Open source kit exploits multicore benefits

Edited by the Electronicstalk editorial team Nov 13, 2007

Software development kit that brings the latest open source innovations to developers and device makers using the DMS-02 processor.

3DLabs Semiconductor has produced a Linux-based software development kit that brings the latest open source innovations to developers and device makers using its DMS-02 processor to deliver unrivalled application and media processing performance within low power environments.

The kit provides a suite of development tools and production ready applications, codecs and libraries that take full advantage of the underlying features and performance of the DMS processor, including: audio, video and imaging decoders and encoders; media player and framework; photo browser; 2D/3D libraries including OpenGL ES 1.1, DirectFB and support for GTK+; imaging and camera processing pipeline; compute library; a powerful GUI toolkit for enhanced user experiences; access to preported applications; and the GCC 4.x compiler and wide file system support (iffs2, vaffs and ext2).

"Many of our global customers are looking for an open source solution and need it to be compact, feature rich and production ready so that they can get their products to market quickly and efficiently", says Tim Lewis, Director Marketing, 3DLabs Semiconductor.

"By implementing the public domain Linux 2.6.21 kernel ourselves we are able to offer customers a competitive end-to-end solution that leverages our intimate knowledge of the kernel and DMS-02 processor to help ensure that their requirements and deadlines are met".

The Linux SDK supports the DMS-02, a multicore system-on-chip that combines two ARM 926 cores with 3DLabs's proprietary SIMD array processor and an industry-standard set of peripheral functions.

The fully programmable array performs all the media-intensive tasks such as 2D/3D graphics, video encode/decode and image processing, offloading the ARMs and leaving them free to run CPU-friendly tasks.

The DMS-02 hardware platform supports a wide range of peripheral modules and drivers including: analogue and digital displays, LCD touchscreens, Flash and DDR memory, audio in/out, Ethernet, camera sensors, USB 2.0 OTG, IDE, UART and GPIOs.

Schematics for the hardware platform and related reference designs are made available to customers.

The Linux-based SDK is available immediately and is pre-installed on the DMS-02 hardware platform, enabling developers to evaluate the benefits of the DMS-02 processor and begin immediate application development.