FreeRTOS and Reliance Edge Demo
Using the Fail Safe File System with the FreeRTOS Windows Port

"Our products are used from the bottom of the ocean, to the depths of space, and from the factory floor, to your hip pocket" - Ken Whitaker, Datalight

"Datalight's family of Reliance fail safe file systems have delivered proven reliability in hundreds of millions of devices." - Kerri McConnell, Datalight

"The design goals and implementation of Reliance Edge means it is no ordinary file system. Reliance Edge will be a valuable resource for our users, so we are happy to accept it as an official FreeRTOS+ component." - Richard Barry, Amazon Web Services Inc.

The FreeRTOS Windows port provides a convenient and non embedded target specific evaluation platform. It allows FreeRTOS, and some FreeRTOS+ components, to be executed on a standard Windows computer, using feature rich and free development tools. However, unlike when FreeRTOS is executed on real embedded hardware, the Windows port does not exhibit true real time behaviour.

On this page:

• Source Code and Project Files
• Target Hardware
• Compiler / Tool Chain
• Functionality
• Command Console Input and Output
• Build Instructions
• Debug Instructions
• Usage Instructions

Source Code and Project Files

Target Hardware

Compiler / Tool Chain

Functionality

1. Creates and formats a RAM disk.
2. Creates then reads back a set of example files in the root directory of the RAM disk.
3. Creates sub-directories.
4. Creates then reads back a set of example files from the created sub-directories.
5. Creates a command console (using FreeRTOS+CLI) that implements the commands described below:

   Command and parameters	Description
   dir <filename>	Lists the files in the named directory
   type <filename>	Prints file contents to the terminal
   append <filename>	Appends data to a file (creating the file if it does not exist)
   del <filename>	Deletes a file or directory
   copy <source file> <dest file>	Copies <source file> to <dest file>
   create <filename>	Creates an empty file
   mkdir <filename>	Creates an empty directory
   rename <source file> <dest file>	Rename <source file> to <dest file>
   link <source file> <dest file>	Create hard link <dest file> pointing at <source file>
   stat <filename>	Show file information
   statfs	Show file system information
   format	Re-formats the file system volume. ALL FILES WILL BE DELETED!
   transact	Commits a Reliance Edge transaction point
   transmaskget	Retrieves the Reliance Edge automatic transaction mask
   transmaskset <hex mask>	Sets the Reliance Edge automatic transaction mask
   abort	Rolls back all changes not part of the last transaction point
   test-fs	Executes file system tests. ALL FILES WILL BE DELETED!

Command Console Input and Output

Build Instructions

1. The demo application is available in the main FreeRTOS .zip file download.

2. Open the Visual Studio solution file FreeRTOS_Plus_Reliance_Edge_with_CLI.sln from within the Visual Studio IDE. The solution file is located in the "FreeRTOS-Plus/Demo/FreeRTOS_Plus_Reliance_Edge_and_CLI_Windows_Simulator" directory.

3. Select "Build Solution" from the IDE's Build menu (or press F7) to build the application.

   
   

Debug Instructions

The same host computer is used to build the application, debug the application, and (because the FreeRTOS Win32 port is used) run the application. There are no special debugging instructions.

Usage Instructions

1. The demo application creates a set of files and directories on a RAM disk, outputting information to the Windows console as it goes.
   
   The output generated in the Windows console when the fail safe embedded file system demo application starts

   
   

2. A local UDP connection is used to connect to the FreeRTOS+CLI command line interface. The Windows TCP/IP stack is used instead of FreeRTOS+TCP to ensure the demo remains focused on the file system. A demo application that uses the FreeRTOS Windows port and FreeRTOS+TCP to create a command console is available in the FreeRTOS+TCP section of this website.

   Free dumb terminal programs that are suitable for connecting to the command line interface using UDP include YAT and Hercules.

   The standard localhost IP address (127.0.0.1) can be used because both the (simulated) demo application and the UDP terminal execute on the same computer. FreeRTOS+CLI listens for characters arriving on UDP port 5001 and sends its output to UDP port 5002. The required terminal configuration is shown below.

   
   Configuring the YAT terminal to communication with the FreeRTOS+CLI command line interface

   
   

3. Type "help" to see a list of registered commands.
   
   Type "help" in the UDP terminal to see a list of registered commands

   
   

4. Experiment with the file system commands! A sample session is shown below.
   
   Running safety critical file system commands in the YAT terminal