Socorro, NM — (press release excerpt) — RTLinux now runs on symmetric multiprocessor (SMP) PowerPCs. Finite State Machine Labs has announced that RTLinux is now available for several multiprocessor PowerPC systems, including dual G4 PowerMacs and the IBM RS/6000 (dual and quad). RTLinux SMP for the SynergyMicro line of multiprocessor PowerPC embedded boards will be available shortly. The worst case… measured periodic jitter times are less than 22 microseconds on the dual PowerMac 400MHz G4 (and less than 12 microseconds if bus-clogging Mac IDE disk drives are disabled). Context switch times are 6 microseconds worst case.

RTLinux allows real-time threads to be assigned to specific CPUs, allowing programmers complete control over where realtime processing takes place. The RTLinux “cpu-reservation” system permits processors on an SMP system to be reserved for realtime processing, allowing demanding realtime applications that can fit in L2 cache to run at extreme levels of reliability and low latency — without interference from Linux.

Cort Dougan, FSM's Director of Engineering and Linux PowerPC maintainer, notes that the PowerPC's high computing power/watt ratio allows hardware designers to build dense multiprocessor systems from commodity parts. “An SMP PowerPC allows embedded developers to provide encryption, data compression, IP routing and validation, image processing or other processor intensive operations, while also seeing remarkably low power and cooling requirements,” said Dougan.

RTLinux is a POSIX 1003.13/PS51 compatible realtime kernel that runs either Linux or NetBSD Unix during non-realtime operation. RTLinux/PPC/SMP is the latest of FSMLabs' Spring 2001 series releases, which include the recent announcement of RTLinux for NetBSD and the release of the OpenRTLinux v3.0 CD.

 
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