3rd Mar 09
Wind River's Linux OS to support
Altera's Nios II embedded processor
Wind River has announced the availability of Linux support
for Altera's Nios II embedded processor. Embedded system
developers deploying products based on the Nios II processor
can use this Linux solution across Altera's entire portfolio
of FPGAs and HardCopy ASICs.
Wind River's Linux solution for the Nios II processor is
based on Linux 2.6 kernel technology, the GNU 4 tool chain
and the Eclipse-based Wind River Workbench Development Suite.
This solution adheres to well-known industry standards on
Linux and tools and is customized to support the Nios II
instruction set, the processor architecture and the custom
instructions feature that can be implemented in the FPGA
fabric to increase system performance.
"Together, Altera and Wind River have brought Linux
support to the Nios II embedded processor on FPGAs,"
said Mike Langlois, general manager of networking solutions
at Wind River. "Our customers can leverage a flexible
hardware and software solution to create and bring to market
faster, highly differentiated systems. The fact that the
Nios II processor can run on all of Altera's FPGAs and HardCopy
ASICs to enable a broad spectrum of solutions is well-matched
to the needs of our customers who are looking to differentiate
on price and performance."
This joint development framework offers FPGA based embedded
developers an integrated, network-enabled processor-system
reference design that boots Linux on power-up.
"As more customers adopt FPGA platforms to create
product differentiation in ever bigger and more sophisticated
systems, their software development needs increase and evolve,"
said Danny Biran, senior vice president of product and corporate
marketing at Altera. "Our relationship with Wind River
provides us with a partner who can support the broad and
diverse needs of our global customers, and whose breadth
and depth of software expertise complements our hardware
expertise."
The Nios II embedded processor is a configurable processor,
which can deliver up to 340 DMIPS of performance in FPGAs
and can be implemented in a few cents worth of logic elements.
Availability: The Linux distribution, a Nios II/f-based
processor-system reference design, and a BSP for the Altera
Cyclone III FPGA Development Kit are available from Wind
River. Customers interested in purchasing the Linux solution
for use on Altera's Nios II embedded processor should contact
Wind River at www.windriver.com.
To learn more about Altera's Nios II embedded processor,
visit www.altera.com/nios2.
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