Added Heap Memory Monitoring and Tracking to FreeRTOS V10.5

We all should know it: dynamic memory usage can be dangerous. There can be memory fragmentation, use-after-free, out-of-memory and memory leaks. While I do prefer static memory allocation for embedded systems, using a dynamic memory allocation in some applications is not avoidable or just makes sense.

In one of my lecture modules we develop a ‘Boulder’ game, where the player has to collect underground diamonds and avoid moving monsters:

LPC845-BRK with OLED using dynamic memory allocation

I’ll show you have FreeRTOS memory usage can be tracked and monitored.

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FatFS, MinIni, Shell and FreeRTOS for the NXP K22FN512

I’m using the NXP Kinetis K22FN512 in many projects, either with the FRDM-K22F or on the tinyK22: with 120 MHz, 512 KByte FLASH and 128 KByte it has plenty of horsepower for many projects. The other positive thing is that it is supported by the NXP MCUXpresso IDE and SDK. I have now created an example which can be used as base for your own project, featuring FreeRTOS, FatFS, MinIni and a command line shell.

FRDM-K22F with SD Card

FRDM-K22F with SD Card

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DIY ‘Meta Clock’ with 24 Analog Clocks

Human since 1982 claims

“Human since 1982 have the copyright to works displaying digital time using a grid arrangement of analog clocks…”

I’m not a lawyer, but without obligations (imho) I have removed the content.

You can read more of the details here: Copyright Law for Makers and Educators

Thanks for understanding,

Erich

New FreeRTOS V10.0.0: Amazon, Segger SystemView and Percepio Tracealyzer

“Amazon FreeRTOS – IoT operating system for microcontrollers”: The announcement of FreeRTOS V10.0.0 was one of the biggest news last week for me. Not only is there now a Version 10, the bigger news is that FreeRTOS is now part of Amazon. Wow! Now this explains why Richard Barry (the founder behind FreeRTOS) was kind of hiding away for about a year: he joined Amazon as a principal engineer about a year ago. I think we all have to wait and see what it means for FreeRTOS.

Amazon FreeRTOS

Amazon FreeRTOS (Source: Amazon Web Site)

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Simple Trick to Move a Lost Off-Screen Application Back on Windows

I love working with multi-monitor systems (see “Go, multiply and detach: Multiple Screens with Eclipse“), as this extends my working area. So I decided a while back to install a multi-monitor system on my home desktop too, as this is such a productivity boost.

multi monitor desktop

multi monitor desktop

But with moving the laptop machine between the display configurations, it happens that an application opens ‘off-screen’, and there is no way to ‘grab’ it with the mouse 😦

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