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Live Q&A - Zephyr: A Vendor Neutral Secure RTOS Option

Kate Stewart - Watch Now - EOC 2021 - Duration: 22:45

Live Q&A with Kate Stewart for the talk titled Zephyr: A Vendor Neutral Secure RTOS Option
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DaveN
Score: 0 | 4 years ago | 1 reply

Thanks for a great OS and great talk! A few questions:

Does Zephyr provide C++ support, especially C++11 concurrency and threading support?

Can you speak to Zephyr testing on different hardware platforms?

While delivering numerous products using FreeRTOS, the bane of our development is horrific vendor-provided drivers (especially USB and Ethernet). I understand Zephyr has the protocol stacks, but what about hardware-specific drivers?

Kate StewartSpeaker
Score: 0 | 4 years ago | no reply

Sorry for the delay in response.
For C++ thread support, there is the recently merged support for https://github.com/zephyrproject-rtos/zephyr/issues/21519

For different hardware platform testing - there is a testing working group, and they focus on a core set of platforms in addition to the general testing in simulation that happens on every commit. In terms of the boards (https://github.com/zephyrproject-rtos/zephyr/tree/main/boards), different levels for each I'm afraid. More details probably best found out by joining the Zephyr slack channel and asking about specifics there.

Full details on the drivers supported can be found by going through https://github.com/zephyrproject-rtos/zephyr/tree/main/drivers, and https://docs.zephyrproject.org/latest/reference/index.html#api-reference in particular https://docs.zephyrproject.org/latest/reference/peripherals/index.html might be useful.

david
Score: 0 | 4 years ago | no reply

is there any real-time performance confidence indicators and can realtime performance be known across implementations on different platforms

Cleo
Score: 0 | 4 years ago | 1 reply

Would this be useful for space applications?

Kate StewartSpeaker
Score: 0 | 4 years ago | no reply

Assuming you mean applications that go above the earth's atmosphere? Depends on the use case and certifications required, but don't see a reason why not. Its got a tight focus on minimum resource usage, which is going to be needed.

leandropg
Score: 0 | 4 years ago | 1 reply

Hi Kate. Amazing talk. I don't know all the security focus on Zephyr. Is amazing. I have a question:
Where I obtain a tutorial 101 for start with Zephyr on STM32?

Kate StewartSpeaker
Score: 3 | 4 years ago | 1 reply

We're working on a free online EdX course for providing an intro to Zephyr, which will hopefully be available before the end of the summer. We're using Renode simulator for the standard environment for the exercises though, rather than STM32.

For right now: https://docs.zephyrproject.org/latest/getting_started/index.html should be able to walk you through getting to blinky. There are over 30 STM32 boards in the repo, so hopefully one of them matches what you have handy.

leandropg
Score: 0 | 4 years ago | no reply

Thanks Kate... I will start to work on that :) Thanks

Kate StewartSpeaker
Score: 1 | 4 years ago | no reply

There's a .pdf of the slides that can be downloaded on the lower left of this page, for those who would like to follow the links.

JeanLabrosse
Score: 0 | 4 years ago | 1 reply

Once an API is created is it locked in or will some of the APIs change over time?

Kate StewartSpeaker
Score: 0 | 4 years ago | no reply

Hi Jean,
The LTS has the API's locked down during its support period. There is an API review committee that tracks and reviews any changes happening in development that impact the APIs.

JeanLabrosse
Score: 0 | 4 years ago | 1 reply

Why so many commits? Adding features? Bugs being corrected? This many commits makes it difficult for safety certification no?

Cleo
Score: 0 | 4 years ago | 1 reply

I think that's why they have the LTS releases every two years. That would leave enough time to put them through the safety auditing process.

Kate StewartSpeaker
Score: 0 | 4 years ago | no reply

Yes, there is an LTS every 2 years. Once an LTS is cut, only bug fixes which is much less frequent. The 50K commits are in Development tree. Its mostly features being added - with over 250 boards, there's a lot of driver, config, etc. information. The LTS 2 is going to be the basis for the 61508 certification, but we're preparing the code base to get it ready now.

18:41:22	 From  Keith J : Jean - the king of RTOS! :)
18:41:40	 From  Leandro Pérez : Amazing the security of the Zephyr
18:41:55	 From  Leandro Pérez : I don't know all the benefits of the OS
18:44:48	 From  Dave Nadler : Thanks for a great OS and great talk! A few questions:

Does Zephyr provide C++ support, especially C++11 concurrency and threading support?

Can you speak to Zephyr testing on different hardware platforms?

While delivering numerous products using FreeRTOS, the bane of our development is horrific vendor-provided drivers (especially USB and Ethernet). I understand Zephyr has the protocol stacks, but what about hardware-specific drivers?
18:45:14	 From  Leandro Pérez : I see in the presentation that the system include the drivers... I2C, UART and so... In which architectures include this drivers? in all available?
18:47:55	 From  Cezar Burlacu : from what I remember on each board/soc there is a file which specify which peripherals are supported...
18:53:23	 From  Sam : I may have missed it, is pen test done on Zephyr?
18:54:57	 From  Sam : Hacking's old definntion is making something work a way no one ever thought of.
18:55:28	 From  Radu Pralea : I understand that Zephyr is multicore-oriented (supports SMP) by design, is this correct?
If yes, can it also be deployed in an AMP mode (e.g. on heterogeneous SoCs (different cores))?
18:56:55	 From  Michael Kirkhart : Sorry - I talk too much!
18:57:26	 From  Sam : Kirkhart, you're passionate, nothing wrong with that :)
18:58:36	 From  Michael Kirkhart : @Sam: thanks - I just need to remember that others have questions as well :)
19:00:55	 From  Jacob Beningo : @Michael not a problem! I hate to interrupt!
19:01:06	 From  Keith J : Thank you Kate!
19:01:14	 From  Yuriy Kozhynov : Many thanks!
19:01:18	 From  Sam : thank you.
19:01:20	 From  dayolawa : Thank you!
19:01:24	 From  Raul Pando : Thanks Kate
19:01:24	 From  Siva Aduri : Thank you Kate
19:01:35	 From  Vim : Thank you Kate
19:01:41	 From  Christopher Long : Thank you for the great talk. I am excited to give Zephyr a try. Thank you Kate!
19:01:50	 From  Jean Labrosse : Thanks Kate
19:01:59	 From  Heath Raftery : Wonderful Q&A. Well done Kate
19:03:34	 From  Michael Kirkhart : I have several talks I need to finish watching, so my "day" is not over yet

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