This three-day class uses hands-on exercises combined with instruction to illustrate some basic concepts of Embedded Linux. Hands-on sessions are performed on the host with a Yocto Project® SDK and on some target hardware (e.g. i.mx6). The whole workshop is designed to bring you quickly up to speed. The concepts and commands necessary to make effective use of Embedded Linux are described through a combination of theory and hands-on exercises. Don’t re-invent the wheel, but learn from an experienced trainer and take the newly acquired knowledge of Embedded Linux and the ability to effectively integrate it into your own embedded development projects back home.

• Basic familiarity with using a Linux system (e.g. Ubuntu) as an end user in user space
• Basic familiarity with a command-line shell
• Familiarity with embedded C concepts and programming
• Ability to develop software using C syntax
• Basic knowledge of embedded processor development boards
• …and/or no fear to learn more of the above

Project managers, software-, hardware-, development-, systems-, test- engineers, administrators, technicians, and those interested in technology wanting to understand as quickly as possible how Embedded Linux works. You have to use Linux or need to decide whether it makes sense to use it or not. You may already use Embedded Linux, but you are not quite sure if you do everything right. You currently use another operating system and want to find out whether Linux would maybe be more cost-effective or too complicated.

Day 1

Introduction

• History of Unix/Linux | Licensing | Standards | Unix Philosophy

Embedded Specifics

• Linux on the desktop compared to Linux in an embedded system | cross-/native toolchains | pre-built toolchains | build systems | C libraries | …

Eval Board

• How does Linux boot on a PC and on the evaluation board? | Boot sequence | SD card partitions | See it booting

Yocto Introduction

• What is Yocto? | What is the Yocto Project®? (features/challenges) | Some tools under the Yocto Project® umbrella (Poky | BitBake | OE-Core | Metadata) | Why would you use the Yocto Project®?

What’s needed on…

• host
  • Toolkit
    • The Yocto Project® | The Yocto Project® build-environment | installation of the Yocto Project® SDK
  • SD card preparation | terminal emulation
    • screen | byobu | minicom
  • servers
    • DHCP| tftp | NFS
  • root file systems

Day 2

• target system
  • kernel
    • checkout | config – kconfig | build – kbuild | kernel modules | install
  • Flat device tree (fdt)
    • investigate | build | install

Customizations (optional)

• Customizations: System hangs | pseudo tty | getty | runlevel | static ip
• Init: Sys-V | Various | systemd | bootgraph | bootchart

Day 3

Kernel Modules

• init/exit | Licensing | tainted module/kernel | EXPORT_SYMBOL | out of tree .ko makefile
• module-init-tools
• put module in kernel tree
• parameter passing

Character Driver

• Device Files | Device Types | Device Nodes major/minor | Kernel Driver Interface
• Device Driver: Intro | Registration | Initialization | Open/Release
• Miscellaneous Character Drivers

User Space Debugging

• Simple tools | Advanced tools | What’s a debugger?
• gdb: target gdb | gdb remote debugging

Kernel Debugging (optional)

• kgdb/kdb + agent-proxy | JTAG

Profiling/Tracing

• Profiling/Tracing tools: strace | system timers | gprof | gcov | ftrace/kernelshark | systemtap | perf | LTTng
• top and related applications: top | latencytop | powertop | powerdebug
• crash: gdb on steroids

• ”Embedded Linux – From System Architecture to Real-Time (5 days)”
  • https://rlbl.me/elisa-en-pdf
• ”Refresher to Embedded Linux & Intro to the Yocto Project (5 days)”
  • https://rlbl.me/intely-r-en-pdf
• ”Embedded Linux Kernel Internals and Device Drivers (5 days)”
  • https://rlbl.me/ldd-en-pdf
• ”The Yocto Project – A thorough Overview (4 days)”
  • https://rlbl.me/yocto-r-en-pdf
• ”Introduction to Embedded Linux & Real-Time, bird’s eye view of the Yocto Project (4 days)”
  • https://rlbl.me/entirety-en-pdf
• ”(Embedded) Linux debugging (3 days)”
  • https://rlbl.me/lindeb-r-en-pdf
• ”FreeRTOS in Theory and Practice (3 days)”
  • https://rlbl.me/freertos-r-en-pdf