TRON-Related Web Sites


The TRON Project evolved into the T-Engine and Ubiquitous ID projects in 2002. Both of these projects have the same goals as the original TRON Project, but they are based on somewhat different hardware and software standards. Accordingly, the main source for obtaining technical information on the TRON Project is now the T-Engine Forum, which is located inside the YRP Ubiquitous Networking Laboratory in Gotanda, Tokyo.

http://www.t-engine.org/

The above link has reference links to the following Web sites:

There is still some English-language information on the original TRON Project available at a Web site at the University of Tokyo. Here's the link.

http://www.um.u-tokyo.ac.jp/publish_db/2000dm2k/english/01/01-10.html

Products based on T-Engine and uID technologies are developed and marketed by the Ubiquitous Computing Technology Corporation, which is also headquartered inside the YRP Ubiquitous Networking Laboratory in Gotanda, Tokyo.

http://ts.uctec.com/uctec/index-e.php

Another site that offers extensive information on the TRON Project, unfortunately mostly in Japanese, is the Web site of Personal Media Corporation, the URL for which is:

http://www.personal-media.co.jp/

Personal Media is the main developer of BTRON-specification operating systems, applications, and related products in Japan. The company also publishes a bimonthly TRON-related magazine called TRONWARE. TRON Web, as you may have noticed, has a considerable number of translations from TRONWARE. In 2001, Personal Media has also created a Web site to support its BTRON3-specification operating system, Cho Kanji, which in its present form [Cho Kanji V] can handle 186,526 characters, and comes with bundled productivity applications plus a large collection of freeware. The URL to this Japanese-language Web site is:

http://www.chokanji.com/

Personal Media also sells T-Engine development boards and appliances, some of which have English language documentation. Moreover, some of the T-Engine appliances come standard equipped with PMC T-Shell, which is BTRON-specification middleware for the T-Kernel microkernel.

http://www.t-engine4u.com/en/index.html

Since the TRON Project is now almost 30 years old, there is currently a lot of English-language information about it on line. Obviously, the largest collection of English-language information on the TRON Project is TRON Web itself. However, the Ubiquitous ID Center has also made efforts to get the word out about the TRON Project by producing a series of videos in English. They can be accessed via this link

http://tronweb.super-nova.co.jp/tron-videos-on-youtube.html

There are people to this day who believe that the TRON Project is a failure, but, in actuality, it has been very successful. A quick look through the above videos will reveal that not only have its technologies taken firm root in Japan, but that they have also been transmitted overseas, to places both in Asia and Europe. For example, in Japan, T-Engine and uID technologies have been introduced into the Ginza shopping district to help people navigate through the area. Here is an English-language link that explains what is going on there.

http://www.tokyo-ubinavi.jp/index_en.html

Notice that there are links to other places where the same technologies are being used, such as Tokyo Zoo. In fact, in addition to Tokyo, they are being used at many other places throughout Japan.

People who are interested in the ITRON kernel rather than T-Kernel can find a large collection of English-language information about that subproject and its technologies at this link.

http://www.ertl.jp/ITRON/

There are several advantages to using ITRON, one of which is that there is no standardized hardware platform for it to run on. In other words, it can be ported to any development board, although that might require some extra engineering time.

Although it hasn't been updated in a few years, there is a T-Engine developer support Web site in Singapore run by Mr. Mohit Sindhwani of Viometrix Private Limited. Here is the link to that Web site.

http://t-engine.onghu.com/

Note that there is some information on the Web site in languages other than English.

Another interesting Web site, particularly for those interested in programming BTRON, is the WideStudio Web site. WideStudio is an open source integrated development environment that allows programmers to port software from one architecture to another. Here's the link to the main page.

http://www.widestudio.org/

And here is the link to the page that deals with BTRON.

http://www.widestudio.org/EE/install.html#WideStudio_for_BTRON_INST_

Please note that professional software development for BTRON requires one to have a knowledge of GNU/Linux, since the cross development method is used for creating applications. Also note that this integrated development environment can be used for porting software to T-Engine and ITRON. Here's the link to the explanation of T-Engine.

http://www.widestudio.org/EE/t-engine/t-engine.html


Last updated: September 26, 2012.