I want to build a minimum Linux for embedded devices that comes with Firefox only.
Questions:
Is it ever possible to add X11 components to runlevel3 and
upgrade it to runlevel5?
Is it possible to setup a Linux in runlevel3 with minimum display support so that I be able to run
Firefox? (Not interested in text based browsers)
I gave it a go but I got lots of dependency errors trying to install X11-common with apt-get in runlevel3.
Linux From Scratch is a step-by-step instruction book for anyone who wants to gain a good understanding of how to build own custom Linux distro.
There is a dedicated topic about X Window System Environment
This includes the base LFS project and a bunch of extensions derived from it. For embedded systems Cross Linux From Scratch is of particular interest.
Another option - in case you want to do it faster but losing deep understanding - is using some Embedded Linux distro builder like Buildroot
Related
Hi i have an application written in GTK and i would like to make it into an bootable ISO file.
I have tried many options but have failed and being sent in many directions using cmake and make by following several tutorials which did not work.
Does anybody know how to create an bootable ISO file for / from an GTK based application on linux / ubuntu?
I am currently using ubuntu to develop the bootloading application yet i would prefer the GTK application to startup when the computer starts up, and have no operating system running if possible?
GTK requires an operating system kernel (a Linux kernel...) to be running, and some display server, e.g. Xorg.
So you need to actually make your custom Linux distribution.
I would prefer the GTK application to startup when the computer starts up, and have no operating system running
This is not possible
But you could study the source code of source based Linux distributions like Gentoo and work for several months to make your own Linux distribution.
You probably would need help and address many issues you did not even thought of (e.g. AZERTY keyboard layout, computers with only USB disks, laptops with only Wifi network connections, etc...)
Notice that Debian & Ubuntu can be configured to boot some (open source) GTK based installation procedure. I guess you could study in details their implementation (since it is open source)
It's not possible to boot a GTK application without operating system, as Basile Starynkevitch said.
However, you can use Linux to display only your GTK distribution, without any additional programs and I think it can be done easier, than Starynkevitch's method.
You can try to use the tool Systemback or similar to create a bootable live Linux distribution. Systemback is not maintained anymore but there is a github fork made by BluewhaleRobot that appears to be more up-to-date.
You can install a light Linux distribution, for example Xubuntu, and remove all unnecessary packages and programs. You can set the wallpaper, remove or leave the taskbar/menu start etc. Then, install your GTK application, add it to autorun and use Systemback's "Live system create" function.
The ISO image should be created and your program should be already installed in it with autorun.
It's not a perfect and stable solution, however, it seems to be the easiest way to achieve what you want.
I am developing a program similar to xbmc but only for movies. I was wondering if there is any very simple operating system that will basically just boot and run the program I am developing? Similar to what openelec does for XBMC. I can run it on windows but I want to be able to put it on a machine like raspberry pi without having to have a whole windows or linux OS.
I hope that makes sense.
Take a look at the rather slim linux distributions specialized in embedded systems, like firewalling distros and so on.
Then, if it is a graphical application you have to make sure you boot into runlevel 5 (graphics) and configure your application as login shell for the default user.
You might also be interested in two services the openSUSE project offers: the Open Build Service (OBS) and SUSE Studio:
OBS allows you to automatically get packages of your application built and packaged, ready for use in a number of wide spread distributions.
Studio allows you to go a step further and create a custom distribution for your own purpose: you can call it 'your' operating system, completely preconfigured for your purpose, with all requried software and your own application installed. You just have to download a CD image afterwards!
I come from a windows background and i am proficient with the .net platform. For work, i need to bring up a custom embedded system platform. We have bought the pandaboard ES as the test platform. The application is to stream images over the wifi. If you think about it, we are building something similar to a netgear router - the only difference being when you log into the device it serves images.
Because my background is in windows i am not quite sure how to start off with embedded linux development. in reading through various sites i have come to the conclusion that going to linux as development host is the best option.
Can some one point to me in the right direction regarding the set up. I have a windows machine that will be used for development purposes. I can either do a virtual box or setup a partition for linux. But the finer details are what throwing me off..what i need to know is
1) once i install linux what other software do I need - Code blocks,
2) what about toolchain
3) How to debug - through serial port ?
4) Is there a way to send the image built directly to the CF card?
Thanks
i suggest you to install linux on your desktop or laptop, perhaps
In a virtual machine.
Then, learn to compile on the command line (the order of program arguments to gcc is important).
Start an editor like emacs. Take half an hour to follow its tutorial.
Edit the helloworld.c file.
Compile it with
gcc -Wall -g helloworld.c -o hello
Improve it till no warnings are given.
