I find it hard to believe that it’s been almost a year since I hosted the RT-Thread Online Conference in 2022, but my computer calendar doesn’t lie, at least not that I’ve noticed. If it does lie, it’s very good at doing so, although—now that I come to think about things—it’s not unusual for appointments I thought were locked down to move around or simply disappear. Hmmm…

As I said in a blog following last year’s conference (see Recovering from an RT-Thread Rush): Born in 2006, RT-Thread is a tiny and elegant open-source, neutral, and community-based real-time operating system (RTOS) that is of particular interest for the IoT.

The 2022 Conference Agenda (Click image to see a larger version)

I went on to note the following: Featuring very low resource occupancy, high reliability, and high scalability, RT-Thread can be used in sensing nodes, wireless connection chips, and a wide variety of resource-constrained and high-performance applications. With its rich middle-tier components and great hardware and software ecosystem, RT-Thread may also be considered to be an IoT platform in its own right, with almost every key basic component required for IoT devices, such as network protocols, file systems, low power management, etc.

RT-Thread also supports all mainstream compiling tools such as GCC, Keil, IAR, etc., and a variety of standard interfaces, such as POSIX, CMSIS, a C++ application environment, Micropython, and Javascript, making it easy for developers to port a wide range of applications. RT-Thread also offers great commercial support to all of the mainstream CPU architectures, such as ARM Cortex-M/R/A, RISC-V, MIPS, X86, Xtensa, etc.

If you visit RT-Thread’s website, you will discover that this little rascal is growing from strength to strength. For example, it now boasts 14,150 Commits, 421 Contributors, 8,312 Stars, and 4,448 Forks (well, “Fork Me!” is all I can say).

As you will see from the 2022 Agenda shown above, last year’s conference boasted an exceptional group of speakers who presented on a wide range of topics.

With over 60 presentations and more than 20,000 attendees, RT-Thread 2022 was a resounding success. Suffice it to say that this year’s conference—which is to be held 1-3 June 2023—promises to be bigger, better, and even more bodacious (click here if you are interested in speaking at this year’s conference).

Why yes, I have been invited back to host this year’s event (said Max, modestly). I’m humbled to have been bidden (said Max, humbly). I pride myself on my humility (said Max, superfluously).

RISC-V Instruction Desk Mat (Click image to see a larger version)

The theme of this year’s conference is Making Developers the Protagonists. This is particularly apt when we consider that the definition of “protagonist” is the main character of a story. It’s the protagonist who makes key decisions that affect the plot, primarily influencing the narrative and propelling it forward. Furthermore, the protagonist is often the character who faces the most significant obstacles (does anything here sound familiar?).

Just to add a great big dollop of metaphorical whipped cream on top of the allegorical RT-Thread cake, as it were, part of this year’s extravaganza involves the folks at RT-Thread giving away ten custom-designed RISC-V Instruction Desk Mats to ten randomly selected registrants. Remembering that this is a free-to-attend conference, this means it would be a good idea to Register Right Now before all of the good virtual seats are taken.

I very much hope to see you there (I’ll be the one in the Hawaiian shirt 🙂