got everything compiling (should still work too) with aos
diff --git a/aos/common/util/thread.h b/aos/common/util/thread.h
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..10867ec
--- /dev/null
+++ b/aos/common/util/thread.h
@@ -0,0 +1,50 @@
+#ifndef AOS_COMMON_UTIL_THREAD_H_
+#define AOS_COMMON_UTIL_THREAD_H_
+
+#include "aos/common/mutex.h"
+
+namespace aos {
+namespace util {
+
+// A nice wrapper around a pthreads thread.
+//
+// TODO(aschuh): Test this.
+class Thread {
+ public:
+  Thread();
+  ~Thread();
+
+  // Actually creates the thread.
+  void Start();
+
+  // Asks the code to stop and then waits until it has done so.
+  void Join();
+
+ protected:
+  // Subclasses need to call this periodically if they are going to loop to
+  // check whether they have been asked to stop.
+  bool should_continue() {
+    MutexLocker locker(&should_terminate_mutex_);
+    return !should_terminate_;
+  }
+
+ private:
+  // Where subclasses actually do something.
+  //
+  // They should not block for long periods of time without checking
+  // should_continue().
+  virtual void Run() = 0;
+
+  static void *StaticRun(void *self);
+
+  pthread_t thread_;
+  bool started_;
+  bool joined_;
+  bool should_terminate_;
+  Mutex should_terminate_mutex_;
+};
+
+}  // namespace util
+}  // namespace aos
+
+#endif  // AOS_COMMON_UTIL_THREAD_H_