April 2003
Intermediate to advanced
416 pages
13h 38m
English
Content preview from Building Embedded Linux SystemsBecome an O’Reilly member and get unlimited access to this title plus top books and audiobooks from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers, thousands of courses curated by job role, 150+ live events each month,
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Chapter 5. Kernel Considerations
The kernel is the central software component of all Linux systems. Its capabilities very much dictate the capabilities of the entire system. If the kernel you use fails to support one of your target’s hardware components, for instance, this component will be useless as long as this specific kernel runs on your target.
Many books and online documentation already discuss the kernel’s internals, its programming, its setup, and its use in user systems at length. I will not, therefore, cover these issues here. If you are interested in such issues, have a look at Running Linux, Linux Device Drivers, and Understanding the Linux Kernel by O’Reilly. These books cover the kernel’s setup and use, its programming, and its internals, respectively. You may also want to take a look at the Linux Kernel HOWTO available from the LDP.
Our discussion will be limited to issues about the preparation of a Linux kernel for use in an embedded system. Specifically, we will discuss kernel selection, configuration, compilation, and installation. Each step will get us closer to the goal of obtaining a functional kernel with its related modules for our target system. Our discussion will end with coverage of the aspects of the kernel’s operation that are specific to embedded systems.
Selecting a Kernel
Though there is only one main repository for the kernel, http://www.kernel.org/, the versions available from that site aren’t always appropriate for all the architectures supported ...
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O’Reilly covers everything we've got, with content to help us build a world-class technology community, upgrade the capabilities and competencies of our teams, and improve overall team performance as well as their engagement.Julian F.
I wanted to learn C and C++, but it didn't click for me until I picked up an O'Reilly book. When I went on the O’Reilly platform, I was astonished to find all the books there, plus live events and sandboxes so you could play around with the technology.Addison B.
I’ve been on the O’Reilly platform for more than eight years. I use a couple of learning platforms, but I'm on O'Reilly more than anybody else. When you're there, you start learning. I'm never disappointed.Amir M.
I'm always learning. So when I got on to O'Reilly, I was like a kid in a candy store. There are playlists. There are answers. There's on-demand training. It's worth its weight in gold, in terms of what it allows me to do.