MontaVista has turned to debug and visualization tools specialist Real-Time Innovations (RTI) for three real-time debugging plugins for its Eclipse-based DevRocket embedded Linux development environment. RTI's StethoScope, ProfileScope, and MemScope will ship Q2, 2004, for MontaVista Linux Pro 3.1 on x86 and PPC, with other architectures, MontaVista OSes, and ScopeTools to follow.

The partnership brings RTI's ScopeTools to Eclipse for the first time. Select ScopeTools have been available for Linux since January, 2001.

RTI's tools have long been popular among embedded developers. StethoScope has been available for Wind River's VxWorks for more than twelve years. MontaVista hopes that familiar tools will help and encourage legacy RTOS developers to adopt Linux.

StethoScope is RTI's original real-time data monitor
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MontaVista believes ScopeTools can, among other benefits, help embedded Linux developers produce tighter code that lowers hardware requirements, an advantage because, “Using the smallest, cheapest CPU and memory possible reduces power requirements as well as cost,” according to Jacob Lehrbaum, a MontaVista product manager.

ProfileScope is a dynamic profiler
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ScopeTools Unit Director Lori Fraleigh says ScopeTools can be used at all stages of the development cycle, helping programmers catch bugs before they become costly. ScopeTools can examine all aspects of a system, including the OS, applications, and middleware, without hardware instrumentation or re-compilation, she says. Perhaps most importantly, according to Fraliegh, ScopeTools enable developers to debug systems running at “full speed.”

ScopeTools dynamically patch code at runtime, adding very little overhead, explains Fraleigh. “For all intents and purposes, [a system being debugged with ScopeTools] appears to be running full speed,” she says.

MemScope is a real-time memory analyzer
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Fraleigh claims ScopeTools can help developers eliminate memory leaks, spot gratuitous function calls, see where the processor spends its cycles, and visualize variables in real-time. In some cases, notes Fraleigh, developers have even used it to identify and diagnose hardware problems.

More details about ScopeTools can be found on the RTI website.

“Developers building devices with MontaVista Linux can now leverage a world-class environment and tools to debug and optimize their embedded applications,” said Sheila Baker, vice president, Marketing, MontaVista Software.

RTI and MontaVista will be demonstrating RTI ScopeTools for MontaVista Linux in booths #1842 and #1835 at the Embedded Systems Conference, San Francisco and at the Real Time Show in Paris, France in Stand No. Q22 and R7 (both shows run March 30-April 1).

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