Project Title: BlueCat Linux development

The Challenge

In 1999, LynuxWorks, Inc. (formerly, Lynx Real-Time Systems, Inc.), a world leader in the embedded software market, made a decision to develop its own version of embedded Linux distribution. The intent was to provide a fully open source OS -- but with enhancements, extensions, bug fixes, etc., to make it better suited to embedded systems and soft real time applications. Lynx looked at several alternatives, including doing the project in-house, in Silicon Valley, and outsourcing it to India. However, it did not work out as the company failed to hire professionals with Linux kernel skills either in Silicon Valley or in India.

The Solution

Eventually, LynuxWorks found a solution in Russia. It outsourced BlueCat Linux development to Auriga which had offered the best combination of skills, quality, and price. Within a short period of time, Auriga shaped a team of 22 top-notch Linux kernel engineers for the project. It took just five months for Moscow-based Auriga engineers to complete the initial implementation. In February 2000, LynuxWorks announced the availability of BlueCat Linux, Release 1.0, - a version of Red Hat Linux optimized for embedded applications.

A Comprehensive Linux Solution

Auriga's team has performed full life cycle development and maintenance for BlueCat Linux. The whole product, from the very start, has been designed, developed, qualified, documented, productized, and maintained by Auriga engineers.

Tailored for embedded development and deployment, BlueCat® Linux® is uniquely constructed to be a stable, commercial-grade embedded operating system providing immediate productivity and optimized performance through: packages that are tailored to varying requirements for tools and technical support; a comprehensive set of tools and board support packages for developing, debugging and deploying Linux into embedded environments. BlueCat Linux scales from small consumer-type devices to large-scale multi-CPU systems. It provides a risk-free path to hard real-time performance through its compatibility with the LynuxWorks LynxOS® real-time operating system. Should real-time capabilities become a requirement, BlueCat Linux application code will run unmodified on LynxOS, preserving and extending development investments.

A Winning Solution

In June 2000, BlueCat Linux won a most prestigious Electron d'Or Award from the French magazine Electronique as the best embedded software of the year. In their citation, Electronique said, "Combining the reliability of Unix and the Open Source low distribution cost, the Blue Cat Linux operating system is a version of Linux specially proportioned for use in embedded systems. It is based on the Red Hat 6.1 distribution, containing the Linux 2.2 12-20 kernel. This environment allows the cross- development of embedded applications with a simple PC running Red Hat."

Commenting on the Electron d'Or Award, LynuxWorks executives said it has been a particular honor to receive an award based on the first release of a completely new tool.

Collaborating for Success

The mutually rewarding collaboration between LynuxWorks and Auriga has led to one of the most recognized embedded Linux products. Moving forward, the two companies are continuing to build on their partnership with feature enhancements and follow-on releases. Having been around for about 3 years, BlueCat Linux is now at its 5.0 version and supports 5 target CPU families.

In September 2003, LynuxWorks conducted a live demonstration of BlueCat Linux 5.0, the first product of its kind to be based on the new Linux 2.6 kernel. BlueCat Linux 5.0 represents a leading source of stable, commercial-grade embedded Linux technology that provides the flexibility and cost benefits of open source software.

Exceeding Expectations

Below are some extracts from A Developer's Review of LynuxWorks' BlueCat Linux SDK. The complete article was originally published by LinuxDevices.com, Dec. 11, 2001, at http://www.linuxdevices.com.

• This simple installation design is remarkably clever and useful. It instantly expands the range of host Linux distributions to include nearly any that can run a shell script.
  
• BlueCat provides complete and well-designed support for target system deployment.
  
• I found working in the BlueCat environment exceptionally easy and intuitive despite (some might say because of) its command-line orientation. The tools are well thought out with intuitive naming and behavior, and backed up with documentation of the highest quality.
  
• Most significantly, the entire process is extraordinarily well documented in the User's Guide, resulting in a complete and usable system.

Tools and Technologies

Development tools included in the distribution:

• VisualLynux™-Windows-based IDE
  
• CodeWarrior™ IDE Edition
  
• Totalview
  
• LynxInsure++
  
• SpyKer™

Supported processor architectures for Linux:

• ARM®/Xscale
  
• PowerPC®
  
• MIPS
  
• x86/Intel® IA-32
  
• SH3

Related links

http://www.auriga.com/bluecat_linux_d.html
http://www.lynuxworks.com/products/bluecat/bluecat.php3

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