Red Hat To Debut Toolset For Embedded Devices

Linux distributor Red Hat Inc. this week will take the wrapsoff a developer toolset for embedded devices, the first product resulting from last year's buyout of Cygnus Software.

Red Hat Tools for Embedded Developers, scheduled for a March 1 release, extends Cygnus' Code Fusion environment, letting Linux developers write code for server, desktop, and embedded-system applications with a common toolset, says Red Hat chief technology officer and Cygnus co-founder Michael Tiemann. Companies can develop applications on major commercial distributions of Linux, then compile and debug them for embedded devices within an integrated environment. The toolset will carry a list price of $599.

Demand for embedded application developer tools is increasing, according to Electronic Market Forecasters, a CMP Media research group. Electronic Market Forecasters estimates 26% of embedded application developers plan to use Linux as their host platform in 2000, up from 10% last year.