The document discusses options for embedded software development, including commercial runtime software, in-house runtime software, and open source runtime software. It also discusses commercial tools versus open source tools. Commercial runtime software and tools provide benefits like being established, reliable, and having technical support, but have downsides like ongoing costs and vendor lock-in. In-house runtime has benefits like control and customization but has high development costs. Open source has advantages of being freely available but has issues like lack of long-term support and responsibility.

1. Over 20 Years of Embedded
Software Development –
A Third Way Emerges
Colin Walls
colin_walls@mentor.com
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Linux® is the registered trademark of Linus Torvalds in the U.S. and other countries.

2. “Software is eating the world”
Marc Andreessen, co-founder of Netscape
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3. Software is eating the world
 Contribution of software to product success is
increasing
 How will you cope?
 Is there a path forward that will prevent hungry
software from eating up the entire product budget?
$$$
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4. Embedded Software is Ubiquitous
 Embedded software is
everywhere
Consumer Telcom
(Even if most people
don’t know what
Embedded means …) Automotive Medical
Home White Goods
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5. Trends: Microprocessor Technology
8 bits 16 bits
32 bits RISC
8 bit mcu
16 bit
mcu
32 bit
Soft Cores mcu
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6. Trends: Design Composition
Hardware
Hardware
Hardware
Software
Software
Software
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7. Trends: Software Content
In-house
In-house
In-house
In-house
RTOS
RTOS +
comms
RTOS +
comms +
other IP
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8. Trends: Software Team Size
/2
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9. Embedded Software
 Dominant value generator for technology
enterprises
 Low cost of entry
 Great time for start-ups
 Danger of “hardware myopia”
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10. “Most of the new, innovative companies
are focusing on the software. I think
there will be lots of innovation in the
areas of software, but not in hardware.”
Steve Jobs
February 1985
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11. Embedded Software
 Software innovation is strategic
 9 month cycle is typical
 You get fixed number of “spins”
 Software is not “free” except for headcount
 Fixing one bug is cheap, but 1000 can kill a project
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12. Pre-requisites to Software Success
 The right runtime software
 The right tools
 Pre-silicon prototyping
– Buys more cycles
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13. Embedded Software Development
Runtime – 3 options: Tools – 2 options:
 Commercial  Commercial
 In-house  Open source
 Open source
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14. Commercial Runtime Software
Pros Cons
 Established, reliable  On-going license costs
 Long-term commitment  No internal knowledge
 Documented  Vendor lock-in
 OS-aware debug support  Excess functionality
 Middleware
 Hardware drivers
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15. Commercial Runtime Software
Pros Cons
 Established, reliable  On-going license costs
 Long-term commitment  No internal knowledge
 Documented  Vendor lock-in
 OS-aware debug support  Excess functionality
 Middleware
 Hardware drivers
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16. In-house Runtime Software
Pros Cons
 Control  Development costs
 No on-going license costs  Long-term support
 Exact match to needs  No debug support
 Multiple implementations
 No middleware
 New architecture support
 Core competencies
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17. In-house Runtime Software
Pros Cons
 Control  Development costs
 No on-going license costs  Long-term support
 Exact match to needs  No debug support
 Multiple implementations
 No middleware
 New architecture support
 Core competencies
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18. Open Source Runtime Software
Pros Cons
 Readily available  Nobody responsible
 Wide user base  Integration takes time and
 Support from users effort
 “Free”  Version issues
 Fit for purpose
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19. Open Source Runtime Software
Pros Cons
 Readily available  Nobody responsible
 Wide user base  Integration takes time and
 Support from users effort
 “Free”  Version issues
 Fit for purpose
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20. Commercial Tools
Pros Cons
 High functionality  Cost
 Fully integrated  Vendor lock-in
 Technical support  Not comparable to
 Wide range available desktop tools
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21. Commercial Tools
Pros Cons
 High functionality  Cost
 Fully integrated  Vendor lock-in
 Technical support  Not comparable to
 Wide range available desktop tools
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22. Open Source Tools
Pros Cons
 Readily available  Nobody responsible
 Wide user base  Integration takes time and
 Support from users effort
 “Free”  Version issues
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23. Open Source Tools
Pros Cons
 Readily available  Nobody responsible
 Wide user base  Integration takes time and
 Support from users effort
 “Free”  Version issues
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24. Deployment of open source tools
 Open source tools “out of the box” ...
 Which tools?
– C/C++ Compilers
– Assembler
– Linker
– Runtime Libraries
– Debugger
– Debug Stub(s)
– Integrated Development Environment
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25. Deployment of open source tools
 Do you have the right tools to build the toolchain?
 What versions of the various toolchain components
will you use?
– What patches should be applied?
 How should you configure the various toolchain
components?
– The configure scripts have thousands of options
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26. Deployment of open source tools
 What CPUs will be used on your target systems?
– Will both big-endian and little-endian code be required?
– e.g. “bare metal” ARM runtime libraries are optimized for
little-endian ARM V5
– this will not work with ARM V4
– ARM V6 architecture would not be used efficiently
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27. Deployment of open source tools
 Toolchain validation
– Compiling programs and running those programs in the
target environment
– Compiling programs and inspecting the generated object
file or executable image, without running the generated
code
– Compiling fragments of a program with multiple
compilers and linking the fragments together
– Compiling invalid program fragments and checking for
appropriate error messages
– Testsuites ...
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28. Embedded Software Development
Runtime – 3 options: Tools – 2 options:
 Commercial  Commercial
 In-house  Open source
 Open source
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29. Embedded Software Development
Runtime – 3 options: Tools – 2 options:
 Commercial  Commercial
 In-house  Open source
 Open source
There is another way ...
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30. Embedded Software Development
 Recognize that open source does not mean “free”
 Do not underestimate the configuration and
deployment challenges [= costs]
 Consider using a specialist vendor
– Tools [and OS] packaged and ready to use
– Costs well defined and contained
– Additional support [with open source community there
for you as well]
– Additional value-added components
 This if The Third Way
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31. Thank you
Colin Walls
colin_walls@mentor.com
http://blogs.mentor.com/colinwalls
Android is a trademark of Google Inc. Use of this trademark is subject to Google Permissions.
Linux® is the registered trademark of Linus Torvalds in the U.S. and other countries.