San Francisco, CA; Embedded Systems Conference — (press release excerpt) — MontaVista Software Inc. today announced version 2.0 of its Hard Hat Linux operating system. Hard Hat Linux 2.0 is the first embedded OS and tool kit based entirely on the latest Linux 2.4 kernel, and boasts unrivaled support for embedded processor architectures, CPU boards, and software components.

The feature-rich release spans the universe of embedded applications, targeting designs as diverse as consumer electronics, instrumentation/control, and communications infrastructure. Extremely scalable, Hard Hat Linux 2.0 is equally at home on deeply embedded, diskless designs with small RAM/ROM footprints, and in complex business-critical applications, with stringent “5-nines” availability requirements, running hundreds of processes and managing massive loads.

The hallmarks of Hard Hat Linux 2.0 are breadth and depth. Hard Hat Linux 2.0 targets over 20 processors from 5 industry-leading architectures, including x86/IA-32, PowerPC, StrongARM, MIPS, and SH (new to this release). These CPUs populate the 60+ boards supported in the release, including off-the-shelf production boards and evaluation/reference platforms from global semiconductor suppliers.

A true embedded systems product, Hard Hat Linux 2.0 focuses on cross development capability, with tools available on 8 host environments, including Red Hat Linux, Yellow Dog Linux, Suse, Mandrake, TurboLinux, Solaris, native/hosted Hard Hat Linux, as well as under VMWare on Windows NT/2000. Consequently, the Hard Hat Linux host-target matrix boasts over 420 fully tested and supported combinations!

Bringing unprecedented power to embedded target systems, Hard Hat Linux 2.0 boasts over 200 software packages, comprising thousands of must-have deployable software components. Many are available for the first time for deeply embedded processors like PowerQUICC, StrongARM, MIPS, and SH.

New support for Hitachi SuperH processors

Hard Hat Linux 2.0 adds embedded operating system and development tools for the Hitachi, Ltd. SH-3 and SH-4 microprocessors. The high performance, low-power SuperH processors provide an ideal hardware platform for target applications in handheld, wireless, consumer, networking and telematics systems. The Hard Hat Linux kernel for Super Hitachi CPUs also supports the Hitachi Solution Engine 7709A (SH-3) and 7751 (SH-4) reference platforms out of the box.

New tools added

To address the needs of resource-limited, deeply embedded systems, Hard Hat Linux 2.0 introduces revolutionary system scaling and configuration tools, as well as performance analysis, source-level debug, and other utilities to speed embedded applications to market.

To help developers right-size the Linux kernel and populate embedded Linux deployment images with an optimal file system, MontaVista introduces the Target Configuration Tool (TCT). This GUI-based utility enables developers to select only needed modules and drivers for inclusion in kernel builds, allowing bootable footprints scaled below 500 Kbytes. Using TCT avoids the drudgery of hand editing configuration and make files while managing dependencies among components. TCT similarly lets developers choose pre-built packages for inclusion in an embedded file system, including system binaries and data as needed.

Once developers have a correctly configured kernel and trimmed file system, MontaVista's new Library Optimizer Tool analyzes application use of shared libraries and prunes away unneeded library code and symbols, yielding smaller, more efficient deployment images.

With this release, MontaVista also expands support for a variety of open source tools retargeted for embedded cross development. These cross tools include versions of the Linux Trace Tool (kernel performance and execution analyzer), cbrowser, cflow, cprof, and cscope (C code analysis tools), DDD (a graphical debugger interface), and Code Crusader (a semi-open integrated development environment).

Hard Hat Linux 2.0 also continues to leverage the ubiquitous open source GNU tools, including the gcc/g++ family of compilers/assemblers and cross versions of the GDB source-level debugger for kernel and application debugging. Hard Hat Linux 2.0 also features support for hardware-based source-level debug of the Linux kernel and device drivers with in-circuit emulation and run-control devices like Abatron's BDM and JTAG tools.

Availability

Hard Hat Linux 2.0 Professional Edition is is offered as a product subscription, providing the MontaVista Hard Hat Linux kernel, utilities, development tools and one year of technical support. It is open source, royalty-free, and built from 100% pure Linux sources. Also available for Hard Hat Linux 2.0 Professional Edition are expanded add-on capabilities, including packages for embedded Java, High-Availability, legacy RTOS porting and emulation, and embedded GUI development.

MontaVista will also make Hard Hat Linux 2.0 Journeyman Edition freely available for technical evaluation and other uses. A subset of Hard Hat Linux Professional Edition, it targets a sampling from all Hard Hat Linux CPU architectures and hosts on Red Hat Linux. It can be downloaded from the MontaVista Web site or obtained on CD-ROM for a nominal charge.

Hard Hat Linux 2.0 Professional Edition will be available the last week of April 2001, and will be joined by additional functionality and add-on technologies within 30 days via on-line distribution and on CD-ROM.

 
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