Re: [rtl] Some news about DSL

[Herman Bruyninckx <Herman.Bruyninckx@mech.kuleuven.ac.be>]

On Mon, 21 Aug 2000, Ivan Martinez wrote:

> 	- The web pages have finally moved to a permanent location. It is:
> http://www.rtlinux.org/rtlinux.new/dsl/
> 	- The User's Tutorial has been completed. You can now learn everything
> about using DSL. Check DSL's web pages.
Could you make it available in printable formats too, please? (PDF,
PostScript.)

> 	Many of you pointed out that it would be very interesting to use
> real-time capabilities on SimuLink. As you probably know, rtlinux.org
> has links to commercial packages doing that. But it would be much better
> if some of us develop free software for that. 
A couple of remarks about this topic:
 - this feature is _much_ requested by control engineers without a
   good software background. (And most of them are :-(, as I know from
   my daily experiences...)
 - The simulink approach is not a complete solution: it forces people
   to think and design in the input-output paradigm; there are however
   lots of other control problems that are not dealt with, i.e., the
   so-called ``interaction-based'' paradigm. For example: a human
   being (or a robot) that pushes against objects doesn't work with
   input-output, but with a control of its `behaviour' (= impedance in
   this example). So, make sure you tackle both approaches.
 - take a look at the Modelica modelling language (www.modelica.org),
   which is going to be _the_ standard modelling language (visual as
   well as textual). Also the MathWorks and other big commercial
   players are involved. Use their modelling icons and language.
 - Modelica has a workshop in your neighbourhood: October 23 - 24 at
   Lund University, Lund, Sweden. Present your work there, and learn
   from the feedback (harsh criticism, most probably, or outrageous
   laughter :-) ) from the ``big guys''.
   

> However, as I want to concentrate in developing the library, I wouldn't
> participate in this project. Anybody doing this job can count on my full
> support.
I am currently designing an open source robot control project, of
which DSL (or something similar) will be an indispensable part. The
above-mentioned Simulink-like GUI would be another part. It's time we
form groups to tackle different new projects on top of real-time
linux, _and_ try to do it in a more or less coordinated way, in order
to profit maximally from each others' efforts!

> 	What do you think?.
I suggest to submit overview and design papers to the real-time linux
workshop, and get together there to form a `consortium' of application
projects on top of the basic real-time linux (linuces)?
 <http://www.thinkingnerds.com/projects/rtos-ws/rtos-ws.html>
Deadline: tomorrow :-(


--
Herman.Bruyninckx@mech.kuleuven.ac.be (Ph.D.)    Fax: +32-(0)16-32 29 87
Dept. Mechanical Eng., Div. PMA, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium