[comp.realtime] Real-time Platforms by HP?

tbc@hp-lsd.COS.HP.COM (Tim Chambers) (08/30/90)

The query about the RS/6000 as a real-time platform made me wonder ....

My division creates embedded design tools, but I heard about another HP
division supporting the real-time market with the HP9000 series 800 (PA-RISC
hardware architecture) using HP-UX, HP's version of UNIX(tm), with real-time
extensions.  This is the same group who created the HP1000 and RTE.  I don't
know the details and can't make claims as to what HP means by "real-time" (but
I'll help track down answers if anyone asks).

Also, in case anyone wonders, my division doesn't produce emulators for either
the HP1000 or PA-RISC.

I'm curious -- have any comp.realtime readers used an HP computer as a target
for embedded applications?  How does the HP9000 series 300 (Motorola 68030/40
CPU) do?

devil@techunix.BITNET (Gil Tene) (09/04/90)

In article <15630009@hp-lsd.COS.HP.COM> tbc@hp-lsd.COS.HP.COM (Tim Chambers) wri
tes:
>
>I'm curious -- have any comp.realtime readers used an HP computer as a target
>for embedded applications?  How does the HP9000 series 300 (Motorola 68030/40
>CPU) do?

I'm just playing with one now... The 300 differ (badly) from the 800s in
that they do not have a preemptive kernel (So HP says). HP-UX allows you
to define "Real Time priority" levels for processes. Processes with Real
time priorities pre-empt lower priority processes. On 800s this pre-emption
is real, on 300s it works as long as the lower-prio process is not doing
a kernel call at the moment. This means there is no real way to provide
determinism and maximum latency times. If you keep the behaviour in mind
and don't stay in kernel calls long, you can build a pretty good
system with this stuff though.

Gil.
--
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| Gil Tene                      "Some days it just doesn't pay     |
| devil@techunix.technion.ac.il   to go to sleep in the morning."  |
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