TimeSys is shipping a real-time Linux development kit for a PowerPC-based Motorola VMEbus board said to septuple throughput compared to other VMEbus boards. The TimeStorm LDK (Linux development kit) for the MVME6100 board includes a 2.6-series Linux kernel with advanced real-time capabilities, and the Eclipse-based TimeStorm LDS (Linux development suite). It targets aerospace, industrial automation, and medical imaging.

(Click for larger view of MVME6100)

TimeSys says Motorola's MVME6100 is the first product to use the Tundra Tsi148 VMEbus-to-PCI-X bridge interface chip, said to enable transfer rates of 300MB/s on the VMEbus (40MB/s is the typical rate for VME64) while preserving compatibility with previous gneerations of VMEbus products.

MVME6100 block diagram
(Click to enlarge)

Additional features of the board include:

• Motorola MPC7457 1.267 GHz PowerPC processor with the 128-bit AltiVec coprocessor for vector processing
• Tsi148 PCI-X bus to VMEbus bridge with 2eSST protocol for 320MB/s transfer rate across standard VMEbus
• Up to 1GB DDR ECC memory
• Two 64-bit PCI-X bus interfaces, one dedicated to 100 MHz PMC-X support and the other to the VMEbus bridge at 133 MHz
• Dual 64-bit, 33/66/100 MHz PMC-X expansion slot support
• Dual Gigabit Ethernet interfaces

TimeSys lists the following features for its MVME6100 LDK:

• 2.6 Linux distribution optimized for the MVME6100
• Integrated real-time capabilities such as schedulable hard and soft interrupt handlers, priority inheritance mutexes, and a fully preemptible kernel
• Support for all external buses and interfaces, including kernel drivers for all on-board devices
• Royalty-free, high-power runtime for commercial deployment
• GNU toolchains to facilitate development and debugging of custom applications
• Graphical Eclipse-based TimeStorm Linux Development Suite for Linux application development on Windows or Linux hosts

TimeSys CEO Larry Weidman said, “We are pleased that Motorola, a leader in embedded computing, has selected TimeSys to deliver the Linux Development Kit for its most advanced VMEbus single board computer. Motorola felt that having a robust, cost effective and commercially available Linux solution for the MVME6100 was important, which highlights the increasing adoption of Linux as the platform of choice in even the most demanding applications.”

 
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