Santa Barbara, CA. July 13, 2000 -- Green Hills Software, the leading supplier of embedded software development solutions, today announced the availability of advanced run-mode debugging support for applications utilizing the ThreadX® real-time operating system and ARM9E processor. The new debug mode, an enhancement to Green Hills' MULTI® 2000 integrated development environment (IDE), simplifies the design of sophisticated multithreaded applications by enabling designers to debug those applications on a thread-by-thread basis while the application continues to run. MULTI/ThreadX run-mode debug support will be available for other processors later this Summer.

Traditional debugging approaches like BDM (background mode debugging) and JTAG require that programmers halt their system and stop all threads before they can examine any particular data or thread. Run-mode debugging provides a better gauge of real-world system behavior by enabling programmers to halt and examine specific threads in their system while the remaining threads continue to run. Each time a thread hits a breakpoint, MULTI halts that thread and opens a source code debug window specific to that thread. Programmers can then single-step or browse through the halted thread and read memory and registers, all without disrupting program execution.

"The MULTI/ThreadX tandem is unsurpassed when it comes to developing and executing sophisticated deeply-embedded real-time applications," said John Carbone, vice president of marketing for Green Hills Software. "Earlier this year, we set a new standard for embedded debugging when we announced a real-time EventAnalyzer for MULTI and ThreadX that enables programmers to log and monitor system and application events in real time while programs are executing. Now, we are raising the bar even higher by enabling designers to debug complex multitasking applications at a task level without halting their system."

"Run-mode debugging adds a new dimension to MULTI's ability to give programmers a birds-eye view of what happens in dynamic real-time embedded systems at a thread level," said William Lamie, president of Express Logic. "MULTI's inherent RTOS awareness, together with its real-time event analysis and run-mode debugging capabilities, gives ThreadX users unprecedented and unsurpassed visibility into the behavior of sophisticated multitasking applications and makes it much easier to understand complex real-time interactions."

Green Hills Software's MULTI 2000 IDE, together with the company's family of optimizing C, C++, and EC++ compilers, automates all aspects of embedded software development. Featuring an integrated programming editor, source-level debugger, graphical program builder, and run-time error checker, MULTI 2000 also includes a version control system, instruction set simulators, performance profiler, and real-time EventAnalyzer™.

The ThreadX RTOS is the most technically advanced real-time multitasking solution on the market today. Combining a picokernel design with fast timers and a high-speed preemption-threshold mechanism, ThreadX features a context switching time of less than two microseconds on a 40-MHz PowerPC 860 processor. The ThreadX picokernel is also memory stingy, requiring just 5 kbytes for a minimum footprint.

ThreadX support is integrated directly into MULTI, enabling it to provide comprehensive thread- and kernel-aware debugging. The MULTI source-level debugger can start and stop tasks, and monitor OS resources like buffers, queues, and streams. It can also display multiple tasks ("threads") graphically, including the thread roster, system objects, stack usage, semaphore usage and status, and a variety of other thread- and system-specific information.

MULTI's graphical EventAnalyzer, optimized for the ThreadX real-time operating system, builds on the baseline capabilities of the MULTI debugger, making it easier for programmers to decipher complex real-time interactions. The EventAnalyzer operates like a high-level logic analyzer, displaying all context switches, ThreadX API calls, thread-state changes and interrupts in a time-relative manner using intuitive ICONs. The EventAnalyzer is implemented using in-line macros, which minimize intrusion and make it easier to use the tool in the latter stages of product development, when timing is critical.

MULTI and ThreadX are available from Green Hills Software for a wide range of embedded 32-bit microprocessors, including the PowerPC 821/860, 8240/8260, 750, CPU32, ColdFire, MIPS, SH, 68K, ARM7TDMI, ARM9E, StrongARM, and V800 processor families. Green Hills also plans to support a variety of other 32-bit and 64-bit processors in the near future, including the Motorola MCORE and Infineon TriCore families. Host/target connectivity options include a wide variety of BDM and JTAG OCD (On-Chip Debugging) solutions, EST's visionICE, Agilent's Emulation Probe, ARM's MultiICE, and various ROM Monitors.

About Express Logic and ThreadX

Express Logic's ThreadX provides real-time embedded developers with the most technically advanced multitasking solution on the market today. Its picokernel design results in very high performance with extremely small memory requirements. ThreadX also provides embedded developers with significant technical innovations, including extremely fast software timers and a preemption-threshold mechanism that helps reduce context switching. Express Logic licenses ThreadX on a product-line basis, including source-code, without any run-time royalties. For more information, please contact Express Logic at 1-888-THREADX or visit their web site at http://www.expresslogic.com.

More on Green Hills

Incorporated in 1982, Green Hills Software, Inc., is a leading supplier of royalty-free real-time operating systems and software development tools for 32- and 64-bit embedded systems. Green Hills' royalty-free ThreadX® and INTEGRITY® real-time operating systems, fully integrated with its market leading compilers and MULTI® integrated development environment, provide a total development and run-time solution that addresses both deeply embedded and maximum reliability applications. Green Hills Software is headquartered in Santa Barbara, CA, with international headquarters in the United Kingdom. For more information on Green Hills Software products, please call 1-805-965-6044 or email inquiries to sales@ghs.com.