Newer
Older
<html>
<head>
<title>NuttX</title>
</head>
<body background="backgd.gif">
<hr><hr>
<table width ="100%">
<tr align="center" bgcolor="#e4e4e4">
<td>
<h1><big><font color="#3c34ec"><i>NuttX RTOS</i></font></big></h1>
</td>
</tr>
</table>
<hr><hr>
<table width ="100%">
<tr bgcolor="#e4e4e4">
<td>
<h1>Table of Contents</h1>
</td>
</tr>
</table>
<center><table width ="80%">
<tr>
<td>
<table>
<tr>
<td><img src="favicon.ico"></td>
<td>
<a href="#overview">Overview</a>.<br>
What is NuttX?
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><img src="favicon.ico"></td>
<td>
<a href="#downloads">Downloads</a>.<br>
Where can I get NuttX? What is the current development status?
</td>
<td>
<a href="#platforms">Supported Platforms</a>.<br>
What target platforms has NuttX been ported to?
</td>
<td>
<a href="#environments">Development Environments</a>.<br>
What kinds of host cross-development platforms can be used with NuttX?
</td>
<td>
<a href="#footprint">Memory Footprint</a>.<br>
Just how big is it? Do I have enough memory to use NuttX?
</td>
<td>
<a href="#licensing">Licensing</a>.<br>
Are there any licensing restrictions for the use of NuttX? (Almost none)
Will there be problems if I link my proprietary code with NuttX? (No)
</td>
<td>
<a href="#history">Release History</a><br>
What has changed in the last release of NuttX?
What unreleased changes are pending in CVS?
</td>
<td>
<a href="#TODO">Bugs, Issues, <i>Things-To-Do</i></a>.<br>
Software is never finished nor ever tested well enough.
<td>
<a href="#documentation">Other Documentation</a>.<br>
What other NuttX documentation is available?
</td>
<td>
<a href="#trademarks">Trademarks</a>.<br>
Some of the words used in this document belong to other people.
</td>
</table>
</td>
</td>
</table></center>
<table width ="100%">
<tr bgcolor="#e4e4e4">
<td>
<a name="overview"><h1>Overview</h1></a>
</td>
</tr>
</table>
Nuttx is a real timed embedded operating system (RTOS).
Its goals are:
<p>
<td valign="top" width="18"><img src="favicon.ico"></td>
<td bgcolor="#5eaee1">
<b>Small Footprint</b>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><br></td>
<td>
<p>
Usable in all but the tightest micro-controller environments,
The focus is on the tiny-to-small, deeply embedded environment.
</p>
<td valign="top" width="18"><img src="favicon.ico"></td>
<td bgcolor="#5eaee1">
<b>Rich Feature OS Set</b>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><br></td>
<td>
The goal is to provide implementations of most standard POSIX OS interfaces
to support a rich, multi-threaded development environment for deeply embedded
NON-GOALS: (1) It is not a goal to provide the rich level of OS
features like those provided with Linux.
Small footprint is more important than features.
Standard compliance is more important than small footprint.
(2) There is no MMU-based support for processes.
At present, NuttX assumes a flat address space.
</p>
<td valign="top" width="18"><img src="favicon.ico"></td>
<td bgcolor="#5eaee1">
<b>Highly Scalable</b>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><br></td>
<td>
<p>
Fully scalable from tiny (8-bit) to moderate embedded (32-bit).
Scalability with rich feature set is accomplished with:
Many tiny source files, link from static libraries, highly configurable, use of
weak symbols when available.
</p>
<td valign="top" width="18"><img src="favicon.ico"></td>
<td bgcolor="#5eaee1">
<b>Standards Compliance</b>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><br></td>
<td>
<p>
NuttX strives to achieve a high degree of standards compliance.
The primary governing standards are POSIX and ANSI standards.
Additional standard APIs from Unix and other common RTOS's are
adopted for functionality not available under these standards
or for functionality that is not appropriate for the deeply-embedded
RTOS (such as <code>fork()</code>).
</p>
<p>
Because of this standards conformance, software developed under other
standard OSs (such as Linux) should port easily to NuttX.
</p>
<td valign="top" width="18"><img src="favicon.ico"></td>
<td bgcolor="#5eaee1">
<b>Real-Time</b>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><br></td>
<td>
<p>
Fully pre-emptible, fixed priority and round-robin scheduling.
