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In the latest Embedded Market Study from TechInsights (publishers of Embedded Systems Design magazine), when respondents were asked if they could improve one thing about their embedded design activities, the overwhelming response was “debugging tools.” In that same study, managers were asked, “Thinking about the next year, what areas will be your greatest technology challenges?” “Integration of new tools and technologies” and “software tools” topped the list.
Aiming to solve these challenges for its customers, MIPS Technologies recently introduced the new MIPS Navigator™ Integrated Component Suite (ICS). Navigator ICS brings together the industry’s leading tools and technologies for MIPS® development in a cohesive, off-the-shelf product, with new and innovative components for Linux development.
Today, upwards of 60% of MIPS developers are using Linux. “With Navigator ICS, we’re going beyond traditional development tools and methods with new and unique approaches to Linux development that will boost productivity for a large majority of MIPS developers,” says Jack Browne, MIPS’ vice president of marketing.
MIPS Navigator ICS helps embedded developers to more easily code, debug and analyze Linux systems on MIPS-Based™ SoCs and embedded systems with unique new tools and plug-ins. These tools overcome the limitations of traditional Linux debug and analysis methods.
For coding, Navigator ICS includes as standard a MIPS-optimized version of Sourcery G++, a complete C/C++ development environment from CodeSourcery based on the GNU Toolchain and the Eclipse™ Integrated Development Environment (IDE). With Sourcery G++, developers can output non-position independent code (PIC) for higher performance for Linux applications.
For debugging, developers can leverage an innovative new optional plug-in—the Arriba Linux Debugger. With it, there is no need to instrument, recompile or use kernel patches. It provides complete debugging capabilities, including debugging drivers and applications over a single connection, debugging multiple threads/processes, and debugging Shared Libraries. Since it doesn’t pre-empt the kernel, the Arriba Linux Debugger is ideal for multimedia/real-time applications and drivers. Available through an exclusive agreement with Viosoft Corporation, it is also portable and easily re-targeted to custom platforms.
For analysis, MIPS is offering the optional Linux Event Analyzer (LEA) plug-in—also provided through an exclusive agreement with Viosoft. The LEA provides kernel and application-level profiling for all MIPS-Based™ devices running Linux, enabling developers to see all Linux events occurring on the target—including context switches among processes and threads, signals and elapsed execution time—by capturing the information and displaying it in a time domain format.
Like the Arriba Linux Debugger, there is no need to recompile the kernel or instrument the application, beneficial for time-critical applications. The LEA has a small memory footprint and a minimal impact on CPU cycles. Because it is lightweight and able to dynamically add and remove instrumentation points on a production-ready system running Linux, it is ideal for both in-house development and field service.
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The combination of the Arriba Linux Debugger, Arriba LEA and MIPS Navigator ICS provides MIPS developers with a comprehensive and powerful Linux development environment—shortening time to market while ensuring a level of code quality that until now was not obtainable.
According to Chris Rommel, an analyst in the Embedded Software Practice for VDC Research, “as more embedded projects migrate to Linux and developers look for ways to save valuable time and resources, the ability to effectively and efficiently debug and profile will continue to be placed at a premium.”
For more information about the MIPS Navigator ICS, click here. The product will be available this quarter from MIPS Technologies through email at sales@mips.com and on the company’s website here.
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