provide updated TSlinux tarballs with
necessary fixes for things like busybox (and your latest kernel) .
>
> > If I had realised the ammount of extra work required, I probably
> > would not have got into TS boards.
>
> We could say the same thing about Linux... ;-) But as Jim
mentioned the
> virtue of the open source world is that even if our hands are tied
from
> fixing them the community as a whole is not hindered from moving
forward and
> improving the software on our boards.
>
Well it was not Jim who said your hands were tied, it was you, and as
I point out you are not unable to provide updates with your existing
structure.
While there is much useful content available from this group and the
comunity at large any unknown source has to be treated with some
precaution. It would make more sense to be able to trust the product
manufacturer as the primary, reliable source of software.
> > Having said that the h'w seem solid and well designed. It's a
shame
> > they don't clean up the loose ends on the s'w and save everyone
> > having to reinvent that particular wheel.
>
> There is a files section to the TS-7000 group, feel free to
contribute your
> improved load image. :-)
>
That would have limitted value.
If someone submits a program or a driver I can check it through and
adopt it or not. I would not just blindly plugin software from an
unknown source, let alone a complete distro tarball.
This TSlinux and it's busybox are into thier fidth year now. One
complete update with a few bug fixes and ts11 kernel would be a much
better starting point than the buggy five year old release.
This is where TS can "leaverage" the OS comminity which have
identified and fixed many of these issues by integrating it into a
new release.
This would have infinitely more value than a post here by me or any
other unknown, untrusted entity.
thanks for your reply,
best regards, jacques.
> > Thanks for you thought, and help.
> >
> > /js
>
>
> ______ Best Regards,
> |__ __/ Michael Schmidt
> || Software Engineer
> ||echnologic Systems (EmbeddedARM.com)
> || (480) 16610 East Laser Drive #10
> |/ 837-5200 Fountain Hills, AZ 85268
> http://oz.embeddedarm.com/~michael
>
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