Half Moon Bay, CA — (press release) — OnCore Systems Corporation today announced immediate availability of a full-function pSOS applications programming interface (API), allowing pSOS applications to run on top of the OnCore Microkernel within a Memory Management Unit (MMU) protected partition. The OnCore pSOS API provides pSOS developers with the elegant transition from a flat memory model RTOS (Real-Time Operating System) environment onto a modern, crash-resistant microkernel architecture. This news also underscores OnCore's commitment to support a growing list of industry standard APIs that can coexist on the same silicon, without sacrificing safety and/or real-time characteristics offered by the OnCore OS microkernel.

Beyond extending the useful life of pSOS applications, the OnCore pSOS API provides additional benefits offered by no other embedded OS. Using the OnCore OS as a foundation, enterprise-class operating systems, like Linux, and RTOS applications each run on top of the OnCore microkernel within their individual MMU-protected memory partitions. Using this uniquely innovative
approach, Red Hat Linux application binaries can run simultaneously along side of real-time pSOS applications.

Using an IBM PowerPC 750CX running at 550MHz, a high-priority real-time pSOS application can preempt any other application in less than 5-microseconds. Using OnCore's unique approach, system designers can mix an array of enterprise and real-time applications without sacrificing mission-critical, real-time characteristics pSOS users have enjoyed for years. The OnCore pSOS API joins a growing family of industry standards supported by OnCore. RTOS APIs already shipping with the OnCore OS Development Kit are POSIX, C threads, and MicroC/OS-II.

OnCore's powerful OS has the robustness to support a variety of Linux usage models called the Linux for Real-Time family of products. These include using standard Linux, Linux OnCall, and Linux OnDemand. They allow embedded designers to choose the right fit of memory footprint and performance.

OnCore also provides the OnVoy messaging system that allows robust, open messaging between separate processors. OnVoy is an open specification that
allows the simple layering of the OnCore Distributed Interprocess Communication (DIPC) model on top of legacy environments, including VxWorks, pSOS, in-house kernels and even “bare” microcontrollers and DSPs with no RTOS. With OnVoy, legacy applications are easily and efficiently integrated into modern networks of processors, and can immediately leverage the transport-independent communication facilities of OnCore-based microprocessors.

Like all APIs in the OnCore OS Development Kit, both the pSOS API and OnVoy are royalty-free components that ship in both binary and source forms.

Future plans from OnCore call for additional RTOS API's and/or ports. For those who wish to develop their own APIs for in-house developed RTOSs, OnCore offers the OnYourAPI open-source porting kit for real-time and enterprise OSs.

 
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