Why TSN won't Work without Real-time Linux

The Time Sensitive Networking (TSN) extensions provide real-time capable and deterministic communication for regular Ethernet. Not only does the network has to be deterministic, the end stations have to act deterministic as well. Therefore, the end stations are often driven by bare metal or special real-time operating systems. However, Linux is becoming more and more popular for embedded devices these days. In this contribution we will show why Linux in combination with the PREEMPT_RT patch is a good choice as operating system for TSN end devices and what Linux offers for real-time networking today.