System Builder

AMX is delivered ready for development on a PC with Windows^® 9x, NT, 2000 or XP.

Initial releases of AMX were coded in assembler for compactness and speed. Today, AMX is coded in C, taking advantage of improvements in compiler technology on specific target processors. Source code of all AMX modules is provided with AMX to permit AMX to be ported to any development platform. A sample program is provided to illustrate the proper use of many of the AMX services.

AMX is compatible with many popular C compilers, assemblers and linkers. AMX modules are provided in library object format suitable for use with different tool sets. A Tool Guide is included with AMX for each supported tool set. The AMX Porting Guide describes how to port AMX for use with other tool sets.

Configuration Builder

Construction of an AMX system involves several steps, the most difficult of which is defining the manner in which the application can be broken down into a set of cooperating tasks, Timer Procedures and Interrupt Service Procedures.

These application components are programmed as single software functions (procedures), usually in C. Modularity is under the developer's control.

An AMX system definition module must be provided to define the characteristics of the system. This module is called the System Configuration Module. It defines the maximum number of tasks, interval timers, message envelopes, semaphores, event groups, mailboxes, message exchanges, buffer pools and memory pools which AMX has to support. RAM memory, in quantities dictated by AMX according to the options selected, must be provided.

The System Configuration Module can be used to predefine any or all of these AMX objects which you will need in your application. Although AMX permits these entities to be dynamically created at run time, the ability to predefine them can reduce system development time and target code size.

For software development on a PC or compatible, KADAK provides a Configuration Builder to simplify construction of the System Configuration Module. This utility program provides a full screen interactive method of preparing and editing an AMX system definition module. The Builder produces a C source file describing the AMX system. The file has all of the components necessary to support the AMX options selected for use. Only those options which are required in the user system are included by the Builder.

Using the Configuration Builder helps to reduce the total system implementation time by automating the generation of the system definition module.

The Configuration Builder uses a generator utility to create the AMX System Configuration Module from a text file in which the application parameters are recorded. The generator, coded in C, can be readily ported to non-PC development environments.

AMX Linked and ROMed Systems

AMX is linked with your application code modules and the AMX System Configuration Module to form an AMX system load module. Only the subset of AMX modules which are actually used in your application are included in the linked system. All AMX services are accessed by direct procedure calls resolved by the linker. Linked systems offer minimal size and fastest execution.

AMX and its managers are ROMable. The linked modules are located in memory according to your target system's ROM and RAM memory configuration. The final load module is then burned into ROM for installation in the target hardware.