Posted on May 17, 2011 at 09:57''Lighting Bolt'', an open source STR9 preemptive scheduler, is now released. It can be freely downloaded
http://sourceforge.net/projects/lightingbolt/
''Lighting Bolt'' is based on my previous endeavour for the C167 controller (available at
http://sourceforge.net/projects/eos-xc167-rtos/
) but I feel that it is a much better, mature computer program. I have tried very hard to deliver a piece of quality software.
The following modifications have taken place to produce ''Lighting Bolt'':
* A very fast context switch, measured in [microseconds] at 48[MHz] (STR9 can run at up to 96[MHz]).
* A rewritten synchronization module. Semaphores are now truly task-safe and contain the correct logic. A new synchronization primitive (event) introduced.
All synchronization elements are linked statically, and there is no need to allocate/release them, or for this matter neither any other system resource, like timers. User does not need direct access to basic system data types to use the kernel. This enhances robustness.
* The program has been generally retrofitted to run efficiently on an ARM core.
* Strict screening by PC-lint.
* Stack level checking.
* Open source installer (NSIS) used to create a self extractor for the delivery of the source code.
* Modularity.
* Documentation.