</p>
<td valign="top" width="18"><img src="favicon.ico"></td>
<td bgcolor="#5eaee1">
<b>Totally Open</b>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><br></td>
<td>
<p>
<b>Feature Set</b>.
Key features of NuttX include:
<p>
<center><table width="90%">
<tr>
<td valign="top" width="18"><img src="favicon.ico"></td>
<td bgcolor="#5eaee1">
<b>Standards Compliant Core Task Management</b>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><br></td>
<td>
<p>
</p>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><br></td>
<td>
<p>
</p>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><br></td>
<td>
<p>
</p>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><br></td>
<td>
<p>
<li>Easily extensible to new processor architectures, SoC architecture, or board architectures.
A <a href="NuttxPortingGuide.html">Porting Guide</a> is in development.</li>
</p>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><br></td>
<td>
<p>
</p>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><br></td>
<td>
<p>
</p>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><br></td>
<td>
<p>
<li>POSIX/ANSI-like task controls, named message queues, counting semaphores, clocks/timers, signals, pthreads, environment variables, filesystem.</li>
</p>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><br></td>
<td>
<p>
</p>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><br></td>
<td>
<p>
</p>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><br></td>
<td>
<p>
</p>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><br></td>
<td>
<p>
<li>Well documented in the NuttX <a href="NuttxUserGuide.html">User Guide</a>.</li>
</p>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" width="18"><img src="favicon.ico"></td>
<td bgcolor="#5eaee1">
<b>File system</b>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><br></td>
<td>
<p>
</p>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><br></td>
<td>
<p>
</p>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><br></td>
<td>
<p>
</p>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><br></td>
<td>
<p>
<li>Mount-able volumes. Bind mountpoint, filesystem, and block device driver.</li>
</p>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><br></td>
<td>
<p>
</p>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" width="18"><img src="favicon.ico"></td>
<td bgcolor="#5eaee1">
<b>C Library</b>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><br></td>
<td>
<p>
</p>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" width="18"><img src="favicon.ico"></td>
<td bgcolor="#5eaee1">
<b>Networking</b>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><br></td>
<td>
<p>
</p>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><br></td>
<td>
<p>
</p>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><br></td>
<td>
<p>
</p>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><br></td>
<td>
<p>
<p>
<b>NuttX Add-Ons</b>.
The following packages are available to extend the basic NuttX feature set:
<p>
<center><table width="90%">
<tr>
<td valign="top" width="18"><img src="favicon.ico"></td>
<td bgcolor="#5eaee1">
<b>Pascal Compiler with NuttX runtime P-Code interpreter add-on</b>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><br></td>
<td>
<p>
<li>The Pascal add-on is available for download from the
<a href="http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=189573">SourceForge</a>
website.</li>
</p>
</tr>
</table></center>
<table width ="100%">
<tr bgcolor="#e4e4e4">
<td>
<a name="downloads"><h1>Downloads</h1></a>
</td>
</tr>
</table>
The 20th release of NuttX (nuttx-0.3.8) is available for download
from the <a href="http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=189573">SourceForge</a>
website.
The change log associated with the release is available <a href="#currentrelease">here</a>.
These unreleased changes are listed <a href="#pendingchanges">here</a>.
nuttx-0.3.8 is a minor bugfix release. It corrects a few minor problems, adds a few minor features, and
continues the integration of the ZiLOG Z18F and of the Pascal P-Code add-on.
This release is synchronized with the release of Pascal-0.1.2.
This release were verified on the ZiLOG z16f2800100zcog, Neuros OSD (ARM9), and the simulation platforms.
As usual, any feedback about bugs or suggestions for improvement would be greatly appreciated.
<table width ="100%">
<tr bgcolor="#e4e4e4">
<td>
<a name="platforms"><h1>Supported Platforms</h1></a>
</td>
</tr>
</table>
<center><table width="90%">
<tr>
<td valign="top"><img src="favicon.ico"></td>
<td bgcolor="#5eaee1">
<b>Linux User Mode</b>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><br></td>
<td>
<p>
A user-mode port of NuttX to the x86 Linux platform is available.
The purpose of this port is primarily to support OS feature development.
<b>STATUS:</b>
Does not support interrupts but is otherwise fully functional.
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top"><img src="favicon.ico"></td>
<td bgcolor="#5eaee1">
<b>TI TMS320C5471</b> (also called <b>C5471</b> or <b>TMS320DA180</b> or <b>DA180</b>).
NuttX operates on the ARM7 of this dual core processor.
