Spectron Microsystems and TI have announced the availability of a port of Spectron's real-time, multitasking SPOX® operating system to TI's TMS320C80, and to anticipated new members of the 'C8x family of DSPs. The port includes the SPOX kernel, along with Spectron's suite of signal-processing, software-development tools that support applications ranging from PC multimedia to instrumentation and telecommunications.
Spectron's port includes the SPOX-KNL kernel, which runs on the 32-bit, RISC-based master processor integrated in the 'C80. The port also features a communications driver and a command interpreter. In the future, Spectron will move its complete SPOX environment to the 'C80, including a SPOX-aware front end to TI's 'C80 debugger, along with libraries and development-host communications.
According to TI's 'C80 marketing manager, Julie Gallagher, "The 'C80 offers the horsepower necessary to handle applications previously not possible with a single DSP-such as video encoding. Now, the many designers who have experience with the industry-standard SPOX OS can more easily handle these advanced applications."
Spectron's vice president of marketing, Bob Dolan, believes the SPOX port marks the initial step of integrating the multiprocessor 'C80 into the Windows™ environment. "Down the road, our comprehensive WinSPOX™ software suite will be available for the 'C80," he said.
A major benefit to the SPOX port is compatibility across other SPOX applications. The 'C80 port uses the same streaming I/O (SIO) interface to files and hardware resources, so any SPOX-based multiprocessor application can be easily moved to the 'C80.
SPOX-KNL, including the Command Interpreter and DPP, is available now at a suggested resale price of $12,000. Spectron plans to announce other SPOX components for the 'C80 over the next six months.