topic Is MQX RTOS is free? in Kinetis Microcontrollers

Is MQX RTOS is free?

omkardixit — Thu, 24 Dec 2020 10:36:51 GMT

I was trying to download MQX RTOS but there are only two options one is user guide and the other one is buy. So is it free??

Regards

Omkar dixit

Re: Is MQX RTOS is free?

myke_predko — Sat, 26 Dec 2020 18:48:17 GMT

Hi @omkardixit

Short answer is no, it's not free - you can fee information here: MQX-V5: Buy

I've worked with it quite a bit and don't see the advantage of MQX over FreeRTOS, unless you don't have in house software skills and are going to pay a consultant to create your application for you.

Re: Is MQX RTOS is free?

omkardixit — Mon, 28 Dec 2020 13:22:22 GMT

First I was trying using FreeRTOS but I was struggling to do so. Do you have any example codes available for the same?

Regards,

Omkar

Re: Is MQX RTOS is free?

myke_predko — Mon, 28 Dec 2020 18:00:15 GMT

Hi @omkardixit ,

What is your level of understanding Reat Time Operating Systems? If you have a good understanding of them, FreeRTOS (or MQX or whatever) shouldn't be too difficult to pick up.

If you are a beginner to MCU RTOS's, might I suggest this presentation: Everything You Need to Know about RTOSs in 30 Minutes followed by this book: A practical introduction to real-time systems for undergraduate engineering The book is quite long but very complete.

If you are familiar with MCU RTOS's and are looking for FreeRTOS examples, I would suggest:

Use of FreeRTOS in Teaching Real-time Embedded Systems Design Course - I recommend this as a checklist of what you need to understand before creating an application
FreeRTOS Tutorial From Embedded Systems Learning Academy
Mastering the FreeRTOS™ Real Time Kernel - Personally, I found this to be my most useful first reference to FreeRTOS
Study of an operating system: FreeRTOS
FreeRTOS Tutorial - basically a cheat sheet/quick reference

Let me know if this is helpful.

I've shared my generic Kinetis FreeRTOS LED_task code in this post - a three byte string is sent to set a specific LED to a specific state (on, off or flash) and it can be read back. It gets a bit complex to understand as if I am sending a message from a task, I reply but if the message comes from an ISR, I don't reply (I don't want an ISR waiting around for the RTOS ). Let me know if that makes sense to you.