/*!
\page dev_status BeRTOS Development Status
If you are looking for the list of BeRTOS ports or a detailed overview of all modules completeness and stability this is the right place.
BeRTOS is stable and it's used in production environments but it is also a very large project, so all of its parts may not be at the same level.
Table of contents:
\li \ref kernel
\li \ref core_drivers
\li \ref internal_peripherals
\li \ref independant_drivers
\li \ref storage
\li \ref graphics
\li \ref algorithms
\li \ref networking
\li \ref data_structures
\li \ref mware
\section kernel Kernel
BeRTOS features a cooperative kernel with synchronization primitives.
Embedded systems are mostly I/O bound systems. In these systems the microprocessor/microcontroller spends the most part of its computing power doing... absolutely nothing :-)
Since the system simply waits for external events to happen we decided to implement a strong and robust cooperative kernel with very low memory footprint and high modularity. This allows the kernel to be used on a variety of different CPUs, even the smaller ones.
Currently the kernel code is very stable.
Kernel features :
\li \link preempt.c Cooperative and preemptive \endlink round-robin scheduling.
\li \link monitor.h Stack process monitor \endlink, useful to prevent stack overflows.
\li \link msg.h Inter-process messaging system \endlink (with very low overhead).
\li \link sem.h Binary semaphores \endlink.
\li \link signal.c Signals \endlink.
The kernel has a port layer (a single assembly function) that needs to be reimplemented each time a new CPU is added.
Here is a list of currently available CPU family ports:
CPU Family | Port status |
ARM7TDMI | Atmel AT91SAM7, NXP LPC2XXX |
Cortex-M3 | Luminary Stellaris LM3S, ST Microelectronics STM32 |
Atmel AVR | Most cpu supported (including Arduino) |
PowerPC | emulator |
Intel/AMD x86 | emulator |
Intel/AMD x86-64 | emulator |
\section core_drivers Core Drivers
BeRTOS is not only a kernel, it aims to supply full operating system services.
To achieve this we need at least some core drivers for every CPU port.
These drivers are: system timer , debug system and serial comm driver .
Adding CPU support for an already present CPU family is quite simple since hardware manufacturers share peripherals design between the same CPU cores.
Core drivers are completely supported on all platforms.
\section internal_peripherals MCU Internal peripheral drivers
Since BeRTOS aims to supply full operating system services, for every CPU port we try to implement as much drivers as possible. This section covers the current development status for MCU Internal peripheral drivers.
Driver / MCU family |
ADC |
UART |
FLASH |
I2C |
PWM |
SPI |
Atmel AVR |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Atmel AT91SAM7 ARM |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Atmel AT91SAM3N ARM |
- |
Yes |
- |
- |
- |
-
|
STmicro STM32F103xx ARM |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
- |
- |
Philips LPC23XX ARM |
- |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
- |
- |
Stellaris LM3S ARM |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
- |
Yes |
\section independant_drivers Generic CPU independent drivers
BeRTOS supplies a full set of CPU independent generic hardware drivers. To achieve this all drivers are structured to have an hardware abstraction layer (HAL) that isolate CPU specific code and makes porting to new CPU easy.
Current driver list:
Driver | Status |
\link adc.h ADC API \endlink | stable |
\link buzzer.h Buzzer \endlink | stable |
\link dataflash.h Atmel Dataflash \endlink | stable |
\link eeprom.h I2C EEPROM \endlink | stable |
\link flash25.h AT25Fxxx Atmel flash memories \endlink | beta |
\link ft245rl.h FT245RL USB to parallel converter \endlink | beta |
\link kbd.h Keyboard \endlink | stable |
\link i2c.h I2C \endlink with bitbang support | stable |
Displaytech 32122A Graphic LCD | stable |
\link dc_motor.h DC Motor with PID \endlink | stable |
\link lcd_text.h Alphanumeric LCD \endlink | stable |
\link lm75.h LM75 temperature sensor \endlink | stable |
\link mcp41.h MPC41 digital potentiometer \endlink | stable |
\link mpxx6115a.h MPxx6115A pressure sensor \endlink | stable |
\link ntc.h NTC \endlink | stable |
\link phase.h TRIAC phase partialization \endlink | stable |
\link pwm.h PWM API \endlink | beta |
\link pcf8574.h PCF85974 I2C port expander \endlink | beta |
\link sd.h Secure Digital card API \endlink | stable |
\link ser.h Serial API \endlink | stable |
\link spi_bitbang.h Bitbanged SPI \endlink | stable |
\link tas5706a.h TAS5706A \endlink digital audio DSP | stable |
\link tc520.h TC520 ADC \endlink | obsolete |
\link thermo.h Thermostat \endlink | stable |
\link timer.h System timer API \endlink | stable |
\link tmp123.h TMP123 temperature sensor \endlink | stable |
\link stepper.h Stepper motor with ramps \endlink | stable |
Watchdog | beta |
To get up to date informations look at the drivers source code.
