Embedded RTOS with FreeRTOS
Curated: learn how a real-time operating system lets one microcontroller juggle many jobs at once — tasks, scheduling, queues and semaphores — from a top free course, then prove it in Forge and get certified.
Introduction to RTOS
DigiKey Electronics (Shawn Hymel) · video · ~3h · Free · English
Why we picked it: The most widely recommended free RTOS tutorial on the web — Shawn Hymel's 12-part Digi-Key series is the answer the FreeRTOS community itself points newcomers to, is curated on Class Central, and teaches every core concept hands-on with FreeRTOS on an ESP32 (Arduino), so it maps straight onto the boards Forge designs. Runs ~2h32m of video with a coding challenge after each part and all example code on GitHub.
- what an RTOS is and why you'd use one instead of a superloop
- creating and running tasks (FreeRTOS threads)
- the scheduler, task priorities, and preemption
- delays, blocking vs. busy-waiting, and timing
- queues for passing data safely between tasks
- mutexes for protecting shared resources
- semaphores for signalling and synchronisation
- software timers, hardware interrupts, and multicore (ESP32)
Study guide
Open the study guide →1 study section · what to focus on + prove it in Forge, then take the check.
Forge practical
Build it in Forge Design · 4 checks · auto-verified from your design
Start the practical →