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| | Migrating from x86 to PowerPC, Part 1: Robots and networked appliances on a shoestring |
 | | You save development time principally from the fact that you can buy off-the-shelf hardware for most of the functions to be carried out on the PC; you can use an off-the-shelf operating system, and you can use ready-rolled device drivers that have already been debugged for you, for the most part. |
 | | The second reason for this decision is to demonstrate the original assertion, that it is extremely cost-effective, in terms of development time, to use a high-end platform like PPC to run the complex but non-hard-real-time tasks (networking, interfacing to peripherals like cameras, and so forth), and offload the hard-real-time tasks onto an external 8-bit microcontroller. |
 | | Prior to that, he spent five years developing x86, ARM and PA-RISC-based networked multimedia appliances at Digi-Frame Inc. He has extensive experience in encryption and security software and is the author of two books on embedded systems development. |
| www-106.ibm.com /developerworks/library/pa-migrate (3206 words) |
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