This port uses the <a href="http://www.spectrumdigital.com/">Spectrum Digital</a>
evaluation board with a GNU arm-elf toolchain* under Linux or Cygwin.
<b>STATUS:</b>
This port is complete, verified, and included in the initial NuttX release.
</p>
</td>
</tr>
patacongo
committed
<tr>
<td><br></td>
<td>
<p>
<b>NXP LPC214x</b>.
Support is provided for the NXP LPC214x family of processors. In particular,
support is provided for the mcu123.com lpc214x evaluation board (LPC2148).
This port also used the GNU arm-eld toolchain* under Linux or Cygwin.
patacongo
committed
</p>
<p>
<b>STATUS:</b>
Initial coding of this port code complete but has not yet been verified.
patacongo
committed
</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top"><img src="favicon.ico"></td>
<td bgcolor="#5eaee1">
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><br></td>
<td>
<p>
<b>TI TMS320DM320</b> (also called <b>DM320</b>).
NuttX operates on the ARM9 of this dual core processor.
This port uses the
<a href="http://wiki.neurostechnology.com/index.php/Developer_Welcome">Neuros OSD</a>
This port is complete and verified.
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top"><img src="favicon.ico"></td>
<td bgcolor="#5eaee1">
<b>8052 Microcontroller</b>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><br></td>
<td>
This port uses the <a href="http://www.pjrc.com/">PJRC</a> 87C52 development system
and the <a href="http://sdcc.sourceforge.net/">SDCC</a> toolchain under Linux or Cygwin.
<b>STATUS:</b>
This port is complete but not stable with timer interrupts enabled.
There seems to be some issue when the stack pointer enters into the indirect IRAM
address space during interrupt handling.
This architecture has not been built in some time will likely have some compilation
problems because of SDCC compiler differences.
<tr>
<td valign="top"><img src="favicon.ico"></td>
<td bgcolor="#5eaee1">
<b>Zilog Z16F</b>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><br></td>
<td>
<p>
<b>Zilog z16f Microncontroller</b>.
This port use the Zilog z16f2800100zcog development kit and the Zilog
ZDS-II Windows command line tools.
The initial release of support for the z16f was made available in NuttX version 0.3.7.
</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top"><img src="favicon.ico"></td>
<td bgcolor="#5eaee1">
<b>Zilog Z8Encore!</b>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><br></td>
<td>
<p>
<b>Zilog Z8Encore! Microncontroller</b>.
This port use the Zilog z8encore000zco development kit, Z8F642 part, and the Zilog
ZDS-II Windows command line tools.
The development environment is Cygwin under WinXP.
</p>
<p>
<b>STATUS:</b>
The Z8Encore! port is a work in progress and will be released in a future NuttX version.
</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top"><img src="favicon.ico"></td>
<td bgcolor="#5eaee1">
<b>Zilog Z80</b>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><br></td>
<td>
<p>
<b>Z80 Instruction Set Simulator</b>.
This port uses the <a href="http://sdcc.sourceforge.net/">SDCC</a> toolchain
under Linux or Cygwin (verified using version 2.6.0).
This port has been verified using only a Z80 instruction simulator.
That simulator can be found in the NuttX CVS
<a href="http://nuttx.cvs.sourceforge.net/nuttx/misc/sims/z80sim/">here</a>.
</p>
<p>
<b>STATUS:</b>
This port is complete and stable to the extent that it can be tested
<tr>
<td valign="top"><img src="favicon.ico"></td>
<td bgcolor="#5eaee1">
<b>Other ports</b>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><br></td>
<td>
<p>
There are partial ports for the TI TMS320DM270 and for MIPS.
</p>
<blockquote>* A highly modified <a href="http://buildroot.uclibc.org/">buildroot</a>
is available that may be used to build a NuttX-compatible arm-elf toolchain under
Linux or Cygwin.</blockquote>
672
673
674
675
676
677
678
679
680
681
682
683
684
685
686
687
688
689
690
691
692
693
694
695
696
697
698
699
700
701
702
703
704
705
706
707
708
709
710
711
712
713
714
715
716
717
718
719
720
721
722
723
724
725
726
727
728
729
730
731
732
733
734
735
736
737
738
739
740
741
742
743
744
745
746
747
748
749
750
751
752
753
754
755
756
757
758
759
760
761
762
763
764
765
766
767
768
769
770
771
772
773
<table width ="100%">
<tr bgcolor="#e4e4e4">
<td>
<a name="environments"><h1>Development Environments</h1></a>
</td>
</tr>
</table>
<center><table width="90%">
<tr>
<td valign="top"><img src="favicon.ico"></td>
<td bgcolor="#5eaee1">
<b>Linux + GNU make + GCC/binutils</b>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><br></td>
<td>
<p>
The is the most natural development environment for NuttX.
