Embedded Operating Systems: A Practical Approach (Undergraduate Topics in Computer Science)

This easy-to- follow textbook/reference guides the reader through the creation of a fully functional embedded operating system, from its source code, in order to develop a deeper understanding of each component and how they work together. The text describes in detail the procedure for building the bootloader, kernel, filesystem, shared libraries, start-up scripts, configuration files and system utilities, to produce a GNU/Linux operating system. This fully updated second edition also includes new material on virtual machine technologies such as VirtualBox, Vagrant and the Linux container system Docker.

Topics and features: presents an overview of the GNU/Linux system, introducing the components of the system, and covering aspects of process management, input/output and environment; discusses containers and the underlying kernel technology upon which they are based; provides a detailed examination of the GNU/Linux filesystem; explains how to build an embedded system under a virtual machine, and how to build an embedded system to run natively on an actual processor;introduces the concept of the compiler toolchain, and reviews the platforms BeagleBone and Raspberry Pi; describes how to build firmware images for devices running the Openwrt operating system.

The hands-on nature and clearly structured approach of this textbook will appeal strongly to practically minded undergraduate and graduate level students, as well as to industry professionals involved in this area.