Up-to-the-Minute, Complete Guidance for Developing Embedded Solutions with Linux

Linux has emerged as today’s #1 operating system for embedded products. Christopher Hallinan’s Embedded Linux Primer has proven itself as the definitive real-world guide to building efficient, high-value, embedded systems with Linux. Now, Hallinan has thoroughly updated this highly praised book for the newest Linux kernels, capabilities, tools, and hardware support, including advanced multicore processors.

Drawing on more than a decade of embedded Linux experience, Hallinan helps you rapidly climb the learning curve, whether you’re moving from legacy environments or you’re new to embedded programming. Hallinan addresses today’s most important development challenges and demonstrates how to solve the problems you’re most likely to encounter.

You’ll learn how to build a modern, efficient embedded Linux development environment, and then utilize it as productively as possible. Hallinan offers up-to-date guidance on everything from kernel configuration and initialization to bootloaders, device drivers to file systems, and BusyBox utilities to real-time configuration and system analysis. This edition adds entirely new chapters on UDEV, USB, and open source build systems.

• Tour the typical embedded system and development environment and understand its concepts and components.
• Understand the Linux kernel and userspace initialization processes.
• Preview bootloaders, with specific emphasis on U-Boot.
• Configure the Memory Technology Devices (MTD) subsystem to interface with flash (and other) memory devices.
• Make the most of BusyBox and latest open source development tools.
• Learn from expanded and updated coverage of kernel debugging.
• Build and analyze real-time systems with Linux.
• Learn to configure device files and driver loading with UDEV.
• Walk through detailed coverage of the USB subsystem.
• Introduces the latest open source embedded Linux build systems.
• Reference appendices include U-Boot and BusyBox commands.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1. Introduction

Chapter 2. The Big Picture

Chapter 3. Processor Basics

Chapter 4. The Linux Kernel: A Different Perspective

Chapter 5. Kernel Initialization

Chapter 6. User Space Initialization

Chapter 7. Bootloaders

Chapter 8. Device Driver Basics

Chapter 9. File Systems

Chapter 10. MTD Subsystem

Chapter 11. BusyBox

Chapter 12. Embedded Development Environment

Chapter 13. Development Tools

Chapter 14. Kernel Debugging Techniques

Chapter 15. Debugging Embedded Linux Applications

Chapter 16. Open Source Build Systems

Chapter 17. Linux and Real Time

Chapter 18. Universal Serial Bus

Chapter 19. udev

Appendix A. GNU Public License

Appendix B. U-Boot Configurable Commands

Appendix C. BusyBox Commands

Appendix D. SDRAM Interface Considerations

Appendix E. Open Source Resources

Appendix F. Sample BDI-2000 Configuration File

About the Author

Christopher Hallinan is a technical marketing engineer for the Embedded Systems Division of Mentor Graphics, living and working in Florida. He has spent more than 25 years in the networking and communications industry, mostly in various product development, management, and marketing roles, where he developed a strong background in the space where hardware meets software. Prior to joining Mentor Graphics, he spent nearly seven years as a field applications engineer for Monta Vista Software. Before that, Hallinan spent four years as an independent Linux consultant, providing custom Linux board ports, device drivers, and bootloaders. His introduction to the open source community was through contributions to the popular U-Boot bootloader. When not messing about with Linux, he is often found singing and playing a Taylor or Martin.