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Mastering Embedded Linux Programming

You're reading from Mastering Embedded Linux Programming Unleash the full potential of Embedded Linux

Product type Paperback

Published in Jun 2017

Publisher Packt

ISBN-13 9781787283282

Length 478 pages

Edition 2nd Edition

Tools

Linux

Concepts

System Programming

Author (1):

Chris Simmonds

View More author details

Table of Contents (23) Chapters

Title Page

Credits

About the Author

About the Reviewers

www.PacktPub.com

Customer Feedback

Preface

1. Starting Out FREE CHAPTER

2. Learning About Toolchains

3. All About Bootloaders

4. Configuring and Building the Kernel

5. Building a Root Filesystem

6. Selecting a Build System

7. Creating a Storage Strategy

8. Updating Software in the Field

9. Interfacing with Device Drivers

10. Starting Up – The init Program

11. Managing Power

12. Learning About Processes and Threads

13. Managing Memory

14. Debugging with GDB

15. Profiling and Tracing

16. Real-Time Programming

Accessing flash memory from Linux

Raw NOR and NAND flash memory is handled by the Memory Technology Device subsystem, or MTD, which provides basic interfaces to read, erase, and write blocks of flash memory. In the case of NAND flash, there are also functions to handle the OOB area and to identify bad blocks.

For managed flash, you need drivers to handle the particular hardware interface. MMC/SD cards and eMMC use the mmcblk driver; CompactFlash and hard drives use the SCSI disk driver, sd. USB flash drives use the usb_storage driver together with the sd driver.

Memory technology devices

The MTD subsystem was started by David Woodhouse in 1999 and has been extensively developed over the intervening years. In this section, I will concentrate on the way it handles the two main technologies, NOR and NAND flash.

MTD consists of three layers: a core set of functions, a set of drivers for various types of chips, and user-level drivers that present the flash memory as a character device or a block...

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Authors (1)

Chris Simmonds

Chris Simmonds

Chris Simmonds is a software consultant and trainer living in southern England. He has almost two decades of experience in designing and building open-source embedded systems. He is the founder and chief consultant at 2net Ltd, which provides professional training and mentoring services in embedded Linux, Linux device drivers, and Android platform development. He has trained engineers at many of the biggest companies in the embedded world, including ARM, Qualcomm, Intel, Ericsson, and General Dynamics. He is a frequent presenter at open source and embedded conferences, including the Embedded Linux Conference and Embedded World.

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