Forum Discussion

Altera_Forum's avatar
Altera_Forum
Icon for Honored Contributor rankHonored Contributor
20 years ago

Which RTOS as substitution to uC/OS-II?

Hi all,

I've been thinking about trying a different OS than uC/OS-II.

First, I would like to know about the licensing of ucLinux and eCos - are both of them free?

My other question is what are the pros/cons of these systems compared to uC...it's the only OS I've used so far, so any information would be greatly appreciated.

How about some TCP/IP stack? Can I just use lwIP stack with any of them?

Thanks.

3 Replies

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

    Hi CableGuy,

    ucLinux and eCos are both under GPL-licence. So it's free, but first read the licenseterms. I believe they both have an TCP/IP-stack of their own which is imho better to start with then the lwIP-stack.

    Good luck.

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

    --- Quote Start ---

    originally posted by dannyjacobs@Nov 28 2005, 03:05 AM

    hi cableguy,

    uclinux and ecos are both under gpl-licence. so it's free, but first read the licenseterms. i believe they both have an tcp/ip-stack of their own which is imho better to start with then the lwip-stack.

    good luck.

    danny

    <div align='right'><{post_snapback}> (index.php?act=findpost&pid=11196)

    --- quote end ---

    --- Quote End ---

    Do you know if there is some real drawback of eCOS or Linux compared to uC/OS-II? Is there any reason to avoid these systems from the viewpoint of scheduling, simplicity of use (quite important - uC has an excellent description in the book that came with NiosII devkit), documentation and transparency (since I have never worked with Linux before I am afraid of getting lost in it and not quite understand what exactly I am doing and when...)
  • Altera_Forum's avatar
    Altera_Forum
    Icon for Honored Contributor rankHonored Contributor
    20 years ago

    Hi CableGuy,

    > since I have never worked with Linux before I am afraid of getting lost in it and

    > not quite understand what exactly I am doing and when...

    I always consider this inevitable when learning something new ... so documentation and

    support (along with your own sweat) become really important. If you take some time

    to master POSIX (especially pthreads and friends), or if you&#39;re already comfortable

    with pthreads, you&#39;ll do fine with eCos or Linux (and many other RTOS flavors as well).

    You might also want to take a look at Nucleus, which now supports Nios-II:

    http://www.acceleratedtechnology.com/pressrel/at_niosii.html (http://www.acceleratedtechnology.com/pressrel/at_niosii.html)

    http://www.acceleratedtechnology.com/altera/ (http://www.acceleratedtechnology.com/altera/)

    I&#39;ve never used Nucleus ... at least not yet. It&#39;s not free, but it does support POSIX,

    and you do get the source. From what I&#39;ve heard so far, the support is good.

    Regards,

    --Scott