MontaVista announced that its Mobilinux 5.0 Linux distribution for mobile devices has been optimized for the Freescale i.MX31 system-on-chip (SoC). The optimization brings the total number of Freescale processors supported by MontaVista distributions to ten, says the company.

The ARM11-based i.MX31 first shipped in 2005, and is embedded a variety of devices in the consumer, automotive, industrial, and general embedded markets. The multimedia-capable applications processor is clockable from 532MHz to 665MHz, and is touted for its low power consumption.

i.MX31 PDK modules (Click for details)

Earlier this week, Freescale announced an i.MX31 development kit that includes a Linux BSP (board support package), CPU module, a peripherals module, and a hardware debugger. Freescale also recently announced a successor to the i.MX31, the i.MX37, its first chip based on an ARM1176JZF-S core.

Like other MontaVista offerings for vertical markets, Mobilinux is based on MontaVista Linux Professional Edition (“Pro”), and designed for use with MontaVista's Eclipse-based DevRocket toolsuite. Announced last Fall, Mobilinux 5.0 is positioned as smaller, lighter, and more real-time capable than Pro, with sub-50 microsecond latency and footprints as small as 3MB.

Stated Jim Ready, founder and CTO of MontaVista, “We recognize the wide market application of Freescale's i.MX31 multimedia applications processor, which includes an array of mobile devices.”

MontaVista began touting i.MX support in 2004.

Availability

MontaVista Mobilinux 5.0 for the Freescale i.MX31 is available now, says MontaVista. Pricing was not disclosed.

 
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