Customer Reviews

MicroC OS II: The Real Time Kernel (With CD-ROM)

5 star:		(23)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Jean LaBrosse is one of those people who has that uncanny knack for taking a complicated issue and making it seem simple. His MicroC/OS is a wonderful example. The book does much more than simply present usable source code (though it does that also). It explains _WHY_ the code is the way it is.

MicroC/OS II is very much in today's spirit of open-source software. It is rapidly becoming, for real-time embedded systems, what Linux represents for desktops. I also agree with another reader, who points out that the OS is not just a good OS for real-time systems, but a good, _RELIABLE_, OS in general. If only we could get Microsoft to follow LaBrosse's KISS approaches.

I have been involved with the development of embedded real-time systems since 1969 and have written a good number of kernels in that time. After swapping notes with the author, he convinced me to try uC/OS-II rather than doing another "roll my own". I'm glad he did. The book is extremely well written, clearly explaining the key concepts and his implementation. The software itself is very functional. I plan to use it in several applications I have on the boards. I would highly recommend this book to anyone contemplating an embedded system project.

This is a very valuable book and the RTOS it comes with might be all you ever need. We are using it in an unmanned aerial vehicle project. Knowing what every line of code in the OS is doing is a big advantage for us because of certification issues. We're also not wasting performance on features we don't need. Check it out. It might be the only RTOS you'll ever need.

I read this book when I needed to understand embedded real-time operating systems. The writing was clear, concise, and well-organized, a rare gem among technical literature of this type. Jean Labrosse used just enough repetition to emphasize important concepts without being anoying.

My project required an RTOS with more features than the MicroC/OS kernel had to offer but, having read this book, I was in a good position to understand the RTOS I did choose. The fundamental concepts were the same and the notation that Jean Labrosse used in his book to describe RTOS components came in handy when designing my own software system architecture.

There is no equivalent to this book. The knowledge offered here, along with the complete source code for the µC/OS real-time operating system is everything you need to know to understand preemptive priority-based multitasking. Whether you just want to learn what goes on behind the scenes in your commercial RTOS or you're looking for a small, inexpensive RTOS with source code, this is the book for you.

Actually I think that it's a great book only if you have a strong background about how a kernel or RTOS works. I've spent a lot of time reading a theoretical books that teach you what a kernel is about, so for me the reading was easy. The fact that the book includes the source code makes it awesome, 'cause you can see inside a truly real kernel, and eventually write your own (what is I want to do). But if you are an unexperienced user of kernels, or just want to learn something about it, you should start somewhere else. The one a recomend you is that of Andy Tanenbaum, the creator of MINIX (minix is a tiny unix running in an intel 8086 cpu), and this other one that I bought here: Real-Time Concepts for Embedded Systems by Qing Li, Caroline Yao. After you deeply understand what a pipe o scheduler is, among other things, then you should start thinking about coding, because the book has some lack of theory. Anyway I strongly recomend it for experienced users. Have a nice coding =)

If you're new to the subject of RTOS: Buy the book.

Read it.

Try it.

Use it.

This book is an eye opener.

It makes you want to create every project with this RTOS, provided your chip has enough resources.

The best thing about it: The price is right and the secrets are out.

It's all well documented C-source.

You will love it.

An excellent and very readable book with a very usable RTOS. The first 75 pages provide a good intro. to operating systems in general and RTOS's in particular. The only downside for PC users is the Borland compiler's used for the examples are hard to come by and not very backward compatible with eachother. I recommend using the protected mode port available on the website with newer compilers. That's the only reason I didn't give it 5 stars.

I read this book and communicated with the author as well. I also used to be an engineer with the company where he cut his teeth (Crane Co owns Dynalco).
Jean is a bit of a self absorbed individual and there is no holding it back in his book(s). His coding standard that he touts is ridiculous, the examples are lack luster, and his writing style is that of a salesman selling his own product. (I also went thru his OS III book and code as well, no difference, and a couple of bugs, namely he sets the timer tick task to the lowest priority, big no-no).

I think some of the 5 star reviews here on Amazon were more likely to be from his employees.

There are plenty of other options out there. If you get the books, read thru them, do the examples, and then tell me I'm wrong I'll accept it, but in my personal opnion, I am stcking with my other tools (EMBOS, RTX_Kernel, VXWorks).

Good Luck

If you want to implement uCOSII, then yes this book is the reference manual. It is not very nice looking and is made of thick paper but the content is good.
If you only want to learn the different aspects of writing and debugging code for embedded systems, I highy recommand "An Embedded Software Primer" by D.E. Simon. If you have Simon's, you don't need uCOSII.