Re: Software for Central Heating Control

[John Rumm <see.my.signature@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

meow2222@xxxxxxxxx wrote:

> For the computer side of things, I would steer well clear of PCs, as
> you need a system that will stay running for years at a time, and PCs
> simply dont have the necessary hardware or software reliability. My

I don't think that is true. Embedded PC hardware is designed for high
availability applications and should run flawlessly for long periods.
Remember also there is no reason you need to stick anything Microsoft on
top of it - you can even program for the bare platform if you really want.

So software reliability is down to you.

There are also plenty of real time and/or embedded OSs available that
can be used (anything from Linux, to VxWorks, Psos, OS/9 etc). To be
fair to MS, even embedded Win2k or WinXP is actually pretty solid in
most applications - remember most of the clunky UI related crud is
missing and you are back to the well designed (i.e. Dave Cutler and co)
kernel at the heart of it.

OS choice will depend on the sophistication of the application and the
need to support more complex items like TCP/IP stacks and industry
standard file systems.

> first choice would likely be a BBC B. If youre not familiar with them,
> theyre 1982 32k 4MHz command line machines with inbuilt OS and BASIC,
> and are stable as a rock. They also have lots of A./D I/O onboard, and

Lots of them are failing now - just due to age alas. Many with PSU
faults attributable to failing capacitors. I am not sure I would want to
spec a modern design with a system that is no longer supported or
available.

The IO they had was good at the time - but perhaps less use than might
be expected in a modern context. Lack of TCP/IP, X10, Bluetooth, USB,
WiFi stacks and interface logic may prove a bigger hurdle.



--
Cheers,

John.

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