Win vs Linux for SCADA

It may be the apps I run, but I need to reboot WinXP at home far too often to recommend it for SCADA.

Jerry

Having seen, specified and used HMI (Mimics and Touch-Panels) on a variety of OS platforms, including DOS, Windows (various flavours) and Linux/Unix I would certainly go with the most stable OS you can lay your hands on. That would probably be a proper Unix. Linux would be a close contender in the top *nix group with WinXP a very poor last for consideration.

I hate to break this to you Paul, but as good as it may be, there just ain't that many SCADA suppliers out there supporting Unix these days...

Cameron:-)

I don't do any SCADA work, but from a general high-reliability OS perspective I can say this:

Windows and Linux can both be reliable, and they can both be crappy. It's all a matter of understanding your OS and its needs. You must install it on a big enough machine, then avoid applications and procedures that would bring it down.

Having said that, if all else were equal I would choose Linux long before I chose Windows.

What you need to do is find out how equal that "all else" really is. If the only SCADA vendors you can find support only Windows, if your IT folks break out in a rash at the first mention of the 'L' word, if your company execs say "Linux? Is that like Buttocks?" then Windows may be right for you, even if it isn't really the best choice technically. If you can find software that's designed for Linux boxes, and if IT likes it and no one else gags either -- go for it!

It may vary depending where in the world you are but here in the UK I know of a couple of places where you could get a good SCADA HMI built for you on a base like QNX. Also, in my current venue, we use a SCADA HMI running on SUN workstations which has been built in-house.

Of course, maybe it could be that, the type of organisations I work with are just that much more into bespoke systems rather than following the popular flows.