Pearson Technology has selected a 22-page book chapter on Busybox to help it launch a new line of downloadable book excerpts on hot topics. The chapter, available now for $10, is excerpted from Embedded Linux Primer by Christopher Hallinan, due for release in 2007.

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Pearson launched its new “Short Cut” product line on the theory that technical professionals might pay for early access to material about cutting-edge technologies that “show great promise,” or existing technology that has “reached the 'tipping point' and is about to take off,” it says.

Kourtnaye Sturgeon, director of marketing, stated, “Often, when a hot topic emerges, our readers do not want to wait for the print book to publish.”

Other works selected to help launch the “Short Cuts” program include Cheating on Online Games, by Gary McGraw and Greg Hoglund, and Refactoring to Agility, by Carol A. Wellington. About a dozen additional titles are expected to be added before year's end.

BusyBox

Created by Bruce Perens, BusyBox is now maintained by Rob Landley, of TimeSys. Along with uClibc, BusyBox recently joined a conservancy started by the Software Free Law Center (SFLC) to provide free software projects with “fiscal and administrative services.”

According to Pearson, the chapter on Busybox “walks the reader through” the mconf-based configuration utility, before looking at cross-compiling requirements, and Busybox's operational issues, such as how its initialization sequence differs from traditional Unix systems. It then delves into some of the BusyBox commands, and how they compare to full Linux versions.

Since the work is a book chapter, it references other chapters that are not included. Otherwise, the work is “fully self-contained, and an excellent choice for embedded Linux developers interested in understanding how to use the BusyBox utility,” Pearson says.

Availability

The 22-page BusyBox chapter is available now from Informit as a PDF download, priced at $10.

Pearson Technology Group comprises brands that include Addison-Wesley Professional, Adobe Press, Apple Certified, Cisco Press, New Riders Publishing, Peachpit Press, Prentice Hall Professional, and Sams Publishing.

 
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