There’s something really satisfying about turning theory into practice, bringing with it a great feeling of accomplishment. Moreover it usually deepens and solidifies your understanding of the theoretical aspects of the subject, while at the same time eliminating misconceptions and misunderstandings. So it’s not surprising that the the fundamental philosophy of this book is that ‘theory is best understood by putting it into practice’. Well, that’s fine as it stands. Unfortunately the practice may a bit more challenging, especially in the field of real-time operating systems. First, you need a sensible, practical toolset on which to carry out the work. Second, for many self-learners, cost is an issue; the tools mustn’t be expensive. Third, they mustn’t be difficult to get, use and maintain. So what we have here is our approach to providing you with a low cost toolset for RTOS experimentation.