Here are some documentation about integrating equinox in the Netbeans platform-based GUI.
After testing to patch netigso, Jaroslav has published NetBinox that accomplish equinox integration into NBP. [wiki:DevDoc/Netigso/Netbinox See our tests with Netbinox].

== References ==
 * [http://eppleton.sharedhost.de/blog/?p=662 "Alien invasion" blog post by Toni Epple]
 * [http://blogs.sun.com/geertjan/entry/ant_based_clustering_of_alien "Ant-based clustering of alien" blog post by Geertjan]
 * [http://wiki.netbeans.org/OSGiAndNetBeans General doc on Netbeans wiki]
 * [http://wiki.netbeans.org/OSGiAndNetBeansImportBundles Doc on modules import on Netbeans wiki]
 * [https://netbeans.org/bugzilla/buglist.cgi?product=platform&component=Netigso Issue list for netigso]
 * [http://help.eclipse.org/help32/index.jsp?topic=/org.eclipse.platform.doc.isv/reference/misc/index.html Eclipse docs about runtime]
 * [http://dev.eclipse.org/newslists/news.eclipse.technology.equinox/msg01286.html Discussion thread about Equinox launching programmatically]

== Attempt to patch Netigso ==

Here are notes about my first attemps with felix-based netigso.

 * Retrieve netisgo with mercurial
{{{
hg clone http://hg.netbeans.org/netigso/ netigso/
}}}
 * Build the platform
{{{
cd netigso; ant build -Dpermit.jdk6.builds=true
}}}
 * Replace Felix jar by Equinox jar and remove binaries-list file to prevent felix.jar download at each build.
{{{
wget -O core.netigso/external/felix.jar 'http://download.eclipse.org/equinox/drops/M20090824-0800/org.eclipse.osgi_3.5.1.R35x_v20090817.jar'
rm core.netigso/external/binaries-list
}}}
 * Adapt NetigsoModuleFactory.java code to use equinox ([attachment:netigso4equinox.diff Diff]). Some interesting equinox classes:
   * org.eclipse.osgi.launch.EquinoxFactory
   * org.osgi.framework.launch.Framework
   * '''TODO''' how to put NetigsoActivator in equinox ? Is it needed ?
 * '''TODO''' Adapt the method join in NetigsoActivator.java
 * Rebuild the platform
{{{
cd netigso; ant build -Dpermit.jdk6.builds=true
}}}
 * Test the module
   * Add the platform built in ''netigso/nbbuild/netbeans/'' in your Netbeans IDE through the menu ''Tools -> NetBeans Platform''
   * Create a new ''NetBeans Platform Application'' and choose in the wizard the previous added platform
   * Create a new module in this application, and add in the properties the library ''NetBeans OSGi integration''
   * '''TODO'''

=== State ===
I use this code to give equinox to netigso:
{{{
            Map<String,Object> configMap = new HashMap<String,Object>();
            // Add core OSGi packages to be exported from the class path
            // via the system bundle.
            configMap.put(Constants.FRAMEWORK_SYSTEMPACKAGES,
                    "org.osgi.framework; version=1.4.0," +
                    "org.osgi.service.packageadmin; version=1.2.0," +
                    "org.osgi.service.startlevel; version=1.1.0," +
                    "org.osgi.util.tracker; version=1.3.3," +
                    "org.osgi.service.url; version=1.0.0");
            configMap.put(Constants.FRAMEWORK_STORAGE_CLEAN, "onFirstInit");
            activator = new NetigsoActivator();
            List<BundleActivator> activators = new ArrayList<BundleActivator>();
            activators.add(activator);
            configMap.put("felix.systembundle.activators", activators);
            System.setProperty("osgi.install.area","/home/dumoulin/tmp/eclipse/");
            configMap.put("osgi.install.area","/home/dumoulin/tmp/eclipse/");
            EquinoxFactory ef = new EquinoxFactory();
            equinoxFramework = ef.newFramework(configMap);
            equinoxFramework.init();
}}}
I've in {{{/home/dumoulin/tmp/eclipse/}}} an equinox environment exported from Eclipse that works when launching from a shell with the command {{{java -jar plugins/org.eclipse.equinox.launcher_1.0.200.v20090520.jar}}}.

But, I've this exception:
{{{
java.lang.NullPointerException
        at java.io.File.<init>(File.java:305)
        at 
org.eclipse.osgi.internal.baseadaptor.BaseStorage.getBundleContent(BaseStorage.java:656)
        at 
org.eclipse.osgi.internal.baseadaptor.BaseStorage.createBundleFile(BaseStorage.java:665)
        at 
org.eclipse.osgi.baseadaptor.BaseAdaptor.createBundleFile(BaseAdaptor.java:466)
        at 
org.eclipse.osgi.baseadaptor.BaseData.getBundleFile(BaseData.java:394)
        at org.eclipse.osgi.baseadaptor.BaseData.getEntry0(BaseData.java:111)
        at org.eclipse.osgi.baseadaptor.BaseData.getEntry(BaseData.java:102)
        at 
org.eclipse.osgi.framework.internal.core.AbstractBundle.getEntry0(AbstractBundle.java:1232)
        at 
org.eclipse.osgi.framework.internal.core.Framework.findInSystemBundle(Framework.java:558)
        at 
org.eclipse.osgi.framework.internal.core.Framework.findVMProfile(Framework.java:504)
        at 
org.eclipse.osgi.framework.internal.core.Framework.loadVMProfile(Framework.java:420)
        at 
org.eclipse.osgi.framework.internal.core.Framework.initialize(Framework.java:224)
        at 
org.eclipse.osgi.framework.internal.core.Framework.<init>(Framework.java:157)
        at 
org.eclipse.osgi.framework.internal.core.EquinoxLauncher.internalInit(EquinoxLauncher.java:68)
        at 
org.eclipse.osgi.framework.internal.core.EquinoxLauncher.init(EquinoxLauncher.java:38)
        at org.eclipse.osgi.launch.Equinox.init(Equinox.java:89)
        at 
org.netbeans.core.netigso.NetigsoModuleFactory.getContainer(NetigsoModuleFactory.java:180)
}}}

After some investigation, the exception is thrown because the equinox bundle (org.eclipse.osgi) has a StorageHook with a null filename. The context is that in the class BaseStorage, the method getBundleContent(BaseData bundledata) is called from createBundleFile(Object , BaseData ), with
{{{
bundledata (SystemBundleData) = org.eclipse.osgi_3.6.0.20090825
}}}

Anton Epple has noticed that [http://osdir.com/ml/dev-felix-apache/2009-08/msg00129.html it seems] that Equinox is not yet ready for this kind of muddle.