Gentoo Embedded Handbook

Content:

• General Topics
  Embedded fundamentals you need before playing with hardware.
  1. Introduction
     An introduction into the world of embedded, cross-compilers, and dragons.
  2. Terminology and Variables
     A quick dictionary to common embedded terms, abbreviations, variables, and other jargon.
  3. System Tuples
     System tuples -- what are they and how to parse them.
  4. Creating a Cross-Compiler
     Build a cross-compiler on your machine!
  5. Cross-Compiling With Portage
     Leverage Portage as a cross-compiling package manager.
  6. Cross-Compiling The Kernel
     Cross-compile a kernel for your system with flair!
  7. Compiling with qemu-user chroot
     How To compile with QEMU user.
  8. Frequently Asked Questions
     Frequently Asked Questions for Gentoo Embedded.
• Emulators
  Software emulation of systems can often times be as good (if not better) than the real thing.
  1. Qemu
     A generic and open source machine emulator and virtualizer for x86, x86_64, arm, sparc, powerpc, mips, m68k (coldfire), and superh.
  2. SkyEye
     ARM embedded hardware simulator.
  3. Armulator
     Emulate armnommu/uClinux (no-mmu Linux) in GDB.
  4. Softgun
     ARM software emulator.
  5. Hercules
     Hercules System/370, ESA/390 and zArchitecture Mainframe Emulator.
• Bootloaders
  From the obscure to the obscene, we'll cover some of the common bootloaders out there and how to get your feet wet with them.
  1. Das U-Boot
     The Universal Bootloader which supports every embedded architecture out there.
  2. NeTTrom
     Simple bootloader on NetWinders.
  3. RedBoot
     Small bootloader based on eCos which supports every embedded architecture out there.
  4. SH-LILO
     Port of LILO to SuperH which tends to be pretty common on that architecture.
• Boards
  Some boards are fun while others can be a PITA; we'll cover many of the common gotchas with systems out there.
  1. Hammer/Nailboard
     Little-endian armv4l board.
  2. LANTank
     Little-endian SuperH based NAS (using internal IDE) from I-O Data.
  3. NetWinder
     Little-endian ARMv4 based network server from Rebel.
  4. NSLU2
     Big-endian arm based NAS (using external USB) from Linksys.
  5. QNAP TurboStation 109/209/409
     Little-endian ARMv5TE NAS from QNAP.
  6. Marvell Sheevaplug
     Little-endian ARMv5TE from Marvell.
  7. ACME SYSTEMS Netus G20
     Netus G20 (ARMv5TE) from ACME SYSTEMS.
• Beyond
  A handbook can only go so far, so here we list resources to go the distance when we can't get you there.
  1. Communication
     Gentoo Embedded communication channels.
  2. Contributing
     Gentoo Embedded and you: the answer to the ever prevalent "What can I do?" question.
  3. Vendors
     Information specific to vendors who wish to help out.
  4. Further Learning
     External references to help you expand your embedded Linux knowledge.

The contents of this document are licensed under the Creative Commons - Attribution / Share Alike license.