SAN DIEGO, CA — (company press release) — FSMLabs and Synergy Microsystems today announced the beta release of RTLinux for the PowerPC. Designed to run on VME and CompactPCI CPU boards as well as other PowerPC platforms, RTLinux is a real-time, deterministic Linux kernel. Real-time response seen with the beta release is impressive, with latencies of 10 microseconds and under expected.

RTLinux for the PowerPC was developed by FSMLabs using boards from Synergy Microsystems, in collaboration with Synergy's engineers. The release is a stable beta for developers which also runs on Apple PowerMacs. FSMLabs's Cort Dougan, lead developer for PowerPC/RTLinux, said “RTLinux spotlights the high speed interrupt handling and context switch capabilities of the PowerPC.” FSMLabs will introduce versions for other PowerPC platforms and for SMP (Symmetric Multiprocessing) Synergy boards over the next several weeks.

Said Stan Skowronski, President and Chief of Engineering of Synergy Microsystems, “This is excellent news for the VME and CompactPCI community. We've experienced significant interest in a real-time version of Linux for a number of upcoming embedded projects. We're pleased to be involved with the first ever release of real-time Linux for the PowerPC, and plan to support it across our entire line of PowerPC boards.” Synergy will offer RTLinux alongside its VxWorks, pSOS and Lynx offerings to service a complete range of real-time processing needs.

RTLinux is the hard-real-time extension for Linux that equips the operating system with the capability of supporting POSIX threads and signal handlers executing predictably at the lowest latencies and with the tightest timing supported by hardware. RTLinux realtime threads and handlers are decoupled from Linux so that Linux cannot delay real-time processing, but RTLinux real-time components can communicate with and access all the tools and facilities of Linux itself.

About FSM Labs (www.fsmlabs.com)

FSMLabs is a service of VJY Associates L.L.C, a software development company focused on RTLinux and started by the developers of RTLinux and the original developers of embedded Linux on the PowerPC. FSMLabs is commited to bringing RTLinux to all major embedded platforms. Business inquiries should be directed to [email protected].

About Synergy Microsystems (www.synergymicro.com/linux.html)

Synergy Microsystems, Inc. specializes in designing and manufacturing multiprocessor single board computers for VME and CompactPCI systems to meet the needs of demanding real-time applications. The company also supports a wide variety of I/O options with its own line of PMC daughtercards and those from other manufacturers. Synergy has a long track record of extracting the highest possible performance from current and emerging SBC technology, as well as providing innovative solutions to unique applications. In business since 1985, the corporation is privately held, with headquarters in San Diego and R&D facilities in both San Diego and Tucson.

 
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