GNU/Linux Rapid Embedded Programming

An annotated guide to program and develop GNU/Linux Embedded systems quickly

About This Book

Rapidly design and build powerful prototypes for GNU/Linux Embedded systems
Become familiar with the workings of GNU/Linux Embedded systems and how to manage its peripherals
Write, monitor, and configure applications quickly and effectively, manage an external micro-controller, and use it as co-processor for real-time tasks
Who This Book Is For

This book targets Embedded System developers and GNU/Linux programmers who would like to program Embedded Systems and perform Embedded development. The book focuses on quick and efficient prototype building. Some experience with hardware and Embedded Systems is assumed, as is having done some previous work on GNU/Linux systems. Knowledge of scripting on GNU/Linux is expected as well.

What You Will Learn

Use embedded systems to implement your projects
Access and manage peripherals for embedded systems
Program embedded systems using languages such as C, Python, Bash, and PHP
Use a complete distribution, such as Debian or Ubuntu, or an embedded one, such as OpenWrt or Yocto
Harness device driver capabilities to optimize device communications
Access data through several kinds of devices such as GPIO's, serial ports, PWM, ADC, Ethernet, WiFi, audio, video, I2C, SPI, One Wire, USB and CAN
Practical example usage of several devices such as RFID readers, Smart card readers, barcode readers, z-Wave devices, GSM/GPRS modems
Usage of several sensors such as light, pressure, moisture, temperature, infrared, power, motion
In Detail

Embedded computers have become very complex in the last few years and developers need to be able to easily manage embedded computer projects by focusing on problem solving; they should not have to waste time finding supported peripherals or learning how to manage them. This book shows you how to interact with external environments through specific peripherals used in the industry. It focuses on the latest Linux kernel release 4 and Debian/Ubuntu distributions (with embedded distributions such as OpenWRT and Yocto).

This book presents popular and user-friendly boards in the industry – such as Beaglebone Black, Atmel Xplained, Wandboard, and system-on-chip manufacturers – and lets you explore corresponding projects that make use of these boards. You will first program the embedded platforms using the C, Bash, and Python/PHP languages in order to get access to the external peripherals. You will gain a strong foundation in using embedded systems by learning how to program the device driver and access the peripherals. You will also learn how to read and write data from/to the external environment by using C programs or a scripting language (such as Bash/PHP/Python) and see how to configure a device driver for specific hardware.

The final chapter shows you how to use a micro-controller board – based on the most used microcontroller – to implement real-time or specific tasks that are normally not carried out on the GNU/Linux system. After finishing this book, you will be capable of applying these skills to your personal and professional projects.

Style and approach

This practical tutorial will get you quickly prototyping embedded systems on GNU/Linux. This book uses a variety of hardware to program the peripherals and build simple prototypes.