Any version of the GCC/binutils toolchain may be used.
There is a highly modified <a href="http://buildroot.uclibc.org/">buildroot</a>
available for download from the
<a href="http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=189573">NuttX SourceForge</a>
page.
This download may be used to build a NuttX-compatible arm-elf toolchain under Linux or Cygwin.
Additional support for m68k, m68hc11, and m68hc12 is available in the
<a href="http://nuttx.cvs.sourceforge.net/nuttx/misc/buildroot/">NuttX CVS</a>.
</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top"><img src="favicon.ico"></td>
<td bgcolor="#5eaee1">
<b>Linux + GNU make + SDCC</b>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><br></td>
<td>
<p>
Also very usable is the Linux environment using the
<a href="http://sdcc.sourceforge.net/">SDCC</a> compiler.
The SDCC compiler provides support for the 8051/2, z80, hc08, and other microcontrollers.
The SDCC-based logic is less well exercised and you will likely find some compilation
issues if you use parts of NuttX with SDCC that have not been well-tested.
</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top"><img src="favicon.ico"></td>
<td bgcolor="#5eaee1">
<b>Cygwin + GNU make + GCC/binutils</b>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><br></td>
<td>
<p>
This combination works well too.
It works just as well as the native Linux environment except
that compilation and build times are a little longer.
The custom NuttX buildroot referenced above may be build in
the Cygwin environment as well.
</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top"><img src="favicon.ico"></td>
<td bgcolor="#5eaee1">
<b>Cygwin + GNU make + SDCC</b>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><br></td>
<td>
<p>
I have never tried this combination, but it would probably work just fine.
</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top"><img src="favicon.ico"></td>
<td bgcolor="#5eaee1">
<b>Cygwin + GNU make + Windows Native Toolchain</b>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><br></td>
<td>
<p>
This is a tougher environment.
In this case, the Windows native toolchain is unaware of the the
Cygwin <i>sandbox</i> and, instead, operates in the native Windows environment.
The primary difficulties with this are:
</p>
<ul>
<li>
<b>Paths</b>.
Full paths for the native toolchain must follow Windows standards.
776
777
778
779
780
781
782
783
784
785
786
787
788
789
790
791
792
793
794
795
796
797
798
799
800
801
802
803
804
805
806
For example, the path <code>/home/my\ name/nuttx/include</code> my have to be
converted to something like <code>'C:\cygwin\home\my name\nuttx\include'</code>
to be usable by the toolchain.
</li>
<p>
Fortunately, this conversion is done simply using the <code>cygpath</code> utility.
</p>
<li>
<b>Symbolic Links</b>
NuttX depends on symbolic links to install platform-specific directories in the build system.
On Linux, true symbolic links are used.
On Cygwin, emulated symbolic links are used.
Unfortunately, for native Windows applications that operate outside of the
Cygwin <i>sandbox</i>, these symbolic links cannot be used.
</li>
<p>
The NuttX make system works around this limitation by copying the platform
specific directories in place.
These copied directories make work a little more complex, but otherwise work well.
</p>
</ul>
<p>
At present, on the Zilog Z16F port uses a native Windows toolchain
(the Zilog ZDS-II toolchain).
</p.
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top"><img src="favicon.ico"></td>
<td bgcolor="#5eaee1">
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><br></td>
<td>
<p>
The primary environmental dependency of NuttX are (1) GNU make,
(2) bash scripting, and (3) Linux utilities (such as sed).
If you have other platforms that support GNU make or make
utilities that are compatible with GNU make, then it is very
likely that NuttX would work in that environment as well (with some
porting effort). If GNU make is not supported, then some significant
modification of the Make system would be required.
