MontaVista Linux Professional Edition 5.0 release establishes a number of Linux firsts for real-time performance. Building on the highly successful real-time capabilities MontaVista pioneered in previous offerings, MontaVista Linux Professional Edition 5.0 is first to include the latest advancements in real time technology. These advanced capabilities include high resolution timers and other native Linux real-time enhancements lead by Linux kernel maintainer Ingo Molnar and enable developers to deliver a more reliable, higher quality end-user experience.
This latest release of MontaVista Linux Professional Edition offers average response times (scheduling/preemption latency) in the five microsecond range. Now, for the first time, Linux can address the real-time requirements on a multitude of devices previously only serviced by proprietary real-time operating systems. MontaVista Linux Professional Edition 5.0 puts to rest the myth that Linux is not suited for real-time and embedded applications.
MontaVista Linux Professional Edition 5.0 also debunks perceptions that Linux is big and bulky compared to legacy embedded operating systems. Presenting a small OS footprint continues to be a leading concern for OEMs, despite falling prices for RAM and flash memory. In response, MontaVista Linux Professional Edition 5.0 offers the smallest footprint of any general use Linux platform. MontaVista offers its customers two highly optimized configurations: one based upon standard glibc library, and another built on the size-conscious uClibc library. Building with uClibc enables a total deployed system footprint under three megabytes -- a 75 percent reduction compared with traditional embedded Linux platforms. This “right-sized” platform allows device manufacturers to dedicate less precious memory to system code and more to differentiation, and enables Linux to deploy in applications many believed impossible.
“Converged and connected intelligent devices create new possibilities, but the legacy of single-function RTOS-based deployment has hindered the potential of such devices,” said Jim Ready, CTO and founder, MontaVista Software. “Linux changes the game by offering a stable, secure and cost-effective platform that fosters an ecosystem of broader connectivity and convergence. With new real-time performance enhancements, the sky’s the limit for embedded Linux.”
MontaVista [1] Linux Professional Edition 5.0 introduces a new Application Developer Kit (ADK), a major update to the company’s widely-used application development solution. ADK 5.0 delivers a set of intuitive, interactive, and essential plug-ins for Eclipse, the industry-leading open source Integrated Development Environment (IDE), which streamlines and automates embedded Linux development. The release also includes powerful analysis tools and a virtual target execution environment that vastly improves developer productivity and lets OEMs deliver more features within shortened development cycles.
As the communications, consumer electronics and media industries intersect to deliver increasingly rich media content and more compelling user experience via small intelligent devices, OEMs need a standardized platform that can support both “ends of the wire” — the infrastructure and the client devices that facilitate service delivery.
“MontaVista Linux Professional Edition 5.0 and its native real-time capabilities address many of the real-time service requirements needed in the robust environments of the embedded market, and Yankee Group anticipates that there is strong pent-up demand for this product and its advanced capabilities," said Laura DiDio, a research fellow and analyst in the Enabling Technologies Enterprise group at the Yankee Group. With its real-time capability, reduced size, and revolutionary tool suite make MontaVista Linux Professional Edition 5.0 the obvious choice for the standardize platform in this media convergent industry.
Product Features:
- Updated kernel – Linux 2.6.18 provides integration with the latest real-time patches from Ingo Molnar, a leading contributor to Linux kernel development, enhancing user space options in real-time, and numerous other enhancements to performance, scalability and security
- Real-time performance – High Resolution timers, Preempt RT, RT PI futex, Threaded IRQ, Threaded Soft IRQ, High Resolution Timers (hrtimers), Robust futex, Userspace RT PI mutex, BKL Mutex.
- ucLibc support reduction of library resulting in a 75 percent reduction of application footprint.
- IPv6 – Additional support for Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) with superior performance, security and manageability than in past product versions.
- USB “On-The-Go” (OTG) – addresses the need for mobile interconnectivity by allowing direct communication when a PC is not available.
- GCC 4.2.0 – Updated GNU C/C++ compiler, version 4.2, enhancing performance through inter-procedural optimizations, autovectorization, and improved debugging capabilities using location lists.
- Statistical profiling – OProfile is system-wide performance profiler for Linux functions from the kernel to applications allowing data to be collected at any time.
- Trace – LTT provides developers with in-depth information about running processes during the trace period, including when context switches occurred, processes blocking duration, and process execution vs. blocked timings.
- Memory debug – MPatrol diagnoses run time memory errors and leaks and also acts as a library for controlling and tracing dynamic memory allocations.
- DevRocket 5.0 – An integrated development environment (IDE), delivered as standard Eclipse plug-ins, streamlines and automates the build and remote debug process providing intuitive and interactive interfaces for advanced analysis.