A real time kernel to support the Transputer programming model

Abstract

When first launched the Transputer offered high performance together with support for parallel processing. The Transputer has not, however, kept pace with RISC processor technology. Programmers seeking to improve the performance of their Transputer applications have had to redesign their software to port it to modern high-performance architectures. This paper describes VTK, a real time kernel designed to ease the porting of Transputer applications to PowerPC hardware.

The kernel provides system calls which mimic Transputer features, including channels and the Transputer timer. The kernel is accompanied by a library which provides the C language interface of the Inmos Transputer C toolset, and a configuration tool which turns a set of processes into a file suitable for booting onto a network of processors. These tools allow software written using the Inmos C toolset to be ported to PowerPC with only minor modifications.

This work was performed under the Teaching Company Scheme.