Keil Software is really in the compiler and development tool business. Its Professional Developer's Kit includes a compact RTOS kernel. The RTX51 Tiny is part of the PK51 kit for 8051 chip architectures, while the RTX166 Tiny in the PK166 and PK161 kits target the C16x and STMicroelectronics' ST-10 architectures. Both Tiny versions provide basic multitasking capabilities.
The full RTX RTOS is available separately and consists of more advanced features, such as preemptive multitasking, CAN device support, and semaphores. The minimum configuration is the same as the Tiny version, but a full configuration remains under 8 kbytes.
Functionally, the RTX51 and RTX166 operating systems are identical, offering a migration path between processors. Both also handle Keil's C compilers and assemblers. One key ad-vantage of these operating systems is their integration with uVision2, Keil's integrated development environment (IDE). It provides cross-compiler and remote debug support. The IDE will also work with the ROM-based MON51 and MON166 monitors.
RTX51 and RTX166 stick to the basics. Though there are no bundled TCP/IP stacks and no device driver architecture, the messaging system can be used to supply a transparent interface to services. The operating systems will run with third-party products if networking or graphics features are required.
