[LUNI] breaking into embedded?

[Martin Maney]

On Mon, Nov 25, 2002 at 12:28:32AM -0800, Jonathan Hadley wrote:
> hey. i've lately been especially interested in
> "specialized" and embedded computers. linux, of
> course, lends well to such pursuits ;p

Well, it's not bad that way if you've got the budget to spare.  I'm
afraid it hasn't been ported to smaller platforms, such a the PIC
microcontrollers I've used in some product development work.  :-)

> anyone seriously played around with embedded linux or
> embedded projects generally? i need
> practicality/application as much as i do theory.
> (e.g., how to get PROM-burners, use them, buy SBCs or
> solder my own boards/busses? how do i start?)

Sounds like you're starting with a pretty good grounding for the
software side, though there will certainly be learning experiences to
come.  :-)  On the hardware side it sounds as though you're starting
out pretty much cold?  There's a lot of room for trading modest amounts
of cash against needing too much low-level hardware tinkering, at least
until you get deeper into a project.  Unfortunately, a lot of the
readily available tools, such as *PROM burners, that need to be
connected to a computer are targeted at that 90+% that is Windows. 
Aside from that, all you need is money and a bit of determination.

Do you have any specific project you're interested in working towards?

> i have a good fundamental understanding of comp. sci.
> though i've never worked this low-level yet.  i need a

An embedded system that's running Linux (or etc.) isn't all that
low-level.  In fact, that's a big part of the attraction - aside from
oddball device drivers and a need to restrain the size of the target's
runtime image, there may not be all that much that's different.

> good "dummie" guide for my somewhat intermediate
> level.  as per usual, standard OSS sites and docs are
> gearred to the real developers and experts (like
> linuxdevices.com) - is O'Reilly's embedded linux book
> a good starter, or too much to start with?

I haven't seen that one yet, but O'Reilly's books are generally good or
better, so perhaps it would be a good starting point even if some of it
goes too far, too fast.  I'm thinking that it would likely be a useful
resource for you sooner or later anyway, and seeing what topics you
need to fill in background for would be valuable at this point.  Makes
sense?

-- 
I didn't write a whole, free operating system, either.  I wrote some pieces
and invited other people to join me by writing other pieces.  So I set an
example.  I said, "I'm going in this direction.  Join me and we'll get
there." And enough people joined in that we got there.  -- R M Stallman