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I cant think of any reason why you would want to have Linux run on the robot controller itself (if that is what you are talking about) -
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Although that's not what this thread is about, there is a nice set of tools for the Lego RCX called BrickOS. This suite runs a stripped down Linux kernel on the Lego RCX.
If you have a full-up OS running on your embedded system, you have access to tools and hardware abstractions which may make your life easier.
If we stick with this new PIC for many years, I suspect that someone will inevitably port the BrickOS (or some such) over to it. Although that will depend on how much memory and storage the system has (relative to the RCX).
One of the neat things about BrickOS is the Lego Network Protocol (LNP), which allows TCP/IP networking to be done over the serial IR tower link. Can you imagine running TCP/IP over the radio modem through the dashboard to a wireless ethernet appliance. People from all over the world could log into a competition robot while it competes!
The advantage to using an embedded Linux would be to use the execi abstraction. This allows you to set up event driven interrupt handlers from inside your C program.
The scheduler is a built in part of the OS. Otherwise, you have to write your scheduler yourself.
To stay on the topic of this thread, CCS says they have a development suite for the PIC which runs under Linux. I have not dug down to the point that I have actually found this product or seen how much it costs.
http://www.ccsinfo.com/picc.shtml
Although this year is probably going to have a lot of people dreaming up cool stuff to do with the new features of the modern RC, I suspect that we're going to have to wait a couple of years before the full potential of this new programming power comes through.