FPGA Central

Embedded Technology Journal Update


a techfocus media publication :: March 3, 2009 :: volume XIV, no. 09









FROM THE EDITOR



More free stuff for embedded developers this week: a free Linux processor for your FPGA-based project. Well, sort of. Altera’s NIOS II processor has always been free but now there’s a commercial Linux distribution available for it. Wind River, the 500-pound gorilla in embedded software, has just ported its full-featured Linux to NIOS II. So now you can use that free processor to run some serious software.

Thanks for reading! If there's anything we can do to make our publications more useful to you, please let us know at: comments (AT) embeddedtechjournal (DOT) com. If you'd rather sound off in public, please post your comments or questions in our new Journal Forums.

Jim Turley – Editor
Embedded Technology Journal









EVENTS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS











The Ideal RTOS. The advantages and disadvantages or both for a commercial RTOS and an in-house implementation are outlined and reviewed in detail. Background, real-world examples are used to illustrate some of the conclusions.

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LATEST NEWS



March 3, 2009



VirtualLogix™ Announces Release of VLX Solution for Intel® Atom™ Processor Z530 for Embedded Applications



Freescale Extends i.MX35 Family into Industrial and Consumer Markets



Digi Simplifies Wireless Security in Embedded Products with New NET+OS® 7.4



Eurotech Introduces Catalyst Module XL, a Compact, Rugged Embedded Computer Based on Intel® Atom™ Processor Z5xx Series Platform



VIA Unveils Em-ITX, the First Form Factor Standard with Dual I/O Coastlines



Silicon Labs Expands MCU Portfolio With High Pin-Count, Touch-Sensing Device



Curtiss-Wright Controls Announces Its High Sampling Rate Dual-Channel ADC FMC Card for Rugged DSP Applications



Atmel Introduces Highly Integrated System-in-Package Solution for Automotive LIN Networking Applications



MPC Data and Renesas Technology Europe announce Little Blue Linux development kits



Atmel Introduces a New Family of 0.7V tinyAVR Microcontrollers



congatec presents Qseven starter kit for mobile, embedded applications



NEC Electronics Europe Announces New 78K0R/Kx3-L Save it! Demonstration Kit



New Release of Empress Ultra Embedded Database For QNX® Neutrino® RTOS 6.4.0 is Here



March 2, 2009



Global Technology Leaders Launch GENIVI Alliance to Develop an Open Source In-Vehicle Infotainment Platform



LatticeECP2M FPGA Enables Low Cost PCI Express Bridge VOIP Platforms Based on Intel® Architecture



Real-time ARINC429 card ready for production



Atmel Launches Ultra Wideband Evaluation Kit for CAP Customizable Microcontroller



Keil Delivers Streamlined Development Environment for Embedded Software Development



Embedded World 2009



Atmel and IS2T Announce Java Support for AVR32 UC3 Flash Microcontrollers



NEC Electronics Europe Announces FDA 510(k) Certified RTOS



February 27, 2009



Curtiss-Wright Controls Introduces New Low-Power, High Performance VPX3-1100 ATOMIC Highly Secure Computing Card



Ultra slim DIN rail AC/DC power supply series offers up to 92% efficiency



February 26, 2009



Laird Technologies Announces the Availability of Two New Dual-Band External MIMO Antennas



NEC Electronics Europe Announces FreeRTOSTM Support for its 16- and 32-bit Microcontrollers



Atmel Launches 2 Million Gate Development Kit for the AT91CAP9H Customizable Microcontroller



Timesys Announces LinuxLink Update Service & Git Tree



Atmel’s Low-cost CAP Starter Kit Hosts Image Viewer Reference Design from PGC



February 25, 2009



Xilinx at Embedded World 2009



Power Integrations Expands LinkSwitch®-II Family of Primary-Side-Controlled Offline Switcher ICs



Mistral announces availability of new high-performance, rugged CANBus/MilCAN PMC card



In a world first, NEC Electronics announces release of complete microcontroller abstraction layer based on AUTOSAR Release 3.0/3.1



Industry’s first 2A switching charger IC comes in compact 3x3mm package for feature rich mobile devices



Sidense OTP for Low-Power 90nm Implementation Selected by Fujitsu Microelectronics



National Instruments Introduces Industry's First 3U Quad-Core PXI Controller



Vertica Sponsors First Annual SIGMOD Programming Contest



MadCap Mimic 3.0 and Capture 4.0 Feature MovieSync and Extended Single-Sourcing for Simulation Movies and Graphics



SMSC Introduces Industry’s Smallest, Full-Featured 7-Port Hi-Speed USB 2.0 Hub Controller



