Actually the title of the second book is a bit misleading in that the only difference with the first book I mention is that it doesnt have actual code examples on how to use the design patterns that the book deals with. So it will be more on you if you also want to see the actual code examples alongside the design patterns.
Whether you decide to go for C++ or C, I hope the examples in the book will still prove to be very valuable
Well the only generic comment I will make on this is that an RTOS is just a tool to do a certain job, so you will need to learn how to use the tool, what its strengths and weaknesses are and also what projects will actually benefit from its usage (because of the additional layer of complexity an RTOS adds and because of the additional debugging youll need), and what alternative solutions may exist apart from using an RTOS. Thats why in my original post I suggested that you do the project in 2 ways: purely as a way for you to see the different tools and also what strengths and weaknesses they have so that in future projects you can make the decision based on the merits of whatever tools/solutions rather than based on popularity of a particular tool/solution.
Hope it helps
Ilya