AbstractIn this paper, we discuss whether Solaris and Linux are suitable for data acquisition systems in soft real time conditions. As an example we consider a plasma diagnostic (Mirnov coils), which collects data for a complete plasma discharge of about 10 s from up to 72 channels. Each ADC-Channel generates a data stream of 4 MB/s. To receive these data streams an eight-channel Hotlink PCI interface board was designed. With a prototype system using Solaris and the driver developed by us we investigate important properties of the operating system such as the I/O performance and scheduling of processes. We compare the Solaris operating system on the Ultra Sparc platform with Linux on the Intel platform. Finally, some points of user program development are mentioned to show how the application can make the most efficient use of the underlying high-speed I/O system.