Getting to know VMware

To keep you from having to buy specific hardware to run the demonstration system and to keep us from the impossible task of having to cover every possible combination of hardware we are using VMware Workstation. (more…)

Six steps to Building an Embedded Linux System

The first phase of the installation process is to create a new virtual machine running under the VMware Workstation environment and start it up. Follow VMware's easy installation instructions and create a virtual machine with 32 MB of hard drive space. (more…)

Deploying on the hardware

The embedded system we just built on virtual hardware was a lot like using real hardware. We still had to partition and format our storage device. The process of installing the operating system and the bootloader was the same. Now it's time to expand on what we learned and use Linux to build an embedded system using real hardware. (more…)

Conclusion

Building embedded Linux systems on the x86 PC platform doesn't have to be painful especially when you can use off the shelf, small form-factor PC hardware and simple step by step instructions. We found VMware to be a great teaching aid and an invaluable tool when experimenting with embedded Linux development. (more…)

Getting started

For an LSP supported target, installation and configuration are straightforward, if somewhat tedious. The Installation and Setup Guide is organized fairly well, at least if you are using one of the supported SBCs. (more…)

Cross-development

So unless you are willing to go to considerable trouble, realistic software development under Hard Hat consists of using the cross-development model from beginning to end. This process is fairly well documented for supported SBCs, though it involves quite a few steps. (more…)

GUI-based Target Configuration Tool

Hard Hat also provides a GUI-based Target Configuration Tool (TCT), intended for building the kernel and for selecting packages to be included on the target. Like much of Hard Hat, TCT is a helpful and nicely designed tool, but stops just short of the level of documentation needed to be helpful for embedded Linux beginners. (more…)

Other observations

The kernel currently provided with Hard Hat Linux is 2.4.2. Upgrading should not be a problem; simply replace the current kernel source tree with the new one. This is one area where Hard Hat's loose integration works to its advantage. (more…)

Overall assessment

It is somewhat difficult to identify the market for MontaVista's Hard Hat Linux. The primary commercial potential for an embedded Linux distribution is to target new Linux users, or those who simply want a toolkit that will handle the details of installation and deployment, allowing them to concentrate on their application development. (more…)

ViewML Embedded Web Browser

The ViewML Browser Project, created by Century Software, is an open source project whose aim is to produce a small footprint, high-quality web browser targetted towards the needs of the embedded Linux applications developer community. (more…)

Conclusion

The Linux operating system is well suited for use in the rapidly growing embedded computing market. It's technologically advanced kernel, open source development model, free availability and royalty free distribution make it an ideal choice for future designs. (more…)

The Linux Kernel

As mentioned previously, the Linux kernel provides support for memory management, process and thread creation, interprocess communications mechanisms, interrupt handling, execute-in-place ROM filesystems, RAM filesystems, flash management, and TCP/IP networking. (more…)

Graphical Windowing Environments

In the fast-changing world of embedded, handheld and wireless devices, there are many hardware and software design changes taking place. Many devices now feature 32-bit microprocessors from Intel, MIPS, Motorola and Hitachi, as well as larger LCD graphical displays. (more…)

And then what happens?

Now that we know how to get an executable image into the Dreamcast, we need to know exactly how to use this capability to boot and run Linux. To answer this question, we need to cover a bit more background. (more…)

Building the tools

The first step in the process of getting Linux running on the Dreamcast is to construct the tools we need, including a cross assembler, linker, compiler, and a C runtime library. In the next section we will use these tools to build the operating system, and a basic shell application that Linux will run at the end of its boot process. (more…)