Express Logic’s ThreadX® RTOS Now Supported by Lauterbach’s TRACE32 Debugger Tools

San Diego, CA, October 04, 2006 --(PR.com)-- Express Logic, Inc., the worldwide leader in royalty-free real-time operating systems (RTOS), and Lauterbach, GmbH, Europe’s leading manufacturer of microprocessor development tools, announced support for V5.0 of Express Logic’s ThreadX RTOS with Lauterbach’s TRACE32 Debugger tools. With TRACE32, developers are able to view ThreadX kernel objects and application performance metrics to help locate application bugs and to tune their applications for optimum real-time performance. ThreadX 5.0 kernel awareness is included in all new releases of TRACE32 software for the ThreadX operating system, for ARM (all architectures), ColdFire, MIPS, NIOS-II, PowerPC, SH4 and StarCore architectures.

Lauterbach’s TRACE32 kernel awareness for the ThreadX RTOS penetrates into the real-time processes of the application and enables developers to visualize all ThreadX RTOS objects. The solution offers separate windows for the display of threads, event groups, semaphores, mutexes, queues, byte pools, and timers. On capable processors, the TRACE32 debugger enables dual-port access to memory, which ensures that objects can then be displayed nonintrusively while the application is running in real time.

TRACE32 also supports the implementation of thread-specific breakpoints, which lets developers set breakpoints in shared code that halts the processor only if a specific thread hits it. Built-in stack coverage analysis precisely measures stack usage of each thread. TRACE32 Analyzers can selectively record bus cycles, and this data can then be used to examine context switches and display the results graphically. A performance analyzer automatically evaluates thread and function run times. Statistic tables give accurate information about system usage. TRACE32 JTAG tools provide dynamic performance analysis without using the real-time trace. TRACE32 periodically detects the running tasks and creates a graph of the task usage by the target. Pull-down menus allow easy access to the new functionality.

All features the TRACE32 Debugger offers for the ThreadX RTOS are implemented without changes to the application or kernel. There are no patches, hooks or additional instrumentation to the code. ThreadX V5.0 includes standard, compile-time selectable, performance metrics and event log checkpoints that are displayed by TRACE32.

“We’re pleased that Lauterbach now supports all the new features of ThreadX version 5.0,” commented William E. Lamie, president of Express Logic. “Visibility into the real-time aspects of a program significantly eases the challenge of programming an application. At Express Logic, ease of use has always been a priority, and Lauterbach’s TRACE32 debugger tools are a valuable enhancement to development for Lauterbach-ThreadX users. Lauterbach tools are used by many of our customers and play a key role in the ThreadX ecosystem.”

“We see many embedded developers using Express Logic’s ThreadX RTOS,” noted Rudolf Dienstbeck, Third Party Tools Manager for Lauterbach. “In many applications, debugging represents more than half of the development time, and our TRACE32 support has enabled us to offer developers advanced, powerful tools that help them reduce this debugging time and get products to market quickly. Our support of this latest version of ThreadX extends our relationship with Express Logic and its customers and helps us keep pace with valuable enhancements to the ThreadX RTOS.”

Shipping and Availability
TRACE32 for ThreadX is available for ARM, ColdFire, MIPS, NIOS-II, PowerPC, SH4 and StarCore architectures. Orders can be placed through Lauterbach and its international network of distributors. For further information and pricing, please see: www.lauterbach.com.

About Express Logic
Headquartered in San Diego, CA, Express Logic offers the most advanced run-time solution for deeply embedded applications, including the popular ThreadX® RTOS, the high-performance NetX™ TCP/IP stack, the FileX® embedded MS-DOS compatible file system, and the USBX™ Host/Device USB protocol stack. All products from Express Logic include full source-code and have no run-time royalties. For more information about Express Logic solutions, please visit www.expresslogic.com, call 1-888-THREADX, or email inquires to sales@expresslogic.com.

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ThreadX and FileX are registered trademarks, and NetX, CANX, USBX, preemption-threshold, picokernel, UDP fast path technology, are trademarks of Express Logic, Inc. All other brands or product names are the property of their respective holders.