[wellylug] embedded arm-linux anybody?

simon eatough s.eatough at paradise.net.nz
Sun May 29 21:06:58 NZST 2005


Thanks for the replys guys, 

On Sunday 29 May 2005 14:45, Pete Black wrote:
> As I understand it, all that is required for most ARM dev. boards and
> embedded systems is a bootloader that supports your specific ARM
> platform, and a means to install it - There are a number of bootloaders
> available, some open source and some not, and it is very likely that
> whatever development tools were shipped with your board (or are
> available for your board) include a bootlader that is capable of booting
> a linux kernel/loading an initrd etc.
>
> Generally, you should expect to have to bring up Linux on serial console
> initially, unless you know exactly what drivers/params are required for
> the ARM systems video card/framebuffer, which may not conform to a
> standard video card interface e.g. VESA VGA. Make sure serial console
> support and support for the serial hardware in the ARM system is present
> in the kernel if you are compiling yourself.
>
> Unfortunately, your question is really one of those 'how long is a piece
> of string' type queries, and you need to give more information about
> your specific hardware and setup - do you have a Linux kernel/distro you
> know works and are struggling with installing it, or have you simply
> heard that Linux supports ARM and you have some hardware that happens to
> be ARM-based, and thats as far as you have got?

We are still at the hardware design stage , its for an industrial control 
application and (at this stage)  based on either an atmel at91rm200 or cirrus 
ep9312. The ep9312 has more integrated peripherals,security,  ide, video but 
Atmel appear to have better dev tools available.
>
> There are many machines that contain a CPU that is 'supported by Linux'
> but can't actually boot Linux due to unsupported core hardware devices
> such as memory and bus controllers, or lack of a boot loader.
>
> -Pete
>
> >The whole gcc toolchain supports ARM, and the kernel has all the needed
> >ARM support.
> >
> >Maybe it's then a matter of following the 'Linux From Scratch' recipes.

I'm reasonably familiar with linux on x96 but cross-development is a different 
kettle of fish.
Simon.




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