AN 802: Intel® Stratix® 10 SoC Device Design Guidelines

ID 683117
Date 12/14/2020
Public

A newer version of this document is available. Customers should click here to go to the newest version.

Document Table of Contents

5.4.1. Using Linux* or RTOS

There are several operating systems that support the Intel® Stratix® 10 SoC, including Linux OS.

For more information, refer to the OS SoC Partner ecosystem web page.

There are many factors that go into the selection of an operating system for SoC FPGAs including:
  • Features of the operating system
  • Licensing terms
  • Availability of collaborative software projects and frameworks based on the operating system
  • Available device drivers and reference software
  • In-house legacy code and familiarity with the operating system
  • Real time requirements of your system
  • Functional safety and other certifications required for your application

To select an appropriate operating system for your application, familiarize yourself with the features and support services offered by the commercial and open source operating systems available for the SoC FPGA. Intel® 's OS partners' websites are a good source of information you can use to help make your selection.

Intel® supports the Yocto Project compatible, Ångström distribution.

Partner OS providers offer board support packages and commercial support for the SoC FPGA devices. The Linux community also offers board support packages and community support for the SoC FPGA devices.

There are several misconceptions when it comes to real time performance of operating systems versus bare-metal applications. For an Arm* Cortex* A-class of processor, there are several features that real time operating systems provide that make efficient use of the processor’s resources in addition to the facilities provided to manage the run-time application.

You may find that these efficiencies result in sufficient real-time performance for your application, enabling you to inherit a large body of available device drivers, middleware packages, software applications and support services. You must take this into account when selecting an operating system.