4 ms·

I have seen software for a unit in a car which had no safety relevant tasks, which was written using a custom, homegrown rtos with half of a standard library re

I have seen software for a unit in a car which had no safety relevant tasks, which was written using a custom, homegrown rtos with half of a standard library reimplemented from scratch for no reason at all. Their supplier did all of this on purpose, to create lock-in, which worked - now they charge by line of code. Any old Linux kernel haphazardly patched together to run on the target would be better than this garbage. Do airplanes still run an emulator for a chip that is no longer produced because nobody wants to port the software? That was a fun story I still hope is an urban myth.

opencl 6y ago
Not an airplane, but I have a few HP calculators (50G, 12C, 15C) that run an emulator for a chip that is no longer produced because nobody wants to port the software. They still make the 12C. I wouldn't trust them to port it without introducing weird bugs after seeing stuff like the 35S anyway.
m4rtink 6y ago
A lot if not the majority or PoS terminals around here run som DOS software, usually on top of an emulator. Sometimes you can even see a DOSBox window on top of a Windows desktop.
- franga2000 6y ago
  Just a few months ago I caught a glimpse of DOS in a multi-national home improvement store. Turns out all of their computers are fairly recent ThinkCentre machines, all running Windows 7 that is locked down to 3 programs: calc.exe, Internet Explorer 10 and some proprietary DOS emulator they pay something like 50k€ annually for, running a TUI client for their inventory and order system. I don't even know how to sort those by level of stupidity...
- lmilcin 6y ago
  If we are talking credit card terminals then this will depend a lot on implementation. You can have whatever you want on a terminal as long as it meets PCI DSS/PED requirements which mostly are concerned with safety and integrity of the transaction. Safety means your PIN and private issuer data (data your bank put on your card) stays safe and integrity means nobody can meddle with the data or the flow of the transaction (so the amount you have approved on the display is the amount of transaction in your bank is the amount printed on your printout, etc.)

opencl 6y ago

Not an airplane, but I have a few HP calculators (50G, 12C, 15C) that run an emulator for a chip that is no longer produced because nobody wants to port the software. They still make the 12C. I wouldn't trust them to port it without introducing weird bugs after seeing stuff like the 35S anyway.

m4rtink 6y ago

A lot if not the majority or PoS terminals around here run som DOS software, usually on top of an emulator. Sometimes you can even see a DOSBox window on top of a Windows desktop.

franga2000 6y ago
Just a few months ago I caught a glimpse of DOS in a multi-national home improvement store. Turns out all of their computers are fairly recent ThinkCentre machines, all running Windows 7 that is locked down to 3 programs: calc.exe, Internet Explorer 10 and some proprietary DOS emulator they pay something like 50k€ annually for, running a TUI client for their inventory and order system. I don't even know how to sort those by level of stupidity...
lmilcin 6y ago
If we are talking credit card terminals then this will depend a lot on implementation. You can have whatever you want on a terminal as long as it meets PCI DSS/PED requirements which mostly are concerned with safety and integrity of the transaction. Safety means your PIN and private issuer data (data your bank put on your card) stays safe and integrity means nobody can meddle with the data or the flow of the transaction (so the amount you have approved on the display is the amount of transaction in your bank is the amount printed on your printout, etc.)