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RichardBarry

Fresh Boarder

2006/04/07 05:34

FreeRTOS V4.0.1

Open source mini kernel available for free download from http://www.FreeRTOS.org.

Currently supports GCC, CrossWorks and Keil. More will be added as tools become available.

V4.0.1 simplifies the V4.0.0 port code. A little demo for the new Rowley CrossFire board is also included.

Have fun.

Regards.

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englere

Gold Boarder

2006/04/07 14:18

Re:FreeRTOS V4.0.1

Richard,

You do awesome work!

I have to admit, though, that I'm a bit unsure of the value of having an RTOS in a chip this small, considering that it doesn't have Ethernet or USB, etc.

I really wish the Rowley board had at least a serial port. I'm concerned that I can't get data in/out except by way of the JTAG USB port. I normally write PC applications to interact with embedded devices, but I don't do my own soldering so I depend on having this kind of thing (a lowly DB9 port).

The Luminary dev board is clearly priced out of reach. I need to see the value in these devices before I can convince my company to make an investment, so I typically buy my own dev boards to check them out.

This architecture is very new, so I'd appreciate any info you can share with us about these new devices. Were there any "gee, that's cool", or "man, I wish it didn't do it that way" kinds of lessons you learned while playing with these devices?

Eric

Post edited by: englere, at: 2006/04/07 14:19

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RichardBarry

Fresh Boarder

2006/04/07 14:40

Re:FreeRTOS V4.0.1

I agree with you regarding using an RTOS on such a small device - but this is the start of a family of devices that use the M3 core - and one feature of the M3 is that as far as an RTOS goes its much more portable. The tick timer and and interrupt controller being integrated removes the two main areas where, for example, an ARM7 port would differ between devices. Now it runs on the LM3S102/1 it should scale up really easily to other M3 devices.

The Rowley board has some pin headers so you can add peripherals with a little wire wrapping. The LM and Rowley boards are at two extremes of pricing and functionality. A nice thing with the Rowley board is that it connects directly to the host PC with no JTAG interface required. The compiler, when used with the board, is then not time limited, so when experimenting all you need is the CrossFire and the compiler download.

As far as the devices go, so far its been a good experience. The driver library basically does everything you want peripheral wise and did not cause any problems, so that was easy. My only quirk comment on the library is that it is a little weighty for the first low end devices and can take up too much ROM in debug/no optimisation builds.

The core itself is really nice, very well thought out. There was a larger learning curve than expected, mainly because I was not expecting so many differences between the ARM7 and M3. It is much easier and simpler than the ARM7, which is (was) one of my favorite cores.

Regards.

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tinroofrusty

Expert Boarder

2007/01/13 06:15

Re:FreeRTOS V4.0.1

Richard,

How much code space and ram does FreeRtos consume?

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