When developing a solution that requires a real-time operating system, what advantages would an operating system such an QNX or VxWorks have over Linux?
Or to put it another way, since these operating system are designed specifically for real-time, embedded use – as opposed to Linux which is a more general system that can be tailored to real-time use – when would you need to use one of these operating systems instead of Linux?
Best Answer
Some embedded systems (a) need to meet difficult real-time requirements, and yet (b) have very limited hardware (which makes it even more difficult to meet those requirements).
If you can't change the hardware, then there are several situations where you are forced to rule out Linux and use something else instead: