Real-Time Executives

A Real-Time Executive (RTX) allows tasks, which are pieces of code that do specific duties, to run "quasi-concurrently". This means that these tasks will seem to all run at the same time, and the system will appear to be doing many jobs simultaneously. The major advantage of this is that now the programmer may consider each task or sub system independently of the others, modularising and simplifying the design. The RTX then provides facilities for tasks to start and stop other tasks or to allow tasks to interact.

A number of solutions are available to suit different requirements.

CMX-RTX

Available for a large number of CPU families from 8 to 32 bits CMX is written in C but with the scheduler and interrupt handling optimised to each particular family. Full source code is included. This is a very comprehensive and efficient executive with optional task debug and TCP/IP stacks available for even small 8 bit systems.

Keil

Keil provide basic RTX facilities with their high end products for both 8085 and ARM