Not so long after releasing mbed OS 3 and after merging it with mbed OS 2, ARM and its mbed team have created mbed OS 5. Since 2 plus 3 equals 5, v4 has been skipped. The new release allows the mbed OS to be used in many more Internet of Things (IoT) applications. It also unlocks compatibility with the “classic” mbed OS 2, giving existing mbed users easy access to the new OS.

The all new mbed OS 5 incorporates a Real-Time Operating System (RTOS) that requires very limited system overhead while providing native thread support to the OS and applications. Not only does this simplify the development of complex application components like networking stacks, it also enables both blocking and non-blocking design patterns.

Another important evolution is the new Command Line Interface (mbed CLI) to build user applications on Windows, Mac OS X and Linux offline. The online compiler has been upgraded to support the new mbed OS, allowing cloud projects to be developed in the cloud (the hardware remains on your desk, though).