I don't tend to use busybox anymore because it isn't necessary. But I never found it to be that unpleasant. Most my embedded stuff only uses a few very basic shell scripts. Once someone comes up with a small ARM processor with enough on-board flash and ram for Linux, busybox will be just the thing for it.

It isn't because they didn't think of this. The PCIe and USB do look to be directly from the SOC. Ethernet PHY's are difficult or impossible to implement in the low voltage processes used for modern SOCs. DRAM and flash are sometimes mounted onto the top of the SOC, but that is more expensive, and typically used for mobile where space is at a premium. But if you were going to run a small embedded OS you can probably get by with the 512k or SRAM. Most the other chips are either power supply, or 3.3V I/O. These are again places where the SOC process doesn't allow for I/Os that handle the higher voltages safely.

Linux is not inherently bloaty. The kernel and a busybox based user space run on hardware a good deal weaker than this. I love Linux for embedded systems. Its network stack is rock solid, and with the modern kernel it is pretty easy to get near realtime performance.

http://www.ti.com/3dtof They aren't the only ones working on it. But this technology has a huge potential to impact the way humans interact with technology.

My son appears to already have an unlimited supply of energy, so I can't really see the fusion reactor doing much.

"Security Checkpoints Predict What You Will Do on Thursday January 01, @01:27PM"
Damn it's already passed. Oh well, "eating lunch" wouldn't have been a revelation.