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Introduction to RTOS Part 1 - What is a Real-Time Operating System (RTOS)? | Digi-Key Electronics

DigiKey

226K subscribers • 7 videos on Hallway

YouTube
  • Recommended by 8 people: 8 in engineering communities.
  • A classic. People kept recommending it from 2021 to 2025.
  • Presented by Shawn Hymel

Beginner. No background in the topic needed.

1.2M views5 years ago8 recommendations

Systems programmingEmbedded systemsOperating systemsConcurrency and parallelism

Shawn Hymel explains the fundamentals of Real-Time Operating Systems, how they differ from general-purpose OSs, and when to use them.

A real-time operating system (RTOS) is an operating system that runs multi-threaded applications and can meet real-time deadlines. See this article to read more about them: digikey.com/en/maker/videos/shawn-hymel/getting-started-with… An RTOS is often a lightweight operating system (OS) designed to run on microcontrollers. Much like general purpose operating systems, they offer a scheduler to run multiple threads or tasks, resource management (such as file I/O), and device drivers. An RTOS is necessary when embedded engineers need to run several threads at the same time on a processor. The “real-time” part of an RTOS means that such software can meet real-time deadlines. Note that this does not mean “fast,” but rather, it can guarantee that task execution time can be calculated prior to runtime. Embedded programmers often use a “bare-metal” or “super loop” structure instead of an RTOS when concurrency is not needed. This is the familiar “setup” and “loop forever” style of embedded code where no OS is employed. Many embedded applications can be written in this format, and they are often easier to debug. In the rest of the series, we will cover various RTOS concepts and provide demonstrations on the ESP32 using Arduino. After each video, excluding this one, we will issue a challenge and the solution can be found in a Maker.IO link provided in the video’s description. We encourage you to try the challenge without looking at the solution. Product Links: digikey.com/en/products/detail/adafruit-industries-llc/3405/… Related Videos: Introduction to RTOS Part 1 - What is a Real-Time Operating System (RTOS)? - youtu.be/F321087yYy4​ Introduction to RTOS Part 2 - Getting Started with FreeRTOS - youtu.be/JIr7Xm_riRs​ Introduction to RTOS Part 3 - Task Scheduling - youtu.be/95yUbClyf3E​ Introduction to RTOS Part 4 - Memory Management - youtu.be/Qske3yZRW5I​ Introduction to RTOS Part 5 - Queue - youtu.be/pHJ3lxOoWeI​ Introduction to RTOS Part 6 - Mutex - youtu.be/I55auRpbiTs​ Introduction to RTOS Part 7 - youtu.be/5JcMtbA9QEE​ Introduction to RTOS Part 8 - youtu.be/b1f1Iex0Tso Introduction to RTOS Part 9 - youtu.be/qsflCf6ahXU Introduction to RTOS Part 10 - youtu.be/hRsWi4HIENc Introduction to RTOS Part 11 - youtu.be/C2xKhxROmhA Introduction to RTOS Part 12 - youtu.be/LPSHUcH5aQc Related Articles: digikey.com/en/maker/videos/shawn-hymel/getting-started-with… Learn more: Maker.io - digikey.com/en/maker Digi-Key’s Blog – TheCircuit digikey.com/en/blog Connect with Digi-Key on Facebook facebook.com/digikey.electronics/ And follow us on Twitter twitter.com/digikey

Why it's here

8 people recommend this

What people say. Highly recommended as an exceptionally clear and beginner-friendly introduction to RTOS concepts and FreeRTOS.

u/Xenoamorin r/embedded • Recommends

On “Effort and time requited to learn FreeRTOS from scratch to write production quality Embedded Software for STM32 Microcontroller platforms”

I did it within a week, it depends on how good your understanding of threading is. I found this youtube series a great starting place and then the rest you can do with the official documentation as it's so great. There's also a rather big gotcha with using newlib functions like printf in threads/tasks so I recommend you read Dave Nadler's post on it I'll just add to this that doing it in C++ might take you a bit longer as you'll need to make or find your own wrappers
15View on Reddit

u/Pretty_Twist5156in r/embedded • Recommends

Which FreeRTOS course would you recommend? Option 1: The digikey series on YouTube with an ESP32 - [video Or Option 2: https://www.udemy.com/course/mastering-rtos-hands-on-with-freertos-arduino-and-stm32fx/?couponCode=ST15MT100124B
9View on Reddit

u/Milumetin r/embedded • Recommends

On “Book recommendations for understanding RTOS fundamentals”

Not a book: Introduction to RTOS. Book: Hands-On RTOS with Microcontrollers (it seems there is a second edition coming out this year).
7View on Reddit

u/cougar618in r/embedded • Recommends

On “Can you suggest me ESP32 projects that I can practice on?”

Digikey has an ongoing RTOS series that teaches the fundamentals. You could start there, if you're completely new. There's also This youtube channel that walks you from blinky to state machine.
5View on Reddit

u/GasSuspicious233in r/embedded • Recommends

On “Operating System Fundamentals”

I liked digikeys series on rtos’s link to this video
5View on Reddit

u/thechris_in r/embedded • Recommends

On “How can i start studying "RTOS" ?”

Fyi link to this video Series about Rtos from Digi Key
4View on Reddit

u/exploring_piratein r/embedded • Recommends

On “Good FreeRTOS + STM32 hands on tutorials?”

Digikey also has a really good introduction series. They're using the ESP32 as an example platform, but the videos are generic enough to get started on the STM32. The videos are geared towards beginners, so don't expect too much depth, but it will help you get started. link to this video EDIT: I see that /u/SyncMeWithin also mentioned the same series
4View on Reddit

u/Rockyt444in r/embedded • Recommends

On “Embedded Systems Tutoring Help”

Hi Vinay, Check these from digikey: link to this video It's the first part of RTOS from digikey, still 11 videos are there. You can find the other video links from 1st video link's description. Below playlist from Quantum Leaps, LLC: link to this video Happy learning
2View on Reddit

u/umidooin r/embedded • Mentions

On “How and where to start RTOS and apply it in ESP32?”

go for platformio and watch digikey's series on freertos [video It's a good source for basic level knoweledge
1View on Reddit

u/Priton-CEin r/embedded • Mentions

On “Is embedded programming right for me?”

…You can understand E V E R Y T H I N G (rather easily imo). Everything in FreeRTOS is contained within just a few C files and ST products in general are just very easy to explore and understand. I feel like there is no magic. Everything I see I can root down to interrupts, timers, execution contexts, memory regions, registers, etc. Watch this: [video for Microcontrollers and this: [video for RTOS. If this is of interest to you then you are probably right here or at least its worth checking it out more.…
1View on Reddit