"RTOS 4.1.x" v "RTOS for Kinetis SDK 1.0.0"

[razed11]

Hi,

What is the difference between these toolkits? Why would one choose one over the other? I'm an experience ARM developer but Kinetis is new to me. I'll be using IAR as a build environment.

Thanks,

Kenny

[DavidS]

Hi Kenny,

I will try to summaries as briefly as possible.

Freescale MQX4.1.1 is a totally Free RTOS distribution that has all the source code for the RTOS and various stacks (MFS/USB/Ethernet) and works with CW10.6/IAR/Keil/Others.

Note that all the IDE's are purchasable products.

The Kinetis family has just released a Free IDE knows as KDS (Kinetis Design Studio) that has PE (Processor Expert) integrated with it to allow creating baremetal projects for most Kinetis devices.

The KSDK (Kinetis SDK...eclipsed based) is very new source code distribution of Kinetis peripheral drivers.  Currently only supporting K64 and K22 families.  Around Dec 2014 this peripheral driver suite will have support for most Kinetis K (Cortex M4 core) and Kinetis L (Cortex M0+ core) devices and some of the other Kinetis V/W/(insert letter here ;-) ).

The KSDK supports KDS/IAR/Keil/GCC and others when the December 2014 update occurs.

The Freescale RTOS is migrating into the KSDK driver environment so we will have two trees....the MQX4.x and KSDK/KDS/MQX release in December 2014.

The December 2014 update is important as Freescale will be releasing the KDS/KSDK/MQX in lock step (i.e. the releases will be synchronized) going forward.

Hope this helps.

Regards,

David

Good web links to check out:

www.freescale.com/kds
www.freescale.com/ksdk
www.freescale.com/kinetis
www.freescale.com/mqx
Freescale MQX™ RTOS for Kinetis SDK (BE|Freescale

[razed11]

Thanks David.

Is it correct to say that the MQX 4.x does not have the peripheral drivers but only the stacks? I haven't dug in that deeply but there seemed to be support for peripherals. For instance, "Hello, world." had some UART support.

Would you say that the KSDK has better peripheral support? Or perhaps improved support for porting the stacks with different hardware on custom boards?

I'm using a K64 and IAR so it seems I could use either. I stepped away from the KSDK because the IAR build performance was considerably slower. Are there other trade-offs I am not considering?

Is the plan to eventually merge these so that you get RTOS + peripheral support across all IDEs?

Kenny

[DavidS · Accepted solution]

Hi Kenny,

The MQX4.x does have peripheral drives in the BSP RTOS component.

The peripheral support will be broader with the KSDK once December 2014 arrives and we have other RTOS and Filesystem support that MQX4.x does not.

From a porting point of view the MQX4.x is simpler to port mostly because it has been around longer and we have documentation on it.  We are working to improve that with KSDK.

I was shocked with the IAR build time in KSDK but I'm sure that will improve with each new release we do.

The actual release of RTOS support might be separate from the KSDK install for various marketing reasons and to keep installer size down.  But we are also weighing in on having them all in one install.  Time will tell.

Regards,

David

[Microfelix]

ciao david,

I tried to compile a project with KDS and MQX 4.1.1.

I marveled at the fact that it works perfectly.

So, you need the KSDK?

Maurizio

[DavidS]

Hi Maurizio,

Not certain I understand the question.

Are you asking if KSDK is only supported in the MQX4.1.1 release?

MQX4.1.1 has support for many tools.  Just check the MQX.4.1.1/docs/MQX_Release_Notes.pdf.  Look in Section 1.1 Development Tools Requirements.

Regards,

David

[Microfelix]

hi david.

Sorry.

I downloaded the KDS. I downloaded MQX 4.1.1.

I filled out a demo that is located in MQX 4.1.1 for more K70 its libraries and it works.

But if in KDS want to create a new project with MQX 4.1.1 and K70 have not found a menu.

I have to also install the SDK?

The KSDK what is it?

Thank you

Maurizio

[DavidS]

Hi Maurizio,

Kinetis SDK (KSDK) is a new peripheral code base for the Kinetis devices that can be used for baremetal or with RTOS's.  It has several different API levels to help achieve each with a HAL (hardware abstraction layer) and OSA (operating system abstraction) layers to MQX, FreeRTOS, and others.

It is very new and only supporting the newest Kinetis devices (K64/K22/KV31) and in December will have updated release to support the vast majority of Kinetis devices.

Please visit: Software Development Kit for Kinetis MCUs|Freescale for more information.

Regards,

At this link their is a separate MQX-RTOS-For-KINETIS-SDK that is a BETA product and will become a GA (Generally Available) release in December as well.

David

[Microfelix]

hi david

until now I have developed with K60 and K70.

Now create an application with the K22.

Codewarrior does not support it and I'm trying with KDS.

But, I can not create a project with MQX 4.1.1

How should I do?

Maurizio

[DavidS]

Hi Maurizio,

If you go to the link above, and find "MQX-RTOS-FOR-KINETIS-SDK" link under Related Software and Tools paragraph, you will download a KSDK that has MQX included in it.  It is not MQX4.1.1.  This MQX for KSDK uses the KSDK peripheral drivers and not the MQX.4.1.1 BSP low level drivers.

Going forward we will have two different MQX's:  MQX4.x.x that I will call the "classic version" and the "KSDK version".

The KSDK MQX version does support the K22F120M.

There is also a standalone download of MQX4.1 for FRDM-K22F120M:

FRDM-K22F|Freedom Development Board|Kinetis|Freescale

Regards,

David

[Microfelix]

hi david,

after three years of working with CodeWarrior, I have big problems to

realize a project with KDS.

I'm working with the K22, I can not use USB with mfs.

Do you have any examples?

Thank you

Maurizio

2014-08-28 19:28 GMT+02:00 David E Seymour <admin@community.freescale.com>:

<https://community.freescale.com/>

Re: "RTOS 4.1.x" v "RTOS for Kinetis SDK 1.0.0"

reply from David E Seymour

<https://community.freescale.com/people/DavidS?et=watches.email.thread>

in MQX Software Solutions - View the full discussion

<https://community.freescale.com/message/430858?et=watches.email.thread#430858>

[DavidS]

Hi Maurizio,

Have you tried the following example in the MQX_KSDK_1.0.0 ?

C:\Freescale\MQX_KSDK_1.0.0\usb\example\host\msd\msd_fatfs

I tested with FRDM-K64F120M so assume it is working for the FRDM-K22F120M as well.

Regards,

David

[razed11]

OK. Fair enough. It sounds like a good plan. I certainly understand that these things don't happen overnight and that it is difficult to support the matrix of tools.

Having used several Cortex-M3/M4/ARM7/ARM9 devices on different projects I am liking what I am seeing so far. And things like better software for forums such as this can make a difference too.

Kenny