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Build an embedded Linux distro from scratch

Peter Seebach, Freelance author, Plethora.net
Peter Seebach
Peter Seebach has been collecting video game consoles for years, but has only been running Linux on them recently. He is still not sure whether this is a Linux machine that plays video games, or a game machine that runs Linux.

Summary:  Learn how to build a custom Linux® distribution to use in an embedded environment, in this case to drive a Technologic Systems TS-7800 single-board computer. In this tutorial, you learn about cross-compiling, the boot loader, file systems, the root file system, disk images, and the boot process, all with respect to the decisions you make as you're building the system and creating the distribution.

Date:  12 Aug 2008
Level:  Intermediate
PDF:  A4 and Letter (86 KB | 21 pages)Get Adobe® Reader®

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About the target and architecture

Target

The target I chose is a Technologic Systems TS-7800 (see Resources for more detail). This is a small embedded ARM system, with both built-in and removable flash storage, as well as a SATA controller. This tutorial walks you through configuring this system to boot to a login prompt, without relying on prebuilt binaries.

Architecture

I chose the ARM architecture to make it a little easier to check whether a given binary is host or target, and to make it easy to see when host pollution might be occurring. It is also nice having a machine that consumes a total of about 5W of power and runs completely silently.

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TutorialTitle=Build an embedded Linux distro from scratch
publish-date=08122008
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