MontaVista Linux Professional Edition 2.1 Now Shipping

Sunnyvale, Calif. – MontaVista Software Inc. announced May 6 that MontaVista Linux Professional Edition 2.1 is available immediately. The product is the next generation of the company’s classic cross-development platform and set of tool kits. Providing a standard development platform for designs, it enables developers to create a broad range of embedded applications.

“MontaVista Linux Professional Edition 2.1 gives software developers in a variety of industries a powerful development platform and operating system that allows them to focus on their value-add to their customers while enabling them to speed high-performance products to market in a cost-effective manner,” said Glenn Seiler, director of product marketing, MontaVista Software.

MontaVista Linux Professional Edition 2.1, based on the kernel version 2.4.17, targets 24 processors (including x86/IA-32, PowerPC, StrongARM, XScale, ARM, MIPS and SH architectures), supporting 68 COTS (commercial off-the-shelf) and reference boards.

MontaVista Linux 2.1 focuses on cross-development capability, with tools hosted on 11 host environments, including Mandrake, Yellow Dog, SuSE, Red Hat, Solaris and VMWare on Windows NT/2000.

“MontaVista Software continues its track record of leading edge technology development and delivery. MontaVista Linux 2.1 is built from a single integrated source code base, with support for the industry’s broadest set of target hardware,” said Kevin Morgan, vice president of engineering at MontaVista. “It comprises a comprehensive embedded OS platform featuring pre-built and fully tested binaries for every board computer supported. Cross development tools and native tool chains for local development are included, along with extensive real-time features, including enhanced kernel preemption technology, supported on every architecture and board. Of course source is fully provided along with complete rebuild capability.”

Host-based tools and embedded target-based deployment components make up the more than 225 software packages in the release, 25 of which are new. New features include support for the small footprint embedded server “thttpd,” and for multiple chipsets implementing the 802.11b wireless communications standard. In addition, the product provides updates for 75 of the applications currently supported by MontaVista Software.

With this release, MontaVista also expands support for a variety of open source tools retargeted for embedded cross development, including the first MontaVista development environment powered by KDevelop-an award-winning open source integrated development environment (IDE). It adds an updated Linux trace tool (including kernel performance and execution analyzer), which is now available for the Linux 2.4.17 kernel for x86 and PowerPC architectures. New in this release is an embedded version of the “EXT3,” a journaling file system, complementing current offerings of ReiserFS and JFFS. MontaVista Linux already includes a range of industry standard tools further enhanced by the MontaVista Library Optimizer Tool, MontaVista Target Configuration Tool, and scores of other useful applications and utilities.

MontaVista Linux Professional Edition 2.1 is available immediately from MontaVista Software and the company’s sales and distribution channels worldwide. It is offered as a product subscription, providing customers with the MontaVista Linux kernel, utilities, development tools, software updates, access to the MontaVista Zone, one year of technical support and access to training classes. MontaVista Linux 2.1 is open source, royalty-free and built from 100 percent pure Linux sources.

Control Engineering Daily News Desk
Gary A. Mintchell, senior editor
gmintchell@cahners.com

Do you have experience and expertise with the topics mentioned in this content? You should consider contributing to our CFE Media editorial team and getting the recognition you and your company deserve. Click here to start this process.