Actel and RoweBots announced the availability of Unison, an ultra tiny Linux compatible OS for Actel SmartFusion devices. Developers now have the option for Linux-based embedded design when using mixed signal FPGAs. With continued broadening of its ecosystem, Actel continues to provide ease of adoption of SmartFusion devices for embedded designers.
Unison consists of a set of modular software components, which, like Linux, are either free or commercially licensed. Full Linux implementations require a CPU with a memory management unit (MMU), embedded Linux does not require an MMU but has a large memory footprint, Unison offers POSIX and Linux compatibility with hard real-time performance, complete I/O modules, small memory footprint and an easily understood environment for device driver programming. Seamless integration with FPGA and analog features are fast and easy.
Unison comes with 30+ demonstration programs that work out of the box in 10 minutes with SoftConsole. All Unison versions are strictly tested with standardized POSIX test suites along with additional testing, development and management approaches, making them the highest reliability, standards based ultra tiny OS available.
In addition, join Actel and RoweBots for a live webinar introducing RoweBots Ultra Tiny Linux OS with Actel SmartFusion intelligent mixed signal FPGAs. Attendees will learn how the Unison ultra tiny Linux operating system, with an ultra tiny modular memory footprint, supports the SmartFusion with embedded ARM® Cortex™-M3 device with as little as 1K of RAM and 6K of flash.
Pricing and Availability
Unison 4 is free and downloadable from Actel for commercial use and includes basic features, documentation, a serial I/O package and a file system. Various upgrades for source code, documentation and networking are available for Unison 4.
Unison 5 may be purchased from RoweBots and provides a fully supported commercial version with an extensive feature set, numerous add on modules, royalty free licenses, source code, extensive documentation, maintenance, consulting support and 30 plus demos that run out of the box in 10 minutes.
