Virtuoso User Manual - ClassicCMP

A short introduction
2. A short introduction
2.1. The one page manual
When using Virtuoso, the programmer will develop his program along the following
steps. We outline here the steps for the use of Virtuoso Classico as
this entails all levels supported by Virtuoso.
1. Define the essential microkernel objects used as building blocks for the application.
These are the tasks, the semaphores, the queues, the mailboxes, the
resources and the timers. If the target is a multiprocessor system, the user
will need to define the network topology as well. This is achieved by preparing
a description file (called “sysdef”) in text format. Sysgen (normally
invoked when calling the make utility), then reads the sysdef file and generate
one *.c and one *.h include file per processor node. This work is facilitated
by the use of a makefile and grouping the tasks in a library.
2. Write and debug the tasks, as normal independent programs that cooperate
using the microkernel services.
3. Develop lower level ISRs and drivers (can be nanokernel processes);
4. Compile and link.
5. Load the target system and run the application.
6. Debug and fine-tune it using the debugger and tracing monitor.
In order to exploit the real-time features, the Virtuoso microkernel is linked
with the user tasks and runs as a single executable image on each processor.
This approach results in faster and smaller code, the latter being particularly
important for real-time applications.
Virtuoso is not only used for single processor applications. For those applications
requiring more than one processor, the tasks can communicate with
other connected processors, using the communication drivers included with
the MP implementations. The VSP implementations of Virtuoso also provide
support to execute fully transparently remote microkernel services from
within different processors, permitting to consider the whole network of processors
as a virtual single processor system. The system definition file that
is parsed by Sysgen contains all the hardware dependent information and
effectively shields the application from the underlying hardware.
For debugging and fine tuning, Virtuoso is delivered with a task level debugger
and tracing monitor. The use of these tools will help you in debugging the
system as well as optimizing its performance. If as a result tasks or other
objects are moved to other processors, the only work to do is to change the
system definition file, regenerate the system tables and recompile the application.
Developing applications with Virtuoso can be as easy as developing
P1 - 8 Virtuoso User Manual Copyright 1996 Eonic Systems