Nice Entry into RTOS 👍 May I note that one should not add computation within a print function, especially if using the Arduino IDE. In the above example the count1++ should occur outside (before) the print statement, then the value of count1 can be printed (this goes for count2 also!). To see this issue in action, change the BAUD rate to 115200 and set the second delay (task2) to 200ms. After every few iterations you will see that the print is corrupted. Move the count++ outside of the print function to fix this. It's a very tempting short-cut, but it will bite you! 😄
I love how I just tried looking for generic Arduino Multitasking and I was so lucky to find this video using an esp32 with platformIO which is a prefect reference for my project.
It is not clear if i have to install something to make FreeRTOS available. Also, you mentioned ESP IDF in the previous video, what is it? How can i use it? Is it an alternative to the Arduino's Framework? Wouldn't it be better to learn something native to ESP32 instead than using something that was born for a different platform (the Arduino Library) and that perhaps cannot use the full power of ESP32?
Arduino for the ESP32 is built on top of the “native” framework (ESP-IDF). Everything that’s in IDF, is available from Arduino (including FreeRTOS). Is it better to directly use IDF? Nowadays, yes. The Arduino version is stable, but uses an older version of IDF.
I have a question for you. Do you know of a way to install a OS from a keyboard like the Ensoniq EPS Classic or old Akai MPC drum machines on an ESP 32?
I get this exact same error when even using the codes as is (with my wifi settings of course). I'm starting to think that this is some kind of issue with the chip as mine is Adafruit ESP32 Feather. If i comment out the wifi.begin() function I do not get this error but of course system doesn't do what is supposed to
Maybe I am wrong and pls correct me. But freertos is included in Arduino library and it supports esp32? I mean this is already builtin library? I guess same lib can be used for arduino boards? thanks :)
Yep, like what @Simply Explained said. ESP32 packages should be installed externally. But there is Board Manager in Arduino which reduces a lot of works. Or be more simple, you can directly download the ESP32-packaged version of Arduino on Google.
Maybe I'm misunderstanding the terminology but this is not parallel processing. It appears to be time slicing instead, bouncing between one task and the other. Try counting from 0 to 99 and then printing on task 1, and counting from 0 to 199 and then printing on task2. If task1 prints twice as often as task2, then you really are parallel processing.
This depends on the ESP32 you’re using. Most models are dual-core, and if the WiFi is disabled, two tasks will run in parallel. In other cases, FreeRTOS is indeed sharing the CPU time amongst tasks.
I have a conceptual question: do you have to install FreeRTOS like you do a regular operating system (e.g., Windows, Ubuntu, etc.) before you can use its functions, or is FreeRTOS just a library in ESP-IDF, and you flash what you use from the library to the microcontroller along with your own code?
No, you do not. It is not an interpreted language like python or BASIC, the final program is compiled. If you have installed the IDE for the ESP, it will then work
What IDE is this, and how can I download it, and link it to my esp32 so I can run/upload code from within this IDE? I find the Arduino IDE lacks AutoComplete. Thanks
unfortunately these examples are ok but only when there is no any other process that is running in rtos, i.e. OTA. But when OTA kicks, the ESP32 crashes. So probably this tutorial requires a bit more of explanation how the 2 tasks can work with other tasks without crashing. I would be first to watch it ;-)
@Zygfryd Homonto quite untrue. I use them in standalone projects, usually with displays. If you wish to use WiFi or BT, simply set your code to use core one only, core zero is used for wireless. And do not use blocking code. I.e. do not use delay, use the FTOS delay functionality etc.
This is an amazing tutorial. I've gotten an error because I wrote an infinite loop inside the task with millis() instead of calling vTaskDelay(), which would trigger the watchdog timer and reset the chip. Thanks for your kindness sharing. It does really help me a lot!
I don't understand how this has anything to do with the FreeRTOS source code that we download from the website. I have been doing this multi-core computation with the ESP32 for quite some time, but never realised this is considered RTOS programming.