Embedded

How Linux programmers changed the world

The story of how Linux grew to become a world-class embedded operating system is a fascinating tail of individual endeavour and collective cooperation. See the slides and accompanying paper from Chirs Simmonds' presentation at Embedded World 2016 for the full monty

Slides: http://2net.co.uk/slides/ew2016-embedded-linux-timeline-slides.pdf
Paper: http://2net.co.uk/slides/ew2016-embedded-linux-timeline-paper.pdf

How to avoid writing device drivers for embedded Linux

Writing device drivers to control new hardware can be hard work. Chris Simmonds, speaking at Embedded World 2016, explains how to take the easy road by writing userspace drivers.

Slides: http://2net.co.uk/slides/ew2016-userspace-drivers-slides.pdf
Paper: http://2net.co.uk/slides/ew2016-userspace-drivers-paper.pdf
Sample code: http://2net.co.uk/downloads/ew2016-demos.tar.gz

Using procrank to measure memory usage on embedded Linux

One of the fundamental questions programmers ask (or at least, they should) is: how much memory is my program using? It may be a simple question, but with a virtual memory operating system like Linux the answer is quite complex. The numbers given by top and ps don't really add up. Procrank is a tool commonly used by Android platform developers to give more accurate answers, but there is no reason why it can't be more widely used in other Linux based operating systems and it is especially useful for embedded Linux.

Chris Simmonds to speak at ABS 2014 and ELC 2014

I will be speaking at the Android Builder's Summit 2014 and Embedded Linux Conference 2014 this year. Both are held in San Jose between 29th April and 1st May.

Slides from "A timeline for embedded Linux"

Here is a link to the slides from my keynote talk on the history of embedded Linux at Embedded Linux Conference Europe 2013 in Edinburgh.

There is more detail in this blog entry

Embedded Linux timeline

You will find Linux inside a wide range of devices today, yet it was not intended to be used as an embedded operating system in the beginning. In trying to understand how Linux moved out of the pure PC environment and into the fabric of our technology I have put together the following timeline showing what I consider to be the important milestones. I am aware that it is missing many details, and I would welcome feedback and comments from all who may read this. Either post a comment at the bottom or mail me at "chris dot simmonds at 2net dot co dot uk".

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