</p>
</td>
</tr>
</table></center>
<table width ="100%">
<tr bgcolor="#e4e4e4">
<td>
<a name="footprint"><h1>Memory Footprint</h1></a>
</td>
</tr>
</table>
The build for this ARM7 target that includes most of the OS features and
a broad range of OS tests. The size of this executable as given by the
Linux <tt>size</tt> command is (3/9/07):
<pre>
text data bss dec hex filename
53272 428 3568 57268 dfb4 nuttx
</pre>
This build for the ARM9 target includes a significant subset of OS
features, a filesystem, Ethernet driver, full TCP/IP, UDP and (minimal)
ICMP stacks (via uIP) and a small network test application: (11/8/07,
configuration netconfig, examples/nettest)
</p>
<pre>
text data bss dec hex filename
<p>
Another build for the ARM9 target includes a minimal OS feature
set, Ethernet driver, full TCP/IP and (minimal) ICMP stacks, and
a small webserver: (11/20/07, configuration uipconfig, examples/uip)
</p>
<pre>
text data bss dec hex filename
52040 72 4148 56260 dbc4 nuttx
</pre>
A reduced functionality OS test for the 8052 target requires only
about 18-19Kb:
<pre>
Stack starts at: 0x21 (sp set to 0x20) with 223 bytes available.
Other memory:
Name Start End Size Max
---------------- -------- -------- -------- --------
PAGED EXT. RAM 0 256
EXTERNAL RAM 0x0100 0x02fd 510 7936
ROM/EPROM/FLASH 0x2100 0x6e55 19798 24384
</pre>
<table width ="100%">
<tr bgcolor="#e4e4e4">
<td>
<a name="licensing"><h1>Licensing</h1></a>
</td>
</tr>
</table>
<ul>
<p>
NuttX is available under the highly permissive
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BSD_license">BSD license</a>.
you should feel absolutely free to use NuttX in any environment and
without any concern for jeopardizing any proprietary software that
<table width ="100%">
<tr bgcolor="#e4e4e4">
<td>
<a name="history"><h1>Release History</h1></a>
</td>
</tr>
</table>
<ul>
<p>
The current NuttX Change Log is available in CVS <a href="http://nuttx.cvs.sourceforge.net/*checkout*/nuttx/nuttx/ChangeLog">here</a>.
ChangeLog snapshots associated with the current release are available below.
</p>
</ul>
<center><table width ="80%">
<tr>
<td><img src="favicon.ico"></td>
<td>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><img src="favicon.ico"></td>
<td>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><img src="favicon.ico"></td>
<td>
<a href="#pendingchanges">Unreleased Changes</a>
</td>
</tr>
</table></center>
<table width ="100%">
<tr bgcolor="#e4e4e4">
<td>
0.3.8 2008-02-10 Gregory Nutt <spudmonkey@racsa.co.cr>
* Added a test case to verify the Pascal P-Code interpreter
* 'errno' is now defined to be *get_errno_ptr() with no name conflicts
* Integrated Pascal interpreter test case on the simulation platform. Needs
pascal-0.1.1.
* Add Pascal test case on the z16f platform. Needs pascal-0.1.2 (does not
yet work due to some tool issues).
* C buffered I/O fixes:
- Fix fflush() return value,
- Add correct fflush behavior when the FILE argument is null.
- Add logic to a correctly handle read/write access on the same FILE
- fseek() flushes read/write data when before moving the file pointer
- When read data is flushed, reposition the file pointer to account for
* Pascal P-Code files are now standardized to big-endian for portability
* Fix a build problem with z80 and SDCC 2.7.0 (format of a map file changed)
* Added a generic CAN driver. This driver is untested as of this writing.
* Corrected DM320 UART configuration problem
pascal-0.1.2 2008-02-10 Gregory Nutt <spudmonkey@racsa.co.cr>
* Add logic to build and link with the ZDS-II toolchain
use with the z16f.
* Make sure that POFF header structures are aligned
* Standardized POFF file format to big-endian
* Break up large switch statements to lower complexity
and eliminate a compiler bug
* Changes so that runtime compiles with SDCC.
buildroot-0.1.0 2007-03-09 <spudmonkey@racsa.co.cr>
* Support for arm-elf toolchain
</pre></ul>
<table width ="100%">
<tr bgcolor="#e4e4e4">
<td>
<a name="pendingchanges">Unreleased Changes</a>
</td>
</tr>
</table>
<pre><ul>
nuttx-0.3.9 2008-xx-xx Gregory Nutt <spudmonkey@racsa.co.cr>
* Began adding support for the ZiLOG Z8Encore! microcontroller for the Z8Encore000ZCO
development board and the Z8F642 part.
* Fix broken 'clean' target on z80sim configurations
pascal-0.1.3 2008-xx-xx Gregory Nutt <spudmonkey@racsa.co.cr>