To be or not to be ,lpc4357 and freertos

[lpcware]

Content originally posted in LPCWare by salamlora1 on Tue Mar 18 01:30:06 MST 2014
Hi we are designing a project with lpc4357 and I want to take some advice about freertos
My first question is :
Do any one advise freertos for lpc4357 ? Why yes, why not?

[lpcware]

Content originally posted in LPCWare by www.FreeRTOS.org on Tue Mar 18 09:00:09 MST 2014
With reference to the comments about the heap.

FreeRTOS uses a heap to make its use as simple as possible.  It is however recognised that some applications forbid the use of a heap for reasons such as:

1) Complexity
2) Non-determinism
3) Fragmentation.

FreeRTOS keeps the heap in the portable layer so various different implementations can be used.  Of the 4 examples actually provided with FreeRTOS heap_1 is effectively just a simplified version of static allocation.  Memory blocks come out of a statically allocated array, and there is no free function - so it is very simple, very deterministic, impossible to fragment, and possible even to certify.

[lpcware]

Content originally posted in LPCWare by www.FreeRTOS.org on Tue Mar 18 08:31:00 MST 2014
If your question is related to the benefits of using an RTOS over not using and RTOS then the answer is of course - it depends what your application is doing.  If the application is complex and/or uses a lot of IO then you will probably get multiple benefits from using an RTOS.
http://www.freertos.org/FAQWhat.html#WhyUseRTOS

If you have already decided to use an RTOS and your question is more about which RTOS to use then I'm probably not the best person to answer as I'm obvious bias :)  However, here are some relevant links:
http://www.freertos.org/RTOS.html
http://www.freertos.org/open-source-software.html

I noted some comments about peripheral drivers - I would never recommend creating the drivers yourself, not from scratch anyway, NXP put a lot of effort into providing LPCOpen which, even if not exactly what you are looking for, will provide you a base on which you can then develop.

If you are going to be at ESC / EELive in San Jose in a couple of weeks then I will be giving a talk on the benefits of using FreeRTOS in an LPCOpen application.

Regards.

[lpcware]

Content originally posted in LPCWare by rocketdawg on Tue Mar 18 07:28:24 MST 2014
I have used it.
Obviously NXP and FreeRTOS have some sort of working relationship since there are sample projects in LPCOpen.
you will have to join the SourceForge forum for support.

good features
it is free and you get what you pay for.
it does work.  you may want to get the latest version for performance reasons.
you may find open source peripheral drivers
there is an example of dual core IPC.


bad
the kernel requiers some sort of heap, although several implementations are provided.  (heap may not be allowed in some applications i.e. automotive MISRA)
they do not provide many peripheral drivers so you may have to write these drivers.


there are alternatives  CooCox CoOs, ChibiOS/RT, TNKernel, Keil, ERIKA


good luck