[En-Nut-Discussion] Big Words - Long Post: The Future of Nut/OS :-)

[Harald Kipp]

Hi,


>I pointed out non existance of UDP queue for incoming packets a year ago. 
>I have different opinion from Ralph.

Gosh...time is running too fast.

I read the thread with great interest and it opens
up a lot of topics. I'll touch the specific UDP first,
but keep walking towards more general thoughts.

UDP:

I agree, that some applications may require UDP data
buffering. On the other hand, there are applications,
where discarding packets is just fine. For example, a
display for measuring data, continuously broadcasted
by the source will not be interested in any datagram.
Even worse, if display routines are slow, the application
would have to create a thread simply to throw away
unused datagrams, just to keep the allocated heap
space low.

Configuration:

I agree with Ralph, that several parts of Nut/OS
require configuration to serve different requirements.
However, in my view it is very important too, to have
some kind of standard configuration, which can be used
out of the box by the newbie. Most people who start
with embedded Ethernet won't be able to configure the
required details and feel uncomfortable. Furthermore,
I always liked the automatic crystal clock detection
and baudrate calculation. And I like the new BaseMon,
which automatically detects the LAN controller and
banked memory. So I'd prefer a system, which adapts
itself to the hardware as far as possible. The
configuration may then disable these automations to
save code space and to fine tune some settings.

Further development:

A few weeks ago I explained, that my company may not
be able to serve the growing number of users and fullfill
all the special wishes. I'm aware, that some users are
already frustrated, because bugfixes and enhancements
take so long. Please understand, that our to-do list is
very large and aside from Nut/OS there are many tasks
to do to keep the company running and other topics, like
Free-Ice, which are very interesting too.

Then the mailing list server died and we've been busy
with other projects. Now the list comes back to live.
IMHO, it's the time to re-organize the Nut/OS development
and get more people involved.

Due to lack of time I didn't always follow the latest
development of other source communities, like how they
discuss roadmaps, organize task distribution or which
tool are "cool" to use. Your opinions and advices will
be most welcome.

What we may need in the first place is some kind of
"Steering Committee", which will have to define the general
direction like porting to other target platforms etc.

Concurrently to these efforts, I should enable write
access to the CVS repository for additional developers
as soon as possible. In the past, too many fixes got stuck
in my queue or on stress days I even forget to put them on
the list (grumble...). Frankly, I'm happy that I managed
to get it done for my machine, but I do not have the
slightest idea how to add other developers. So, be prepared,
that I may not be of much help with Sourceforge CVS.

As stated earlier, I'll keep my hand on official releases
to ensure downward compatibility, code consistency, compiler
support etc. At least during the next months, before becoming
completely fed up with this crap. Nah, just kidding. :-)

Last not least we need "Official Bugtrackers" and "Document
Authors". Many people on this list had been very helpful
to newbies in the past and saved my time answering the same
questions over and over again. However, my private email
folder steps from one overrun into the next. Posts whith
misconfigured local time get lost regularily ($&$% Eudora
sorts by message time, not receive time). May be we can
offer an alternative. As a programmer, I hate writing
documents for code, that's already done and working.
Anyway, I'll try to do the neccessary things, but as
an additional difficulty, I'm German...wrong language
and very picky with rules of grammar and spelling. Most of
you may not care, but for me this is frustrating and I'll
appreciate any help.

Enough stuff. I'm expecting crowds of volunteers now. :-)

Harald