Embedded Linux moves beyond the command line

A new series of tool suites from Metrowerks should make life easier for Linux developers, who have traditionally used command-line tools limited to Linux-hosted workstations.

A new series of tool suites from Metrowerks should make life easier for Linux developers, who have traditionally used command-line tools limited to Linux-hosted workstations.

Hosted on Windows platforms, CodeWarrior Development Studio, Embedded Linux Edition, is a graphical development environment for creating complex applications that run on embedded Linux operating systems across a range of multiple processor architectures.

Compared with traditional, command-line tools, the intuitive, highly visual CodeWarrior integrated development environment (IDE) is designed to help shorten the learning curve, reduce development time, and increase productivity.

Because the tools are hosted on Windows operating systems, the dominant platform for most corporations, developers can use existing workstations.

"Lineo and Metrowerks have a history of working together to provide tightly integrated, market leading solutions for embedded Linux developers", said David Beal, general manager of Embedix OS and tools, Lineo.

"The new CodeWarrior tools for Embedded Linux are very complementary to our own Embedix SDK.

Together they provide a complete Linux product development solution, and help streamline development cycles.

We are especially impressed with the CodeWarrior debugger, which provides enhanced capability to what has been previously available for Linux".

CodeWarrior Development Studio, Embedded Linux Edition, includes an application-level CodeWarrior debugger that provides multi-process and multi-thread debugging, and enables debugging of shared libraries.

This results in debugging capabilities designed to provide better quality code and improve the effectiveness of developers' build, edit, and debug cycles.

The tool suite uses the GNU compiler, linker, and assembler.

"Metrowerks views Linux as an opportunity for developers to leverage a powerful operating system that benefits from the cumulative efforts of the open source community", said John Smolucha, vice president of marketing, Metrowerks.

"We are committed to providing world-class development tools to help developers take advantage of the benefits of Linux, including its royalty-free pricing, which helps lower development costs".

CodeWarrior Development Studio, Embedded Linux Edition, is available today for Motorola microprocessors compatible with the PowerPC instruction set architecture, and MIPS processors.

The product is planned to be available for x86 processors in the third quarter of 2002, and for ARM processors and Motorola ColdFire processors in the fourth quarter of 2002.

The suggested retail price is US $4595 per license (US $4995 for ColdFire processors).

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