Mastering Embedded Linux Programming - Second Edition

Hardware for embedded Linux

If you are designing or selecting hardware for an embedded Linux project, what do you look out for?

Firstly, a CPU architecture that is supported by the kernel—unless you plan to add a new architecture yourself, of course! Looking at the source code for Linux 4.9, there are 31 architectures, each represented by a sub-directory in the arch/ directory. They are all 32- or 64-bit architectures, most with a memory management unit (MMU), but some without. The ones most often found in embedded devices are ARM, MIPS PowerPC, and X86, each in 32- and 64-bit variants, and all of which have memory management units.

Most of this book is written with this class of processor in mind. There is another group that doesn't have ...