
212 Embedded systems design
7 Real-time operating
systems
What are operating systems?
Operating systems are software environments that provide
a buffer between the user and the low level interfaces to the
hardware within a system. They provide a constant interface and
a set of utilities to enable users to utilise the system quickly and
efficiently. They allow software to be moved from one system to
another and therefore can make application programs hardware
independent. Program debugging tools are usually included which
speed up the testing process. Many applications do not require
any operating system support at all and run direct on the hard-
ware.
VMEbus ...