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1495

answers:

27

What RTOS have you used or recommend for 32-bit processors.
I'm interested in mainstream processors here: PowerPC, Pentium, ARM, MIPS
A link to a web site would be a nice bonus.

Let's conduct this as a poll. Please only provide one selection per answer and mod up if you agree with a selection already present.

+4  A: 

VxWorks by Wind River is one of the major RTOS out there. See http://www.windriver.com/products/vxworks/

Benoit
+2  A: 

Linux is also making a strong showing in the embedded space. There are a number of vendors that provide packaged systems. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embedded_Linux and also http://elinux.org/Main_Page

Benoit
+1  A: 

QNX and RTLinux are for i386.

For ARM there is Symbian OS.

terminus
A: 

Have seen used: ROMDOS

Can't say I would recommend though.

Geoffrey Chetwood
A: 

Windows CE

Geoffrey Chetwood
A: 

Depends what you want from a real time O/S

But Windows CE allows for hard real time.

We have used embedded uCLinux for embedded apps and control. But we also use Windows XP/Vista to do hard real time control down to 50ms response times.

Keith Nicholas
I think CE is still best-effort. If you want HARD real-time, you have to go for the big boys like VxWorks, OSE, or the many really real-time cut-down operating systems like Realogy.
jakobengblom2
+1  A: 

Used CMX with success. But its almost impossible to recommend a RTOS based on generic requests. Smallest footprint, optimized for power, royalties, etc are all factors in deciding what to go with.

jimg
+1  A: 

QNX seem to be the one with the best library and tools. Well from what I heard from the guy responsible of that side of many projects I worked on.

http://www.qnx.com/

pmlarocque
+1  A: 

Small micro, deep embedded. Roll your own.

LarryH
+4  A: 

Micrium's uCOS-II is a popular choice, and the licensing is very interesting. Take a look at www.micrium.com

A: 

National Instrument's CVI/Real-Time is pretty easy to use.

AShelly
+1  A: 

This question is awfully vague, considering the range of 32-bit processors available nowadays. I've liked QNX in the past on a 933MHz Pentium-3 with 512MB of RAM, and I'm using FreeRTOS now on a 72MHz ARM Cortex-M3 with 64kB of RAM. Both suited their purposes very well.

KeyserSoze
+1  A: 

Open, good performance, multiple platforms supported - RTEMS from Oarcorp (http://www.oarcorp.com/)

Also, depending on your hardware, eCos (http://ecos.sourceware.org/) is worth a look.

+1  A: 

I can recommend ThreadX from Express Logic (http://www.rtos.com/). I've used it with some success on an ARM7 processor.

Peter K.
A: 

MontaVista (http://www.mvista.com/) provides a real-time version of Linux that can run on a wide variety of platforms. It can support response times as low as 30 us.

MSumulong
A: 

OpenSolaris is a modern RTOS, works on 32-bit architectures, and has some good tools as well. Congrats on Sun making the right decision and opening up Solaris!

Kevin
Interesting. I didn't think of OpenSolaris as an RTOS...but then again, Linux?! :)
Benoit
OK, OpenSolaris by itself is not a hard RTOS. But it can be modified. Look at this article: http://www.embedded.com/columns/technicalinsights/193500845?_requestid=26679
Kevin
+3  A: 

The open source RTOS named eCos is available for several platforms using the GNU toolchain.

Tall Jeff
+6  A: 

FreeRTOS (www.FreeRTOS.org) runs on many micros and it's free, open source, and it can be used in commercial applications. There are many demos for various MCUs on their web site. One place it is used is the firmware for the Make Controller board (http://makezine.com/controller) which uses a AT91SAM7X ARM7 micro.

A: 

We are using Keil's RL-RTX RTOS for ARM MCU.

Contrary to Keil's reputation in 8051 world, their ARM development tools has been changed deeply, after ARM corporation has acquired them, and the quality is still suffering from this dramatic change.

The RTOS still has critical bugs, and the package they sell with it (RL-ARM. Including A Flash file system, TCP\IP stack, USB stack and CAN stack) is not well designed totally not ready for multitasking environment.

Sorry about the negativity, but after paying much of money, I expected for more from senior, well-known company (now own by big ARM).

landmn
In the last 2 years Keil fixed many lacks in their RTOS and libraries. Now it more stable and bug-free.The RTOS is free for Keil RTOS owners, but the RTOS code is available only in library package that contain TCP/IP stack and File system.The payment model is one pay to get all the features for all your projects, but you have to pay more money every year to get the last bug fixes.
landmn
A: 

I can recommend Green Hills INTEGRITY (http://www.ghs.com). I have used it on safety-critical systems based on ARM architectures. The tools are very good (IDE, debugger, performance analysis, event logger, jtag probe) and the support is good as well. It's royalty-free which means that the tools and support are pricey but if you have a safety-critical system it's well worth it.

+2  A: 

I can second the vote for ThreadX. Here is a link to an article that discusses it's relative popularity, and provides a graph of how well used various RTOSs are:

embedded-computing.com

bobmcn
+1  A: 

Interestingly missing from the above:

  • Enea OSE, which is very common in telecom core network equipment and hundreds of millions of feature phones (the SonyEricsson walkman, cybershot, etc. series, and also I think Samsung).

  • IAR PowerPac, a very simple cheap basic task scheduler.

In my mind, an RTOS is an OS that is not trying to be average-case best-effort but have some more hard ways to make sure certain things get done and not others. And short interrupt latencies sometimes.

jakobengblom2
A: 
PFM
A: 

Windows XP Embedded

If you want to use it as a realtime OS, you'll need plugins though.

Philippe Leybaert
A: 

QNX has been mentioned, but erroneously as a x86 specific product. QNX-Neutrino is cross platform.

QNX's Microkernel architecture uses MMU protection capabilities to provide extremely robust and fault-tolerant systems. In most commercial RTOS's MMU protection is an add-on, and the user selects what is protected. In QNX everything is protected unless the user decides to expose I/O or memory to specific tasks.

Clifford
+2  A: 

Mentor Graphics' Nucleus

Only because it has not yet been mentioned. No direct experience, but is usually on my short-list when RTOS selection time comes around.

Clifford
A: 

I still miss pSOS (swallowed up by Wind River ~y2k)

ktrimbach