SDK provides glue between host application & hardware

The latest release of BittWorks II provides a seamless upgrade to BittWare's Linux PCI driver, BwPCI. Distributed with complete source code, BwPCI allows customers to modify kernel-level code to optimise their application performance. Users can create their own interrupt service routine for lower latency transactions without the need to create their own driver entirely. BwPCI includes installation scripts for RedHat and Debian Linux and is compatible with any PCI Express Vendor ID or Device ID.

The BittWorks II software tools provide a stable software base designed to get developers up and running on their BittWare boards quickly and efficiently. BittWorks II provides complete hardware and FPGA interfaces, which greatly reduces development time. The Toolkit includes: BwHIL: Cross-platform library of C-callable functions for controlling a local or remote BittWare board; BwConfig: Interface for finding, tracking and displaying information for all BittWare devices in a system; BwPCI: Linux PCIe driver with source; BwServer: Remote interface via a TCP/IP network for the BwHIL; BwShell: Interactive command-line shell for PHP scripting language with access to BwHIL API functions; BwMonitor: Interface for controlling the Board Management Controller (BMC) on a BittWare board; BmcLib: Function library to control the BMC on a BittWare board; and BittWorks Porting Kit: (Optional) Source code and pre-built ports for porting the BittWare Toolkit to other operating systems.

"Our BittWorks II Toolkit software gives our customers a superior development environment for integrating their BittWare hardware into their systems," said Ron Huizen, VP of Systems & Solutions, Bittware. "We've put over two decades of design experience into creating this suite of tools, and our new PCIe driver adds another level of flexibility. Customers can now integrate the Toolkit even more tightly with their applications, getting their products to market even faster."

"With this release, we've tried to address the most common customer requests. Some of these requests were to see the source code of the driver, to be able to use their own driver with our toolkit software, to have the ability to modify the actual interrupt service routine, and to be able to map system memory differently, such as using 'write-combining' or 'cached', to support low latency designs," said David Hedstrom, Software Engineering Manager, BittWare. "BittWare has delivered on each of these requests with BwPCI. BwPCI comes with full source code and a user-side library so it can be merged with an existing driver. The user has complete freedom to change the way memory is mapped and how interrupts are serviced adding a lot of flexibility to the design process."