diff --git a/README b/README new file mode 100644 index 000000000..52fdd08e7 --- /dev/null +++ b/README @@ -0,0 +1,33 @@ +Contiki is an open source, highly portable, multi-tasking operating +system for memory-constrained networked embedded systems written by +Adam Dunkels at the Networked Embedded Systems group at the Swedish +Institute of Computer Science. + +Contiki is designed for embedded systems with small amounts of +memory. A typical Contiki configuration is 2 kilobytes of RAM and 40 +kilobytes of ROM. Contiki consists of an event-driven kernel on top of +which application programs are dynamically loaded and unloaded at +runtime. Contiki processes use light-weight protothreads that provide +a linear, thread-like programming style on top of the event-driven +kernel. Contiki also supports per-process optional preemptive +multi-threading, interprocess communication using message passing +through events, as well as an optional GUI subsystem with either +direct graphic support for locally connected terminals or networked +virtual display with VNC or over Telnet. + +Contiki contains two communication stacks: uIP and Rime. uIP is a +small RFC-compliant TCP/IP stack that makes it possible for Contiki to +communicate over the Internet. Rime is a lightweight communication +stack designed for low-power radios. Rime provides a wide range of +communication primitives, from best-effort local area broadcast, to +reliable multi-hop bulk data flooding. + +Contiki runs on a variety of platform ranging from embedded +microcontrollers such as the MSP430 and the AVR to old +homecomputers. Code footprint is on the order of kilobytes and memory +usage can be configured to be as low as tens of bytes. + +Contiki is written in the C programming language and is freely +available as open source under a BSD-style license. More information +about Contiki can be found at the Contiki home page: +http://www.sics.se/contiki/