I noticed when loading 3.6 rc8 you’re given the option to load ChibiOS. Would there be any good reason now not to run it? Can’t find anything current on the latest and figured being it’s now an option, why not.
I don’t have any personal experience but based on what I’ve read from some other folks at different forums, if you do, treat it as purely experimental and support is quite lacking.
Good luck.
That’s funny…
No experience, but then make a definitive comment about it.
It’s no more experimental than any other part of 3.6, which is still in beta. If you’re willing to try beta software, then go for it. I’ve got 4 copters on it now, 3 are traditional pixhawk based FC’s and one is a chibios only betaflight style FC.
They’re all working great w/ more features than the old nuttx code.
There is just as much support for it as any other part of arducotper. Which is admittedly not a lot if you’re looking for hand holding. But everything is documented, so if you’re willing to help yourself, you can find everything you need.
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I’ll give it a shot on one of my quads for now. I’ve always tried and tested the latest beta releases without issue : ) So could you point to a good documentation source? Particularly what are the new features? It seems the full parameter list I’m seeing in mission planner looks exactly the same as 3.6rc8 Nuttx. Cheers!
It supports dshot, esc telemetry and esc passthrough. Supports integrated OSD’s. Those are pretty big improvements. I think there’s more, but that’s what I was thinking about when I said it has more features.
I’m not aware of a nuttx vs chibios comparison document at the moment…
And the documentation is a bit sketchy at the moment because it’s all still being developed. I had to read arduplane documentation about the ESC’s to figure out how to set mine up for dshot.
I’m not aware of anyone having any major glitches or flyaway type issues that would be related to chibios vs nuttx, though. I think it’s safe to use. I’ve got many hours of flight on it now, w/out anything unusual.
Probably the two biggest “features” of ChibiOS are the portability (can be ported to different FC boards easily) and vastly improved performance. We won’t see the benefits of these features immediately, but it opens the possibility of, for example, running ArduCopter at higher loop rates; 4kHz has been proven already.
So, in 3.6, you won’t see much difference between Chibi and NuttX, but that’s kinda the point: ArduCopter needs to be ported and proven on Chibi before we can really start using the new features that it enables.
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For me the biggest reason to fly beta releases is testing them and try to do my best to learn and find out about problems and help with develop. Obviously i don’t test the first releases on my big machines.
If nobody used beta releases we wouldn’t make any step forward in technology 
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Very true, the more people willing to help shake out issues the better the end result. I currently have two Solo’s running ChibiOS, three cube black muti-rotors from 300 to a 1 meter hex and a Yeti Rover. All work at least as well as Nuttx and it’s been great fun fine tuning learning more about the systems. It appears to me that the development team is working steadily on Chibi and issues are handled very well but you do have to dig in but that’s the point of it all. The more of us using Beta the better we can help each other and the developers.
Cheers, Randy B
Yes, all those reasons for using beta firmware.
Helping out the testing as much as possible, giving feedback, which is what makes Ardupilot so much better and why it is advancing so fast.
However
Chibios is a big change and there ARE issues.
It promises much, so I would, of course, recommend loading it up and testing it.
Just keep in mind it is in beta.
You should be pleasantly surprised by the new loiter at the very least.
If only it wouldn’t make my Solo gimbal twitch/slam against the stop like @Pedals2Paddles reported, and if the slew rate code was in (no GreenCube for me yet :C).
I’m very excited by a lot of other changes going into AC 3.8/3.9 and ChibiOS.
I completely disagree with @rollys comment about lack of support. Check the issues and PRs for ChibiOS in github. Key devs and testers are all over it. Bug fixes and enhancements are taking place at a very rapid pace, faster than anything I’ve seen here in years. The capabilities, especially with the integrated OSDs on FCs like the Matek F405-Wing are Disruptive Technology at a fantastic price point.
Kelly
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@Sajin_Naib,
Yes, the solo gimbal twitch under ChibiOS is on the to-do list to fix. It may or may not be fixed in time for 3.6.0 so you may need to stick with NuttX on the Solo until a later “point” release. So I’m pretty sure it’ll get sorted out… just a matter of time.
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