CURRENT FEATURE ARTICLES



Free Linux Microprocessor*
(Some Restrictions Apply)
(Jim Turley)
Penguins, Bees, Cathedrals and Wikis
The Changing Face of Open Source and Collaboration
(Dick Selwood)
Software Archeology
Modernizing Old Systems (Bryon Moyer)
Cleaning Up the Garbage
(Bryon Moyer)
Freescale Bets on “Net-Book” Processor Chip
(Jim Turley)
Buy a Processor; Get an Operating System
(Jim Turley)
The End of Silicon Valley
(Jim Turley)




JOURNAL WEBCASTS



CHALK TALK From Desktop to Target: What You Need From A Development Suite. Is embedded software development and debug a challenge for your team? Join Amelia Dalton as she chats with Jit Sivalogan of Mentor Graphics about setting up a productive environment for embedded development. (Mentor Graphics)

CHALK TALK Simplified Verification of DSP Algorithms in Hardware. Moving algorithms from MATLAB to FPGAs? Join Amelia Dalton as she explores options for verifying DSP designs implemented in FPGAs with Tim Vanevenhoven from Xilinx. (Xilinx)

CHALK TALK Using Embedded Hypervisors in Mobile Devices. Join Amelia Dalton as she explores the use of embedded hypervisors to create safe and secure software for mobile devices with Rob McCammon of Open Kernel Labs. (Open Kernel Labs)

CHALK TALK Embedded Networking With MicroBlaze and Spartan-3A FPGAs. Join Amelia Dalton as she works her way to "Hello World" on an FPGA-based embedded system with Xilinx Spartan-3A and MicroBlaze. (Xilinx)



[click here for more webcasts]











Free Linux Microprocessor*
(Some Restrictions Apply)
(Jim Turley)

In keeping with our theme of free stuff (see Embedded Technology Journal, January 27, 2009) we proudly chronicle the newest free alternative for embedded developers: a free Linux-compatible microprocessor. Never has so much been offered to so many for so little. Or something like that.

Here’s the deal. Altera, the world’s second-best-known FPGA company, has struck a deal with Wind River Systems, the world’s second-best-known embedded-software company, to port Linux to Altera’s NIOS II processor. And since NIOS is free, you’ve got yourself a free 32-bit microprocessor capable of running a genuine full-on multitasking Linux operating system.

Naturally, there’s a catch. In fact, there are two. First off, NIOS is free only if you’re already using Altera’s FPGA chips (more on this later). Second, the Linux itself isn’t free; Wind River charges a significant amount of money for access to the software, and even more money for annual support.

That’s right – the microprocessor is free but the open-source software costs money. One wonders how such a paradox came to be.

Let’s focus first on the hardware. If you’re a NIOS neophyte, you’re in for a treat. NIOS is a “soft core” processor design that Altera happily gives away for free to any customer using its FPGA chips. As an Altera customer, you’re able to put as many NIOS processors into an FPGA as you like, with the only limitation being the capacity of the chip itself.

Why NIOS and not, say, ARM or PowerPC or x86? For years, programmers and engineers have been trying to implement microprocessors in FPGA chips, but the results were always dismal. FPGAs, by their nature, don’t lend themselves to processor implementations. They don’t have the right mix of logic and interconnect that microprocessor architectures require, so it’s a bad fit. Although technically you can make an ARM or a PowerPC to work in an FPGA, it’ll be slow and awkward and expensive and power-hungry. It’s like making a pig dance: it’s not pretty and it annoys the pig.

Enter NIOS. Altera, like its arch-rival Xilinx, wanted to give developers the ability to implement CPUs in FPGAs. So rather than shoe-horn a standard processor into a fundamentally incompatible logic fabric, the company went the other direction and created its own CPU specifically tailored for its FPGAs. Xilinx came up with MicroBlaze and Altera did NIOS (the name doesn’t stand for anything).

Because NIOS (like MicroBlaze) is designed to suit FPGA logic structures, there are some compromises, but nothing that the average programmer would worry about. It’s a fully functional 32-bit processor complete with memory management, caches, branch prediction, and a rich instruction set. It’s even customizable. Like any self-respecting processor, NIOS comes with a C compiler and other basic software-development tools. The only downside is that NIOS works only in Altera-brand FPGA chips. If you’re not using Altera’s silicon you can’t use NIOS.

Which is, of course, precisely the point. That’s the reason Altera developed NIOS and gives it away for free (Xilinx does the same with MicroBlaze). It’s the sweet treat that keeps you coming back for more. But if you’re already committed to using Altera FPGAs in your design, then NIOS is a complete freebie. It doesn’t even take up a significant amount of space. About 4000 logic elements is all that’s required; wee enough to fit in even the smallest Cyclone III device. Giant Stratix IV chips can hold hundreds of NIOS II processors and still have room left over. It’s really a zero-cost processor – if you’re already using Altera FPGAs. [more]












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