Professional Windows® Embedded Compact 7

Chapter 6

BSP Introduction

WHAT’S IN THIS CHAPTER?

• Introducing BSP
• Cloning an existing BSP to create a new BSP
• Customizing the cloned BSP

A Board Support Package (BSP) is one of the essential components needed to develop Windows Embedded Compact 7 operating system (OS) design and generate the operating system run-time image for the target device. This chapter provides an overview of BSP and works through the exercises to create a new BSP for the OS design project in this book by cloning an existing BSP and modifying the cloned BSP. Chapter 35, “The Target System,” offers more detailed BSP development-related subjects.

BSP is a software package that contains hardware-dependent codes, developed to support designated hardware platforms. In general, the BSP is provided by the hardware manufacturer or the hardware development team.

Typically, an application developer does not need to be concerned about BSP development. However, knowing the BSP structure and how it’s developed can be helpful to develop applications to control hardware and access low-level system resources.

Windows Embedded Compact is designed to support multiple processor architectures, including ARM, MIPS, and x86. Support libraries for the supported processors are provided as part of the Platform Builder for Windows Embedded Compact software. All BSP references make use of these processor support libraries. These libraries are installed as part of the Windows Embedded Compact software in the following directory: ...