\section storage File system
BeRTOS supports two file systems. The first one is the mainstream \link fat.h FAT \endlink filesystem, using the FatFs library. The module is highly configurable, for example it can be compiled in read-only mode for some space saving.
The second is \link battfs.h BattFs\endlink, a file system specifically planned for embedded platforms. The goal is to have a filesystem suitable for little flash and eeprom memories (like dataflash), reliable, robust and capable of wear-levelling the memory pages to increase its life.
The code is in beta stage. Currently you can create files, append data to them but file deletion is still not supported. Wear-levelling is achieved by rotating a page every time it is written. Plans are to add even transactions (a whole write can be performed atomically).
File system development takes place in the fs directory.
\subsection fat File System: FAT
The FAT file system is the de-facto standard for removable devices such as SD cards or Memory cards. BeRTOS supports read and write operations on all existing FAT file systems, ranging from FAT12 to FAT32, with support to long file names. This file system is light and fast and allows to easily exchange data through external memory devices.
FAT module is highly configurable, for example it can be compiled in read-only mode for some space saving.
\subsection battfs File System: BattFS
BattFS (Batt File System), has been developed to solve problems specific to embedded systems; BattFS is a file system that can be used on any physical media and it's optimized to reduce RAM and ROM usage to meet the strict design guidelines we have used with all the others BeRTOS components.
The goal is to have a filesystem suitable for little flash and eeprom memories (like dataflash), reliable, robust and capable of wear-levelling the memory pages to increase its life.
The code is in beta stage. Currently you can create files, append data to them but file deletion is still not supported. Wear-levelling is achieved by rotating a page every time it is written. Plans are to add even transactions (a whole write can be performed atomically).
\section graphics Graphic subsystem
BeRTOS also features a complete graphic subsystem, suitable for generating compact yet powerful GUI.
This system is composed of several modules ranging from simple graphic primitives to complex menu management functions.
Module | Status |
\link bitmap.c Bitmaps manipulation \endlink | stable |
\link line.c Lines drawing \endlink | stable |
\link line.c Rectangles drawing \endlink | stable |
\link win.h Simple windowing system \endlink | stable |
Proportional and fixed size fonts | stable |
\link text.h Text rendering \endlink | stable |
\link charts.h Simple Charts \endlink | stable |
\link menu.h Menus \endlink | stable |
To get up to date informations look at the source code in the directories \b gfx, \b gui or \b fonts.
\section algorithms Algorithms
In embedded programming sometimes you have to cope with protocols, security systems and things like that.
BeRTOS comes in help with a set of optimized portable algorithms:
Algorithm | Status |
\link crc.h CRC16 \endlink | stable |
\link md2.c MD2 \endlink | beta |
\link randpool.c Cryptographically secure Random Pool \endlink | beta |
\link rotating_hash.h Rotating hash checksum \endlink | stable |
\link tea.h TEA (Tiny Encryption Algorithm) \endlink | stable |
\link ramp.h Stepper motor ramp generator \endlink | stable |
\link pid_control.h PID Controller \endlink | stable |
\link rle.c RLE (Run lenght en/decondig) \endlink | stable |
To get up to date informations look at the algorithms source code.
\section networking Network protocols
Since BeRTOS can also be used in very tiny systems, some simple communication protocols has been developed.
This is the current status:
Protocol | Status |
\link pocketbus.c PocketBus \endlink | stable |
\link keytag.c Keytag (for 125KHz transponders) \endlink | stable |
\link xmodem.c XModem protocol \endlink | stable |
\link nmea.c NMEA GPS protocol parser \endlink | stable |
\link afsk.c AFSK1200 modem \endlink | stable |
\link ax25.h AX25 data link layer protocol \endlink | beta |
For more information take a look at network directory.
\section data_structures Data Structures
BeRTOS supplies common data structures, implemented and optimized for low memory footprint and speed.
Module | Status |
\link fifobuf.h FIFO \endlink | stable |
\link hashtable.h Hash table \endlink | stable |
\link heap.h Embedded-optimized dynamic memory allocator \endlink | stable |
\link list.h Lists \endlink | stable |
\section mware Middleware
This section covers all BeRTOS modules that provide general purpose utility functions. Most of them should be moved to \ref algorithms directory.
In the meanwhile, here is the list:
Module | Status |
\link cpu/byteorder.h Integers to/from host byte-order conversion \endlink | stable |
\link event.h Events \endlink | stable |
\link except.h C++ like exception handling in C \endlink | stable |
\link formatwr.c Embedded-optimized printf \endlink | stable |
\link readline.h Command shell with history \endlink | stable |
\link ini_reader.h Ini file reader \endlink | stable |
As usual, check source code for detailed reference.
*/