Who else is excited that it will (from what I’ve read about the hardware behind it) be running linux? From some of the other products the company behind the xilinx zynq 7020 I expect a RedHat distro. I’m hoping for a fedora distro personally.
The main discussion thread for the new controller is here: http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=118311.
Regarding the specific Linux it runs, I’m sure it runs a NI custom Linux with realtime (RT) patches just like the cRIO-9068. See http://www.ni.com/white-paper/14626/ for more details on NI’s Linux RTOS.
I’m personally thrilled with the choice of Linux, even a custom version. It’s far more flexible than the old VxWorks setup (particularly with USB, Linux drivers for many USB devices are readily available).
I’m keyed up about using Linux on the robot.
VxWorks is a big deal (used on most of the Mars landers), but I’ve yet to hear of any FIRST teams dipping below the surface on this operating system.
Linux, on the other hand, is substantially familiar to our students. I expect a great deal of student interest and investigation.