Hewlett-Packard Co has a new release of its HP-RT real-time operating system for the HP 9000 743rt VMEbus single-board computer introduced in June. The enhanced computer is aimed at emerging applications such as multimedia, as well as traditional applications such as hospital intensive-care systems. It is designed to provide data and control functions for manufacturing, automotive, telecommunications, aerospace, medical and laboratory applications that require faster computer systems that deliver predictable real-time responses. The Model 743rt is a 6U VMEbus single-board computer using the 7100LC Precision Architecture RISC at 100MHz, making it 90% faster than the old 742rt and is claimed to combine the responsiveness and functionality of a real-time kernel with the ease of use and cost benefits of Unix workstation. HP-RT 2.0 is designed to co-exist with HP-UX, providing a real-time front-end engine to perform time-critical input-output functions while the HP-UX system provides the graphical user interface and data-server functions. Hewlett rates the machine at 77 MIPS and 25 MFLOPS clocked at 64MHz, 121 MIPS and 37 MFLOPS at 100MHz. It costs $4,355, the HP-RT Developer’s Kit is $10,000, VME Backplane Networking is $1,500, OTSrt is $3,000, STREAMSrt is $2,000; immediately.
