TI announces growing software and development tool ecosystem for its three new OMAP35x devices that provide la

TI announces growing software and development tool ecosystem for its three new OMAP35x devices that provide laptop-like performance and HD multimedia content

Digital Video Software Development Kit, low- to high-end development tools and three OMAP35x devices based on the ARM(R) Cortex(TM)-A8 now available

HOUSTON (July 28, 2008) – Incorporating compelling user interfaces can require distinct video, imaging, speech and multimedia components that must be perfectly integrated together before any application can operate successfully. To ease arduous software integration and development for video, industrial, medical and automotive developers, Texas Instruments Incorporated (TI) (NYSE: TXN) today announced the OMAP35x Digital Video Software Development Kit (DVSDK), several open source development tools and the availability of the next three OMAP35x devices, the OMAP3515, OMAP3525 and OMAP3530 applications processors based on the ARM CortexTM-A8. The laptop-like performance and low power consumption levels provided by the superscalar processors aim to motivate developers to increase the productivity and multimedia experience through advanced intuitive user interfaces, 3D graphics, no compromise browsing capabilities and vast connectivity options. To make it even easier and faster, TI’s OMAP35x DVSDK and growing ecosystem of open source development tools simplify and shave months off design time. Demonstrations of these tools can be seen in TI booth #1232 at the LinuxWorld Conference & Expo (www.linuxworldexpo.com) in San Francisco from August 4-7, 2008. For more information on the OMAP35x platform, please visit www.ti.com/omap35x.

A complete development environment is provided with the first OMAP35x DVSDK for the OMAP35x Evaluation Module (EVM), which allows developers to jump start the design of performance-hungry, power-sipping devices with multimedia features and get their products to market months ahead of their competition. The DVSDK includes basic audio and video codecs to simplify and accelerate the integration and subsequent optimization into a finely-tuned system. Making integration even easier, customers no longer have to directly manage codecs since TI’s DaVinciTM technology makes multimedia possible via ARM-based application programming interface (API) libraries, which communicate with the digital signal processor (DSP) and video accelerators. Additionally, the DVSDK integrates TI’s codec engine multimedia framework that works on the Linux 2.6.22 kernel today and will also support Windows Embedded CE 6.0 in the near future. Since the processors are completely scalable, current OMAP35x EVM users can download the OMAP35x DVSDK to continue development on the OMAP3530 device without losing any design time.

Development tools to fit several designing needs

After only a few months since the introduction of the breakthrough processors, a wide breadth of OMAP35x development tools from TI and third parties are available to help developers accelerate their design efforts, whether they are looking for a low-cost, fanless board to implement creative ideas, a complete turn-key reference design or a production-ready system on a module (SOM), such as the one used in Logic’s ZoomTM Medical OMAP35x Development Kit.

For a look at some of the latest demonstrations at the upcoming LinuxWorld Conference, visit the TI booth located in the Linux Garage:

“Cogent’s highly integrated CSB740 SODIMM SOM takes advantage of TI’s powerful OMAP3530 device and allows us to design an ultra-small development platform that supports low power, embedded control systems. In addition to the GPIO and peripherals available on the board, the CSB740 SOM is an ideal tool for multimedia and video streaming applications including 3D graphics and HD capabilities,” said Michael Kelly, vice president of marketing, Cogent Computer Systems.

Three new OMAP35x devices deliver laptop-like performance and HD content

Based on the first broad offering of the Cortex-A8, the OMAP35x devices are the industry’s highest performance, generally available ARM-based system-on-chip (SoC). With up to 1200 Dhrystone million instructions per second (MIPS), developers are inspired and challenged to invent a wide breadth of next-generation applications, such as robotics and mobile vehicle monitoring products with advanced graphical user interfaces (GUIs), real-time video encode and decode up to high-definition (HD) video levels. The low power levels of the OMAP35x devices not only address battery-powered and portable devices in which days of battery life are needed, but also products driven to be more ecologically friendly.

“The performance, power efficiency and multimedia capabilities provided by the OMAP35x processors make it a clear choice for the next generation of GumstixTM products, overoTM, which will debut in Q4 2008,” said Dr. W. Gordon Kruberg, president and CEO, Gumstix, Inc. “The combination of experience, design skills and technologies from Gumstix and TI will provide open source innovators a leading Gumstix development environment and volume deployment solution.”

The three newly available OMAP35x devices feature combinations of OpenGL ES 2.0 graphics engine, video accelerators and TMS320C64x+TM DSP core to fit a customer’s portfolio of products. The OMAP3515 device features Imagination’s PowerVRTM SGX graphics engine enabling developers to integrate enhanced smart user interfaces with photo-realistic graphics on embedded gaming or simple portable navigation devices. The OMAP3525 device featuring DaVinci technology has a C64x+ DSP and video-centric peripherals for HD video in multimedia driven products. For sleeker and light devices, the OMAP3530 device combines the ARM, DSP, graphics engine and peripherals to enable performance-hungry, power-efficient designs with gaming-quality graphics. In addition, TI’s suite of low-power audio codecs, amplifiers and power management solutions complement the OMAP35x devices to provide the largest worldwide support network for the fastest time to market (www.ti.com/audio).

Pricing and availability

The OMAP3503, OMAP3515, OMAP3525 and OMAP3530 applications processors are now available in 100 units for $25.95, $29.23, $43.49 and $48.34 respectively at www.ti.com. The TMDXEVM3503 is available for $1495. The Zoom Medical OMAP35x Development Kit (TMDXMEVM3503-L) is available for $995.