Olin Lathrop wrote:

> There are
> very few problems that can't be solved very nicely with a simple
cooperative
> task model where tasks can optionally sleep until some number of clock
ticks
> have elapsed.

I'm with Olin on this one.  I've been a dedicated 'co-operative scheduler'
user for several years and have, in fact, just published a large book on the
topic (it's based on the 8051, I'm afraid: the details are on my WWW site if
anyone is interested).

The main reason I like this approach is that - in my view - it results in
very reliable systems.  This is because it is very simple and very easy to
understand.  This is the main reason that software-based aircraft are using
these techniques, and the automotive industry is rapidly following the same
route.   I know nothing about Salvo, but the majority of RTOSs are simply
too complicated for use in systems which must be reliable.

In my experience, people new to embedded systems start using a RTOS because
an OS is what they are used to on desktop machines.  Some systems can
benefit from such an approach but most don't.

Michael.

+==================================+

 Michael J. Pont
 http://www.le.ac.uk/engineering/mjp9

+==================================+

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