hi,

Linux is the fastest growin OS in embedded arena. Its latest 2.6 kernel has great support for embedded development...

Previous version(2.4) needed specialized patches 2 be made 2 make it compatible...but...

compared 2 2.4 kernel 2.6 kernel has:

Fast Task response time
Improved Preemption feature
Efficient scheduler
Enhanced synchronization(user-space Mutexes)

if u want 2 develop an rtos...start studyin abt its kernel...chk out
"http://www.kernelnewbies.org/"...& these books r a must..."Linux Kernel Development by Robert Love" & "Understanding the Linux Kernel (2nd Edition)
by Daniel P. Bovet, Marco Cesati"...

mail me 4 further details...get2navin@yahoo.co.in...

Happy Coding...

rgds,
Navin A.Sylvester