(Click for larger view of Pioneer's TP InstantBoot-enabled Elite Kuro Pro-111FD)
TP InstantBoot has already been incorporated in several digital TVs, including Pioneer's Kuro plasma displays (pictured), says TriPeaks. The technology is said to support x86, MIPS, SH4, PowerPC, and ARM9 architectures. TP InstantBoot appears to be similar to another recently announced fast-boot scheme from fellow Japanese vendor Lineo, which recently announced its Warp 2 product.
Using a slightly modified Linux kernel and application software, TP InstantBoot creates a snapshot image from system memory and CPU register data, says the company (see diagram below). It stores the image on flash ROM, along with a bootloader and restoration code, and upon power-on, data is restored from the snapshot into the Linux kernel with the help of a driver. The boot time can be reduced to one-fifth the original length by eliminating kernel loading and initialization, as well as application software loading, claims TriPeaks.
TP InstantBoot in action
(Click to enlarge)
Version 2.0 adds a compression feature that can reduce the snapshot image by almost 30 percent. It also introduces the ability to collect the system image with JTAG-ICE. Also new is a serial interface, so developers can test how TP InstantBoot is working by restoring the snapshot image from JTAG-ICE to RAM before the image is written in flash ROM. Neither of these new features work with x86-based systems, however.
The Space Cube
(Click for details)
The 1.2-second boot was timed on a Shimafuji "Space Cube" (model SEMC5701A), a two-inch cubed computer that runs Red Hat Linux on 1GB of flash. The Space Cube (pictured) runs a MIPS-based NEC VR5701 processor, with 64MB RAM, and offers numerous I/O connections, including a Firewire-like "SpaceWire" port designed for spaceflight.
The Space Cube normally boots the Linux kernel in a six seconds, whereas TP InstantBoot reduced boot-up to about 1.2 seconds, claims the company. The test was said to use Linux 2.6.6, as well as the PMON bootloader.
Codesourcery and a new SDK
TriPeaks also announced it had entered into a OEM distribution and reseller agreement with Codesourcery to sell the latter's Sourcery G++ development environment, which is based on the GNU Toolchain and the Eclipse IDE. Rev'd to version 4.3 last week, Sourcery G++ is based on the open source GNU tools, with added testing, refinement, and commercial support, according to the vendor. The tools support both Windows and Linux on IA32 development hosts.
TriPeaks will provide Sourcery G++ development tools for architectures including ARM, ColdFire, MIPS, Power Architecture, and x86. TriPeaks also announced that it plans to integrate the Sourcery G++ toolchain into its software development kit (SDK) for TP InstantBoot, which it expects to release at the beginning of 2009.
Stated Takashi Sakakibara, Pioneer director, Software Engineering, Home Entertainment Business Group, "The boot time of a plasma television was one of the problems that had to be improved at the point of usability. We could shorten the boot time greatly by adopting TP InstantBoot."
Availability
Tripeaks's TP InstantBoot 2.0 appears to be available now to OEMs at an undisclosed price. More information may be found here. TVs incorporating TP InstantBoot are said to include Pioneer’s Kuro plasma TV, Sanyo’s digital LCD television SX200 series, and Victor-JVC’s digital HD LCD TV, the LT-32LC305.
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