On 13/5/23 03:43, o1bigtenor via Dng wrote:
> Greetings
>
> (Is this OT - - - - dunno - - - that's why the goofy label!)
>
> I am in the beginning throes of an embedded system (SoC, and/or
> microcontroller) design.
>
> Have been reading somewhat on the use of RTOS vs and OS (thinking
> perhaps FreeRTOS and Devuan). My initial problem is a weighing 'cell'
> where I'm weighing liquids being deposited in a 'jar'.
> (A second would be items deposited (and then removed in stages) from a
> 4 wheel cart.)

You only need to use RTOS etc when you are doing actions that require
repeatable millisecond timings across multiple threads of execution and
with hardware interrupts.

Even then RTOS etc aren't absolutely required. For instance ArduPilot in
the original form doesn't have any form of RTOS and instead relies on a
cooperative apartment threaded model where each function advertises how
long it will take to run and a scheduler function calls each in turn
based on time slots.

For most use cases its easier to go the really simple route and use
Arduino, or the slightly more complex route with a full Linux SOC using
Raspberry Pi OS or Armbian or even Devuan.

The only issue is Arduino is reliable with multiple I2C devices while
the Linux derived systems can have minor problems where an I2C interface
is done in software. Conversely Arduino requires a lot of effort on
communication protocols of any complexity.

An option can be to use an Arduino for low level control under command
of a Linux based SOC board.

-

Jeremy