AVR-Chat

Gentlemen,

I am looking for an RTOS to "standardize" on in my (hobby) work with AVRs.

I would like to find an RTS that is "full-featured" with things like tracing
(to a serial port, etc.), inter-task messaging/signaling, etc.  It would be
nice if features were optionally compiled/linked in to control runtime
memory usage.  

I'm not sure if I really need preemptive scheduling in addition to
cooperative scheduling but it would be nice to have the option.  I would
need the ability to support interrupt driven IO but I assume they all do
this through buffers and mutex (P, V, etc.) or some kind of inter-task
messaging/signaling.  Open-source is a big plus.

I am familiar with OS's large and small and I have written (non-preemptive)
multi-tasking environments for other processors but I'd rather not re-invent
the wheel ... I'd rather get on with what I want to do at the application
level :-)

My current applications use general communications (UART, not bit-bang),
data logging and control.  I don't currently have any requirements for very
low latency or high interrupt rates other than that required for interrupt
driven communications and ADC sampling (rates in the 1 to 10 per second
range), etc.

The current hardware environments are EtherNut board and a Mavric board from
BDMicro.

I'm currently looking at:

1) "NutOS" because I'll be using that on an EtherNut board.  As far as I
know so far, it does not support preemptive multi-tasking.

2) "FreeRTOS" (http://www.freertos.org/a00098.html) which looks interesting
and optionally supports preemptive scheduling.

Am I going astray?  Are there others I should consider?

Thanks in advance ...

Oh, also, I am NOT a student working on a project due tomorrow :-)

Regards,

Chuck Hackett

Is this for your model railroad Chuck?  If so, that isn't a hobby...it's 
an obsession.


REB


Chuck Hackett wrote:

>Gentlemen,
>
>I am looking for an RTOS to "standardize" on in my (hobby) work with AVRs.
>
>I would like to find an RTS that is "full-featured" with things like tracing
>(to a serial port, etc.), inter-task messaging/signaling, etc.  It would be
>nice if features were optionally compiled/linked in to control runtime
>memory usage.  
>
>I'm not sure if I really need preemptive scheduling in addition to
>cooperative scheduling but it would be nice to have the option.  I would
>need the ability to support interrupt driven IO but I assume they all do
>this through buffers and mutex (P, V, etc.) or some kind of inter-task
>messaging/signaling.  Open-source is a big plus.
>
>I am familiar with OS's large and small and I have written (non-preemptive)
>multi-tasking environments for other processors but I'd rather not re-invent
>the wheel ... I'd rather get on with what I want to do at the application
>level :-)
>
>My current applications use general communications (UART, not bit-bang),
>data logging and control.  I don't currently have any requirements for very
>low latency or high interrupt rates other than that required for interrupt
>driven communications and ADC sampling (rates in the 1 to 10 per second
>range), etc.
>
>The current hardware environments are EtherNut board and a Mavric board from
>BDMicro.
>
>I'm currently looking at:
>
>1) "NutOS" because I'll be using that on an EtherNut board.  As far as I
>know so far, it does not support preemptive multi-tasking.
>
>2) "FreeRTOS" (http://www.freertos.org/a00098.html) which looks interesting
>and optionally supports preemptive scheduling.
>
>Am I going astray?  Are there others I should consider?
>
>Thanks in advance ...
>
>Oh, also, I am NOT a student working on a project due tomorrow :-)
>
>Regards,
>
>Chuck Hackett
>  
>

> From: Roy E. Burrage
>
> Chuck Hackett wrote:
> 
> >Gentlemen,
> >
> >I am looking for an RTOS to "standardize" on in my (hobby) work with
> >AVRs.
> >
> >I would like to find an RTS that is "full-featured" with things like
> >tracing (to a serial port, etc.), inter-task messaging/signaling, etc.
> > ....
> 
> Is this for your model railroad Chuck?  If so, that isn't a hobby...it's
> an obsession.

Well, yes, I am heavily into live steam :-) and someday I'd like to add some
data acquisition to my locomotive out of engineering interest.  Things like
boiler pressure, propane used, water used, drawbar pull, speed, horsepower,
etc., etc. ...

But, my immediate need is for a more advanced irrigation pump
monitor/controller for our small orange grove and yard in Florida (replacing
an inadequate one based on another microcontroller).  In addition to its
current duties of monitoring for loss of suction (from the lake) and filter
clogging, I'll add data logging, soil moisture inputs, solar radiation, lake
level, etc., the new one (ATMega128) will be connected to my local LAN for
reporting and control.

Other projects include home automation and an automatic block signal system
for 7.5" gauge railroads based on an RS-485 bus ... and, of course, most of
us can think of WAY more projects than we can ever finish ... :-)

As to my RTOS query - I have been looking at NutOS as used on the Ethernut
boards and it seems to have everything I'll need.  I might use FreeRTOS in
less demanding situations that don't need TCP/IP and there is less memory
available.

Cheers,

Chuck Hackett
"Good judgment comes from experience, experience comes from bad judgment"
7.5" gauge Union Pacific Northern (4-8-4) 844
http://www.whitetrout.net/Chuck

(Resend because I didn't see it come through the list - sorry if it's a
duplicate)

> From: Roy E. Burrage
>
> Chuck Hackett wrote:
> 
> >Gentlemen,
> >
> >I am looking for an RTOS to "standardize" on in my (hobby) work with
> >AVRs.
> >
> >I would like to find an RTS that is "full-featured" with things like
> >tracing (to a serial port, etc.), inter-task messaging/signaling, etc.
> > ....
> 
> Is this for your model railroad Chuck?  If so, that isn't a hobby...it's
> an obsession.

Well, yes, I am heavily into live steam :-) and someday I'd like to add some
data acquisition to my locomotive out of engineering interest.  Things like
boiler pressure, propane used, water used, drawbar pull, speed, horsepower,
etc., etc. ...

But, my immediate need is for a more advanced irrigation pump
monitor/controller for our small orange grove and yard in Florida (replacing
an inadequate one based on another microcontroller).  In addition to its
current duties of monitoring for loss of suction (from the lake) and filter
clogging, I'll add data logging, soil moisture inputs, solar radiation, lake
level, etc., the new one (ATMega128) will be connected to my local LAN for
reporting and control.

Other projects include home automation and an automatic block signal system
for 7.5" gauge railroads based on an RS-485 bus ... and, of course, most of
us can think of WAY more projects than we can ever finish ... :-)

As to my RTOS query - I have been looking at NutOS as used on the Ethernut
boards and it seems to have everything I'll need.  I might use FreeRTOS in
less demanding situations that don't need TCP/IP and there is less memory
available.

Cheers,

Chuck Hackett
"Good judgment comes from experience, experience comes from bad judgment"
7.5" gauge Union Pacific Northern (4-8-4) 844
http://www.whitetrout.net/Chuck