Kozio Introduces Free Use of kDiagnostics for PandaBoard

LONGMONT, Colo., Jan. 26, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Kozio, Inc. (www.kozio.com) the developer of In-System Diagnostics (ISD), today announced that it has made available free use of their kDiagnostics® Suite, for owners of PandaBoard. PandaBoard is the first open OMAP™ 4 applications processor-based mobile software development platform. The Kozio download gives users an interactive guided tour of the inner workings of PandaBoard and the OMAP4430 applications processor from Texas Instruments Incorporated (TI), along with a full design verification and hardware validation solution. The download is immediately available directly from the Kozio website (http://www.kozio.com/services-and-supports/downloads). Kozio also provides the same expert solution set for customers designing custom devices.

"The PandaBoard development platform is a great solution for mobile software developers," stated Clint Ostrander, President & CEO, Kozio, Inc.  "Kozio has been supporting the OMAP 4 platform and its surrounding technologies, including displays, cameras and more, since its inception from board bring-up all the way through to the manufacturing floor.  We welcome the opportunity to deliver an unmatched hardware and software integration solution for the first open OMAP 4 processor-based dev board."  

In-Depth Exploration of all PandaBoard Technologies

PandaBoard loads and runs kDiagnostics directly from a Secure Digital (SD) card. Users quickly have the power to explore and understand their PandaBoard, verify proper performance, and have full access and control of both low-level hardware and high-level functionality in real-time. Unlike other diagnostic and test solutions, kDiagnostics initializes devices, configures memory, isolates and easily reproduces faults within minutes, and provides other features beyond the boundaries of traditional verification or validation approaches.    

Powerful User Interface

Users can browse and run Kozio's library of tests through the click of a mouse. Devices can be programmed easily and quickly, including NOR and NAND Flash memories, and SD cards. Users can read and write memory, peek and poke hardware registers, control GPIO lines, access I2C devices, and configure power resources. Custom commands can be scripted using any text editor. These scripts can perform complex flow control, such as looping and conditional branching using the programming constructs available through the Kozio scripting language.

Free Use

The download for PandaBoard can be installed in just three easy steps.

1. Register, install and receive a license ValidationAssistant on the host PC
2. Prepare a bootable SD Card that contains the kDiagnostics executable
3. Configure and validate connectivity between the host and your hardware.

Full installation and user documentation is available for each evaluation platform and can be found at http://www.kozio.com/services-and-supports/downloads/installation-guide.  

Leveraging OMAP Processor Knowledge

Kozio has man-years of experience supporting the OMAP 4 platform from silicon wakeup, through evaluation modules, to customer devices.  Kozio is uniquely positioned to support the PandaBoard and all of its surrounding technologies because of the collaborative efforts between TI and Kozio engineering teams. This collaboration has produced complete hardware validation solutions for OMAP and Sitara™ processor families and is available as packaged software for customer projects.

About Kozio Technology

In-System Diagnostics (ISD) is a powerful and proven new technology for integrating hardware and software as well as comprehensive verification and validation of electronic products. Unlike other verification and validation tools, it runs on actual hardware and replaces customized test procedures with a standardized extensible solution that significantly accelerates hardware test time. The core of ISD consists of an embedded binary, plus interpreter, that isolates and functionally evaluates device performance at-speed, against engineering design specifications, and over an extended operating range. It installs on bare silicon, is not an OS, and verifies hardware designs without scheduler interrupts or other OS-induced perturbations that may influence hardware performance and/or obscure the source of faults.

Availability

Kozio's kDiagnostics download for the PandaBoard, based on OMAP 4 processor featuring dual ARM® Cortex™-A9 MPCore processor support is immediately available.

About Kozio, Inc.

Kozio provides packaged solutions for hardware validation and circuit board testing to leading edge customers across the globe. Our tools are constructed from a library of over a million lines of proven diagnostic code that has been run thousands of times, on hundreds of designs throughout the whole product life cycle. Comprehensive hardware design validations are performed in minutes, not weeks, accelerating time-to-market with reduced risk and better allocation of engineering resources. Whether your application is in Engineering, Manufacturing, or In-Field test, Kozio is the trusted leader in In-System Diagnostics and your fastest path to reliable hardware.

Trademarks

Kozio, the Kozio logo and kDiagnostics are registered trademarks of Kozio, Inc.  kPOST, ValidationAssistant, SequenceRunner, and SequenceReporter are trademarks of Kozio, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

OMAP is a trademark of Texas Instruments.  All other trademarks and registered trademarks belong to their respective owners.

SOURCE Kozio, Inc.