Also at the show last week, Ready Systems Inc launched Spectra, an open cross-development environment for real-time embedded systems software. Spectra, supporting Motorola Inc’s 68000 microprocessors at the target system end and Sun Microsystems Inc’s Sparcstations at the host end, is designed to maximise host tool operations while minimising their dependence on the target system, with a host resident target manager controlling the debugging activity that would normally burden the target system. The company claims that Spectra only needs 30Kb of memory to support the host-target communication and tools. The ability to free-up the target system will, the company claims, enable the VRTX Unix-like operating system, VRTX/OS 3.0, to run up to 30% faster. Spectra’s features include Virtual target, which runs the embedded application on the host and permits debugging before the target hardware is available. This is done by compiling the application on the host-based version of the VRTX operating system. An open Toolbuilder interface accesses up to 70 target functions to develop application specific tools. It also sports the Open Software Foundation’s Motif graphical user interface at the front-end. The Spectra toolset includes a variety of ANSI C compilers from Microtec Research Inc, Oasys Inc and Sun Microsystems Inc in addition to assemblers, libraries, linkers and loaders. Targeted at the cellular mobile communications, military and flight control markets, Spectra is available direct from Ready Systems in the US and from its UK distributor Instrumatic UK Ltd of Marlow, Buckinghamshire: no prices were given.
