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  • Author Author: jomoenginer
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Micrium's µC/ Software Moves to Open-Source Licensing

jomoenginer

Perhaps a sign of the times, but Micrium, the makers of the uC/ RTOS will be moving their code base to an Open Source license model.

 

The uC/ OS has been a staple in many stable environments including the Mars Curiosity Rover Platform and now it will be available without a hefty license cost to all. It will be interesting to see how this either grows or kills the platform.

 

https://www.micrium.com/buy/licensing/

  • From what I gather, the code does not go full Open Source until next month, but it still can be used in a limited manner. 

     

    For the most part, Micrium uC has been used in areas where there is strict regulation with regards to code such as Medical, Automotive, Space and such.  I believe more of these areas are moving to more Open Source development, so something that requires a license is losing favor. I suspect the purchase of FreeRTOS by Amazon has something to do with Micrium opening up their code as well.  Even Wind River has a version of VxWorks that can run on a Raspberry Pi.

     

    Times are a changin'

     

    Oddly, one of the first projects I posted a vid for was a project from a UC Irvine Extension course class where I shown Micrium uC/OS III RTOS running on a Digilent chipKIT Max32. It is a bit rough though.

     

  • This OS has been kicking around for a while, even before I retired. image

     

    I agree it will be interesting if it finally makes some headway.

    I know the licensing fees drove me off, so maybe it is time for a second look.

     

    Maybe if someone did a project showing off its virtues, hint, hint.

     

    DAB

  • The original uC/OS book was the very first book I ever purchased from the Internet.. Before I'd heard of Amazon : )

    I still remember the diagrams in the book - lots of clarity.

    Anyway, the book showed that real-time OSs didn't need to be incredibly complicated, and inspired me to write my own OS in uni and then test it by trying to solve problems with and without it, and comparing the code to estimate complexity and time saved etc.

    I hadn't followed it since then though, and didn't realize it was purchased up by silabs.