Altium introduces TASKING TriCore VX-toolset v3.2

3rd March 2009

Source: Altium Limited

Altium has announced a new release of its TASKING TriCore VX-toolset. Enhanced with next generation Viper compiler technology, version 3.2 offers new features linked to Infineon's 32-bit TriCore microcontrollers, including support of the latest variants TC1167 and TC1197 for the industrial market, and the TC1767 and TC1797 for the automotive market.

TASKING is Altium's industry-leading range of tools for embedded software development. It is an integrated software development environment that provides all the capabilities needed for application development on Infineon microcontrollers. Its software development toolsets consist of the industry standard Eclipse Integrated Development Environment, C and C++/EC++ compilers, assembler, linker/locator, and debugger.

As with the latest TASKING toolset for Infineon's C166/XE166/XC2000 family, the TriCore VX-toolset offers an integrated development environment (IDE) and debugger based on the latest release (Ganymede) of Eclipse, the popular and industry standard IDE which is a strong standard in the automotive sector.

“We have been working closely with Infineon and our large automotive customers to enhance the TriCore toolset in both code generation and build efficiency,” said Altium’s TASKING product manager Harm-Andre Verhoef. “Our new make utility provides multi-core support. Engineers can use parallel compilations to shorten build times, and reduce development time.”

“Infineon aims to provide developers of motor control applications with a development environment that enables them to immediately evaluate and integrate the system in a very easy and intuitive way,” said Gerd Punsmann, Tool Line Manager for TriCore Development Tools at the automotive division of Infineon Technologies. “With toolsets such as provided by Altium that support the TriCore industrial microcontrollers TC1167/97 and the TC1767/97 for use in automotive applications, Infineon supports innovativeness by means of consistent MCU product improvements and easy access to powerful technologies.”

Feature highlights of the new release include:

· Code density improvements of up to 17% and performance improvements of up to 14%

· Support for new TriCore derivatives: TC1167, TC1197, TC1767 and TC1797.

· Build speed improvements through the introduction of a new make supporting parallel builds on multi-core systems

· OCDS debugger support for the new Infineon TC1736 EasyKit

Pricing and availability

The TASKING TriCore VX-toolset is a complete, integrated embedded software development toolset consisting of the Eclipse based IDE, C/C++ compiler, assembler, linker / locator and OCDS and simulator debugger.

The product is available for PC/Windows and SUN/Solaris platforms. Prices start at €4.495 for the C/C++ compiler and simulator debugger package for PC/Windows.