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Altera_Forum's avatar
Altera_Forum
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15 years ago

Very basic question on FreeRTOS and NiosII

Hi,

This question is perhaps very silly, but please bear with me. :|

I have to be doing a project on TCP/IP implementation on Nios-II processor through Micro-C. It will be some more time till I can get my hands on the hardware and Micro-C. So, I thought I would practice some real-time programming for embedded systems in the meantime.

My questions are:

1) Is it possible in anyway to write some meaningful programs without having the hardware in picture (perhaps very simple programs)

2) I got FreeRTOS. I also have the quartus software. Can I do anything meaningful with these to start with?

Also, any suggestion on how I can get some experience on real-time embedded programming without the hardware will be greatly appreciated.

I apologize if this is a very silly question, but I have to start somewhere.

Thanks a lot.

2 Replies

  • Altera_Forum's avatar
    Altera_Forum
    Icon for Honored Contributor rankHonored Contributor
    15 years ago

    Since i never used FreeRTOS i can comment only on point 1.)

    I learned NIOS and started write my application using a development board about 3 month before i got the real hardware in my hands.

    During this time the basic design and architecture was implemented and tested. Until the real HW was available the drivers were replaced by stubs.

    So this time was not wasted at all and i learned a lot.
  • Altera_Forum's avatar
    Altera_Forum
    Icon for Honored Contributor rankHonored Contributor
    15 years ago

    The nios2-ide includes a hardware and software simulator, I haven't tried them but it might be worth a look. I've been quite impressed with FreeRTOS. It runs well on the DE0 board.