Microsoft announced the opening of the initial texts of the real-time operating system under the Permissible License azure rtos, which was received after the absorption of Express Logic in 2019. Previously, it was supplied under the name Threadx for more than 20 years. This operating system is claimed to be installed on more than 12 billion devices, including consumer electronics, industrial systems, medical devices, printers, WiFi chips, and even spacecraft. (source: Microsoft)
The Threadx code was already available on GitHub, but under a limiting license. Now, the product will go under the protection of the non-profit organization Eclipse Foundation and will develop under the name eclipse threaddx as an independent joint project. This move is expected to attract new participants and spur the development of the platform and its associated ecosystem. Several companies, including AMD, Cypherbridge, NXP, PX5, Renesas, ST Microelectronics, Silicon Labs, and Witekio (Avnet), have already announced their involvement in the joint project. (source: Eclipse Foundation)
The Eclipse Threadx operating system has impressive features. It only takes 2 KB in the minimum assembly and can work on chips with 1 KB of RAM. It ensures fast context switching and a quick loading process. It offers a wide range of capabilities, including pico-tape architecture, multitasking planners, event support, system services, fast interrupt processing, memory control tools with MMU/MPU support, data exchange mechanisms, and synchronization support. (source: Microsoft)
In addition to the operating system, related components will also be open and transmitted:
- Netx Duo: a network stack designed for real-time and Internet of Things (IoT) devices. It supports various protocols such as IPV4, IPV6, TCP, UDP, TLS, DTLS, IPSEC, PPPOE, DHCP, DNS, HTTP, IGMP, POP3, SMTP, SNMP, MQTT, COAP, and LWM2M.
- usbx: a USB stack with support for client, host (EHCI, OHCI