LR> Hi, Craig.  I called the company that sells VxWorks - got an answering
 LR> machine - no return calls yet.  So far you are the only knowledgeable

Wind River Systems sometimes runs free seminars on their products.  I went
to one about three years ago in San Diego.

 LR> person I have found that has any experience with VxWorks.  The F-
 LR> Embedded echo has not been frutiful either thus far.

That's really surprising to me.  I'd expect more people to have VxWorks
experience as it is one of the more popular real-time operating systems. 
Probably the trouble here is that most people who use it don't have a clue
that it is being used as it is embedded in the system in such a fashion
that the users aren't aware of the operating system, unlike OS/2 or most
other personal computer operating systems.

 LR> This consulting firm told me they are looking for several people.  Is
 LR> lower NY State of interest to you?  Outside NYC?  Net mail me, OK?

I'm completely overworked on OS/2 projects right now and probably have
enough work for at least another year.

 LR> Not to worry, Craig.  Very fuzzy job requirement specs. It doesn't
 LR> seem likely that VxWorks *runs* on either UNIX or OS/2.

It doesn't.

 LR> I have used several RTOS multi-tasking systems in the past. I had to
 LR> tweak the kernels to get them to meet specs.  Is VxWorks a multi-tasking
 LR> RTOS?

Yes.  It is priority based.  I don't at the moment remember for sure if it
round-robin time slices for tasks at the same priority level, however. OS/2
and most general purpose operating systems do round-robin time slice for
the same priority level, but some real-time operating systems don't.

 LR> What do you use for a development system to build and test (to target)
 LR> the VxWorks with the apps?  OS/2 maybe - or UNIX - other?

We used Sun SPARC computers (both commercial and militarized DTC versions)
running SunOS which is a Unix variant.  You could probably use OS/2
workstations for development work, also, as VxWorks can communicate over a
TCP/IP LAN if you install the appropriate drivers.  It can also boot over
the LAN if you set up a boot server.  I think we used the Gnu C compiler
set up for cross-compilation to generate executables for downloading to the
VxWorks boards.

 LR> Be that as it may, Craig, if I had to survive waiting for outside,
 LR> on-site contract work for RT stuff, at the rates I like to earn, I would
 LR> likely be working as a permanent employee somewhere.  Similarly for

Maybe you're in the wrong area of the USA for real-time embedded systems work?

 LR> In case you never viewed it this way, indivdual consultants/contractors
 LR> are treated like a commodity - like tomaotes  If there is an oversupply
 LR> of certain kinds of tomatoes and and a low demand, rates go down.  And
 LR> vice versa.

My experience so far is that many (maybe event most) consultants are not
very good programmers and/or are unreliable as far as their commitments go.
 Actually, that applies for many programmers who aren't consultants, too. 
Sometimes I am amazed that any software ever works given some of the
garbage I've seen passed off as source code.


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