Use
./hello
To run it.
Learn to use make with your own Makefile.
Use a version control system like git.
Learn to use cross compilation tools.
addenda
See also my answer here and also this answer.
Cross-building is not very different from native Linux building, except for the names of the cross-compilation tools.
But my feeling is that installing Linux and learning to develop Linux applications on Linux will teach you a lot of skills necessary for cross-development targeted for embedded Linux systems. So read material about Advanved Linux Programming and Advanced Unix Programming.
Remote debugging thru the serial port should be possible.
I spent the last three weeks researching about crossdevelopment under Mac OS X. I want to achieve two separate results, but I believe they can be reached through the same path.
I want to
set up distcc to help my old Gentoo laptop using the iMac I recently got at home (OS X 10.6, 64 bit native) which I also use for iOS development, so Xcode 4 tools are already there;
develop my pet project which is an elf kernel for x86, x86_64, and arm (and I'll stop here as it's OT).
So, after a lot of that thinking thing we all do in these cases, I came up the idea that to reach the first goal I need to set up an i686-pc-linux-gnu toolchain (or is it i686-unknown-linux-gnu?) with all the appropriate versions (eg gcc-4.4) and make it callable by distcc. It seems like a reasonable task, but unfortunately there seem to be clearer tools and instructions to build toolchains for obscure archs like sparc or mips, and not a single reasonably updated resource on how to go for x86 the best way. Therefore, first question: is there anybody that succesfully build such a toolchain and feels like sharing the pain? :)
Second goal. My current workbench is made of Gentoo on an i686 laptop (yes, the same as the first goal) with all the regular development stuff, and I use QEMU to test it (its gdb integration is awesome). What I'd really like to do is to keep using the laptop while travelling (I do a lot of commuting) and continue to work and test on the iMac when I'm home (git is awesome in this respect). Hence, second question: is there anybody that have done something like this and wants to share?
I'd really appreciate any input. Seriously.
EDIT I know about MacPorts, crosstool, and crosstool-ng. I tried installing i386-elf-binutils 2.18 from MacPorts just to discover I have 2.20 in my laptop. Also I couldn't get gcc44 to produce i686-pc-linux-gnu elf objects, and using i386-elf-gcc is not an option as I need 4.4 and the packaged one is 4.3.
This is no easy task, specially because you want to cross compile for so many different platforms.
The most used approach is to run a Virtual Machine with the desired OS (e.g. VirtualBox, Parallels, VMWare Fusion) and install your workbench tools to work from it. This is very often used because it's not complex to setup and it also make it easier to write, test and debug code for/from the target system.
Of course, if you search enough you'll find all sorts of hacks/tricks to setup a toolchain on Mac OS X and compile code for other architectures:
One of these uses Buildroot, but that means that there is no official support for Mac OS X.
Another one, also interesting, offers a .dmg package with the tools needed to compile for Linux on MacOS X.
You already mentioned Gentoo, so I think you should take a look at Gentoo Prefix. Gentoo Prefix lets you install a small Gentoo system in a user defined directory (= prefix). From there, you may start a shell which lets you use portage (= Gentoo's package system) which should enable you to install the necessary tools.
I do not know in what shape Prefix on OS X today is, but I was able to install it on a friend's MacBook a year or so ago. If you are interested, I can give further details about the installation process which can be a bit tricky.
I want to change linux distro my Development(Host) Machine which I use for embedded development.
I cross-compile applications for many different processors. It is required for me to download different different libraries to evaluate their functionality/Performance/Stability on different devices , as well as on PC.
So Is ubuntu 9.04 a good choice for me?
Thanks,
Sunny.
If you are using gcc or other source based compiler that runs on linux then I would say yes, you want a linux distro, and ubuntu is currently the most popular/best. I would try to avoid distro specific things, drive down the middle of the road and you should be able to use any distro equally well.
That will largely depend on your needs. For an embedded system, I'd go with any distribution that sports a very small footprint and supports the necessary hardware.
Depending on your hardware, Debian might work fine. You could create your image with debootstrap which allows for fairly small customized installs. It still includes apt and other things which might not be desirable, although that could be to your benefit if you need to push out updates.
If you did go with Debian, you could most likely do all your development on Ubuntu and then push to your embedded system.
i use ubuntu for my host system and a chrooted gentoo install for building apps for an embedded target. I found gentoo was a good choice as it is source distributed and easy to select what version of a particular library is installed.
One thing that is good to know is that ubuntu and derivatives uses dash and not bash as /bin/sh. This confuses crosstools and can give you severe headaches.