Mentor Blogs

Last week I wrote about a test harness for applications using an RTOS. The idea was to have a library of functions corresponding to the API calls of a particular RTOS. Specific tasks of an application, that are under test, would be linked to this library to enable the code to be executed on a desktop computer in a useful way. I had some feedback on this posting from a couple of people, talking about … Read More

Debugging, API, RTOS, test harness, Nucleus

I was talking about OS-aware debuggers and someone asked me whether I could suggest a technique for unit testing of code for a multi-threaded application. It took me a while before I could fully understand what they were after, but it did become clear eventually. They were considering an environment where a number of engineers were working on an embedded application [using Nucleus]. Each guy was developing … Read More

Nucleus, test harness, Debugging, RTOS, API

I recently talked about the process that might be applied to the selection of an embedded operating system and I hope that these guidelines are useful. I am currently working on a Web seminar on this topic, so I would welcome any input. However, developers tend to stick with a particular OS [or, at least, with a particular OS vendor] – recent research suggested that only about 20% of developers … Read More

Linux, API, RTOS, Nucleus

Let’s look briefly at cause and effect. In previous notes on this subject, I remarked choices between in-sourced or outsourced information technology solutions in an electrical design processes yield consequences .  What’s in it for you? Knowing more about these issues will inform your choices.  A common way of referring to a tangle of human-factor issues is to say decisions are “political.” Radical … Read More

Electrical Interconnect Design, Electrical Distribution Systems, Extensibility, Automotive Electrical and Electronic Systems Design, Capital Harness Systems, API, IESD, Deployment, Design Rules, Wiring Harness, CHS, COTS

Coming from Great Britain to live and work in the USA it still strikes me as curious that people would describe how they had “built their house.” In the UK - where people would say “bought a house.”  When you are getting a new house, in both locales home buyers would pay someone to build it. The contractor would offer choices of kitchen and bathroom fittings, floor plan, interior … Read More

Extensibility, Electrical Interconnect Design, Wire Harness, API, Automotive Electrical and Electronic Systems Design, Add new tag, COTS, Electrical Distribution Systems, CHS, Commercial off the Shelf Systems

I recently received an email from a regular reader of this blog. I am always very happy to receive feedback, comments and suggestions. In this case, it was a suggestion for a topic to address, which was particularly welcome. The writer wanted me to talk about blocking and non-blocking APIs … At the heart of a real time operating system [RTOS] is the kernel, which is comprised of the task scheduler … Read More

Nucleus Kernel, RTOS, API, Nucleus

On big systems, systems which involve changing core engineering processes, catalyzing adjustments in the way dozens of people work, it is natural that some opportunities to provide advanced or more subtle assistance in the software tools used gets shaken out. A good software vendor has a controlled mechanism for handling these requests. Whilst deploying enterprise-class systems, if you fail to plan … Read More

API, CSD, CHS, Extensibility, IESD, Customer Support, Enhancements