newbie questions

[Joel Sherrill]

On Mon, 27 Apr 1998, Richard Lamoreaux wrote:

> Our company is interested in RTEMS as a RTOS to offer on our series of
> PowerPC CPU Boards. I have a few general questions:
> 
> 1. Is version 3.6 the latest available? I saw some reference to a version
> 4.0 in searching the gcc mail archive.

3.6.0 is the latest release available to the general public.  There have
always been newer versions available to support customers and a very
limited number of submitters.  There is an upcoming public release -- the
near legendary 4.0.  This release has been a long time coming for a
variety of reasons.  The feature set is a big step up from 3.6.0 with
TCP/IP, C++ class wrappers, a Hitach SH port, self-booting BSP for PC
clones, configuration via GNU autoconf, better integration with GNU tools,
etc..  

> 2. Are there drivers available for Ethernet, SCSI disk, etc. or would these
> have to be developed by us or contracted out to OAR? Has anyone else developed
> these and placed them in the gnu copyleft?

It looks like there will be Ethernet drivers included for only the 68360
QUICC controller in 4.0.  Other drivers are under development by a variety
of folks but none are going to make the release. 

> 3. In searching the web, I haven't seen any interest in RTEMS since the
> end of 1996. Is RTEMS dead? Is there a successor to it?

No RTEMS is not dead.  There has been a lot of activity off public
channels.  We generally reply to messages off-line.

--joel
Joel Sherrill                    Director of Research & Development
joel at OARcorp.com                 On-Line Applications Research
Ask me about RTEMS: a free RTOS  Huntsville AL 35805
   Support Available             (205) 722-9985