Embedded Handbook

The Gentoo Embedded Handbook is the center point for all Embedded work done with Gentoo. It aims to cover just about all aspects of the process - from theory, to design, to practice.

General topics
Embedded fundamentals you need before playing with hardware.


 * Introduction
 * An introduction into the world of embedded, cross-compilers, and dragons.


 * Creating a cross-compiler
 * Build a cross-compiler on your machine!


 * Cross-compiling with Portage
 * Leverage Portage as a cross-compiling package manager.


 * Cross-compiling the kernel
 * Cross-compile a kernel for your system with flair!


 * Compiling with qemu user chroot
 * How To compile with QEMU user.


 * Frequently asked questions
 * FAQs for Gentoo Embedded.

Emulators
Software emulation of systems can often times be as good (if not better) than the real thing.


 * Qemu
 * A generic and open source machine emulator and virtualizer for x86, x86_64, arm, sparc, powerpc, mips, m68k (coldfire), and superh.


 * SkyEye
 * ARM embedded hardware simulator.


 * Armulator
 * Emulate armnommu/uClinux (no-mmu Linux) in GDB.


 * Softgun
 * ARM software emulator.


 * 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.


 * Das U-Boot
 * The Universal Bootloader which supports every embedded architecture out there.


 * NeTTrom
 * Simple bootloader on NetWinders.


 * RedBoot
 * Small bootloader based on eCos which supports every embedded architecture out there.


 * 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.


 * Hammerboard and Nailboard
 * Little-endian armv4l board.


 * LANTank
 * Little-endian SuperH based NAS (using internal IDE) from I-O Data.


 * NetWinder
 * Little-endian ARMv4 based network server from Rebel.


 * NSLU2
 * Big-endian arm based NAS (using external USB) from Linksys.


 * QNAP TurboStation 109/209/409
 * Little-endian ARMv5TE NAS from QNAP.


 * Marvell Sheevaplug
 * Little-endian ARMv5TE from Marvell.


 * ACME SYSTEMS Netus G20
 * Netus G20 (ARMv5TE) from ACME SYSTEMS


 * Genesi Efika MX
 * Little-endian ARMv7-A from Genesi USA.


 * Pandaboard
 * Little-endian ARMv7-A from pandaboard.org.


 * Trimslice
 * Little-endian ARMv7-A from Compulab/trimslice.com.


 * BeagleBone
 * Little-endian ARMv7-A from Beagleboard.org.


 * BeagleBone Black
 * Little-endian ARMv7-A from Beagleboard.org.

Beyond
A handbook can only go so far, so here we list resources to go the distance when we can't get you there.


 * Communication
 * Gentoo Embedded communication channels.


 * Contributing
 * Gentoo Embedded and you: the answer to the ever prevalent "What can I do?" question.


 * Vendors
 * Information specific to vendors who wish to help out.


 * Additional learning
 * External references to help you expand your embedded Linux knowledge.