|
|
Diamond Systems QNX Evaluation Kits
QNX is a POSIX-compatible microkernel-based real-time operating system developed by QNX Systems of Canada. It is widely used in industrial control, media center, and other embedded applications which require real-time performance. QNX is a very small footprint operating system and can be configured to use a very small amount of disk space and memory compared to other embedded PC operating systems. The QNX microkernel delivers excellent real-time performance through a user-configurable priority system. The most recent release, QNX 6, is based on the POSIX programming API and uses GNU development tools. This means it is compatible with Linux and BSD Unix software development and runs most open source software distributed for these Unix systems.
QNX comes in two flavors. The first is "Momentics", which is the desktop PC oriented development system. Momentics can be installed as a software toolkit on Windows or Solaris, or it can be self-hosting on a desktop PC running only QNX. The second is called "Neutrino" and is the small footprint embedded version of the operating system, suitable for deployment on solid-state flash memory media in an embedded system.
The QNX evaluation kits from Diamond Systems include a licensed QNX Neutrino run-time system designed to run on our CPU boards. They include demo programs for the data acquisition circuitry for our CPU. This kit is suitable for evaluating the performance and features of QNX on Diamond Systems CPUs. The kits let you try out QNX on a Diamond Systems CPU board to see the performance firsthand, while also trying out the data acquisition features of the board.
Additionally, each kit includes an evaluation version of Momentics® development tools on CD-ROM. This allows you to install the QNX development system, including the compiler, debugger and code editor, on a Windows desktop or directly as the main operating system on your desktop PC. This way you can try out the development tools for free. The evaluation version is full-featured but is not authorized for development of deployable applications. The full commercial version of Momentics must be purchased separately from QNX Systems before real product development begins.
If you are familiar with software programming for the POSIX API, such as with Linux or BSD Unix, but are looking for a more lightweight operating system, or one with better hard real-time performance, QNX is an excellent choice. Another advantage to QNX is that it comes with tools that make it very easy to build small, customized QNX Neutrino runtime systems. You choose exactly what programs and libraries to include, and the QNX tools will create a customized file system and then write it to a solid state flash disk. This flashdisk provides a low-cost, lightweight, and highly reliable solution for mass storage in your embedded system.
The following links include good introductory information on the design and technology of QNX:
| 
