Embedded Linux

Software Size

Unlike a general-purpose computer system, an embedded system only requires enough software to actually get a specific set of jobs done. This means you can do without a lot of the fluff that normally goes into a general-purpose computer system such as X windows, email and newsreaders, games, and so on. By doing this, you can make the software image much smaller. This is important because you normally don’t have a hard drive in an embedded application. Even when you do have one for storage, it may be better to put the system software and applications in ROM or flash so they aren’t as vulnerable to corruption. Both ROM and flash are much more expensive byte-for-byte than space on a hard drive, so it’s important to include just ...