Re: Embedded Processor/Compiler Selection

["John E. Doss" <john.doss@gtri.gatech.edu>]

Marin David Condic, 561.796.8997, M/S 731-96 wrote:

>     We are trying to evaluate Ada compilers for the PowerPC, MIPS and
>     Pentium processor families. We would like to know of any
>     experiences with using these processors as embedded machines with
>     Ada as the embedded development language. What type of embedded
>     system? Which Ada compiler? How well/poorly is it working out?
>     What sort of problems are you encountering?
>

We have developed an embedded system using a Radstone PowerPC SBC runningvxWorks
using the Ada95 compiler from Green Hills hosted on a Sun.  Everything has
worked quite well.  The only real problem we had was getting familiar with
vxWorks
and the Green Hills compiler as this was the first time that we had used either
of
them.  Another small problem was getting help from our Green Hills rep.  We've
had
two, with the first one being very good and the second one not so good.

>     Since we are not at all committed to a processor at this point, we
>     would like to hear about almost any recent 32 bit embedded system
>     development using Ada95. (Note that we are not doing development
>     using a SBC with some commercial RTOS - we build the processor
>     board from the ground up and build all of the software that
>     operates in it as well. So we are interested in experiences
>     similar to the work we are doing and need to consider compilation
> systems aimed at this sort of bare machine.)

I've done this both ways.  The first time was with Ada 83 on a 16-bit processor
with no commercial RTOS.  The second, of course, was with the vxWorks/PowerPC
combination.  Unless I had some very tight memory constraints, I would never go
back to running without an RTOS such as vxWorks.  Development is much easier
with vxWorks.

John

--

John E. Doss                       Georgia Tech Research Institute
john.doss@gtri.gatech.edu   GTRI/ELSYS
(404) 894-7054                  Atlanta, Georgia 30332-0829