Versatile Real-Time Executive
DeveloperHunter & Ready
Ready Systems
Microtec Research
Mentor Graphics
OS familyReal-time operating systems
Working stateCurrent
Initial release1981 (1981)
Marketing targetEmbedded systems, SoC
Available inEnglish
PlatformsZ8002, i8086, i80186, ARM, MIPS, PowerPC, SPARC, RISC, M68K, AMD29K, i960, M88K, i860, i80386, CPU32, StrongARM
Kernel typeReal-time
LicenseProprietary
Official websitewww.mentor.com

Versatile Real-Time Executive (VRTX) is a real-time operating system (RTOS) developed and marketed by the company Mentor Graphics. VRTX is suitable for both traditional board-based embedded systems and system on a chip (SoC) architectures. It has been superseded by the Nucleus RTOS.[1]

History

The VRTX operating system began as a product of Hunter & Ready, a company founded by James Ready and Colin Hunter in 1980 which later became Ready Systems. This firm later merged with Microtec Research in 1993, and went public in 1994. This firm was then acquired by Mentor Graphics in 1995[2] and VRTX became a Mentor product.

The VRTX operating system was released in September 1981.[3]

Since the 1980s, the chief rival to VRTX has been VxWorks, a Wind River Systems product. VxWorks had its start in the mid 1980s as compiler and assembly language tools to supplement VRTX, named VRTX works, or VxWorks. Later, Wind River created their own real-time kernel offering similar to VRTX.

VRTX

VRTX comes in several flavors:

  • VRTX: 16-bit VRTX, for Z8000, 8086, etc.
  • VRTX-32: 32-bit VRTX, for M68K, AMD29K, etc.
  • MPV: Multiprocessor VRTX for distributed applications, such as distributed across VME backplanes.
  • VRTX-mc: Micro-Controller VRTX, for small systems needing minimal memory use.
  • VRTX-oc: On-chip VRTX, freeware community source code for personal and academic use, license required for commercial use.
  • VRTX-sa: Scalable Architecture VRTX for full operating system features. Loosely based on Carnegie Mellon University's Mach microkernel principles.
  • SPECTRA: Virtual machine (VM) implementation for running a VRTX VM on Unix-like hosts. Also includes an open integrated development environment allowing third-party tools open access to cross-development resources.[4]

Most companies developing software with VRTX use reduced instruction set computer (RISC) microprocessors including ARM, MIPS, PowerPC, or others.

Implementations

VRTX runs the Hubble Space Telescope.

VRTX runs the Wide Area Augmentation System.[5]

VRTX was the first operating system ported to the AMD Am29000.[6]

VRTX is used as a core for the Motorola proprietary P2K operating system, which runs on most company devices since the Motorola V60 and T280i, up to the Motorola RAZR2 V9x. It runs on several hardware platforms including LTE (Motorola V300, V500, V600, E398, RAZR V3 and others featuring the ARM7 processor), LTE2 (Motorola L7 and upcoming devices with 176x220 screen resolution), Rainbow POG (3G phones featuring an MCORE processor from Motorola E1000 to RAZR V3x), Argon (all new 3G phones with 532 MHz ARM11 processor since Motorola RAZR MAXX V6, and V3xx), and others.

See also

References

  1. ↑ https://www.pcmag.com/encyclopedia/term/57381/vrtx VRTX Definition from PC Magazine Encyclopedia
  2. ↑ "Mentor Graphics to add real time ARM via $130m Microtec acquisition". Computer Business Review. October 11, 1995.
  3. ↑ Ready, James (1986-08-31). "VRTX: A Real-Time Operating System for Embedded Microprocessor Applications". IEEE Micro. 6 (4): 10. doi:10.1109/MM.1986.304774. S2CID 10740518. Retrieved 2022-07-27.
  4. ↑ "Ready Systems introduces Spectra environment for developing real time embedded systems". Computer Business Review. September 30, 1992.
  5. ↑ "Raytheon Systems company selects Microtecs VRTX real time operating system for wide area augmentation system". PR Newswire (Press release). Cision US.
  6. ↑ "Ready Systems VRTX is first operating system for AM29000". Computer Business Review. January 6, 1991.
  7. ↑ "MapuSoft: Porting Made Easy". MapuSoft Technologies. 2008. Archived from the original on 2008-11-20. Retrieved 2021-08-08.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.