embOS
More info
- Owner
- SEGGER
- Type
- Real-time operating system
- License
- Proprietary
SEGGER's commercial real-time kernel, from the same company that makes the debug probe on your desk.
embOS has been around since the early 1990s: a compact preemptive kernel with priority-based scheduling, mutexes with priority inheritance, mailboxes and software timers. It has been ported to virtually every core and compiler that shows up in embedded work, and SEGGER ships it either as a prebuilt library or with source.
The pitch is not features but integration. The kernel talks directly to J-Link, RTT and the SystemView analyser, so every context switch can be seen on a timeline. A certified edition exists for IEC 61508 and other safety standards. It is free for non-commercial use, which is a sound business plan when engineers bring their habits to work.