Recently, Handheld devices are more and more popular. Most of them aim at the low price, small size, high computing power, and powerful functionalities. Therefore, the need for embedded operating systems in the market is absolutely vital. There are many embedded systems in the market, but embedded Linux has some advantages to be outstanding and widely accepted. For example, it has no proprietary problem and high portability, and is comparatively easy to be reconstructed and to develop new applications. Best of them all, it is open source software. Embedded systems are usually diskless systems. In order to keep permanent data in embedded Linux, using flash disk as its disk system is a widely adapted strategy. We use MTD (Memory Technology Devices) system to emulate flash memory as flash disk mounted into Linux virtual file system. This allows accessing flash memory with standard I/O operations without any extra effort. MTD system contains, ¡§user¡¨ and driver¡¨, two different modules. In driver modules, we use CFI (Common Flash Interface) to probe the flash chip and then partition it, while we use MTD BLOCK to emulate the flash partitions as block devices in user modules, and then mount them into Linux¡¦s virtual file system with JFFS2 (Journaling Flash File System version 2) type, which is a file system type specifically designed for flash devices according to the features of flash devices. The purpose of this thesis is to use MTD system to emulate Am29LV320DB flash chip as a flash disk in embedded Linux running on an ARM-based developing board, SMDK2410, designed by Samsung. I hope this porting can help the development of other advanced applications and provide an empirical platform for the research of embedded systems.

More and more embedded systems choose ARM-based micro-controllers as CPU. If no embedded OS built with the system, the application scope will be restricted. Therefore, the need of embedded OS is vital. There are many embedded OS¡¦s in the market, but the embedded Linux has many advantages and is widely accepted. Commercial embedded Linux takes less refund than other embedded OS¡¦s. The kernel and most applications are distributed in GPL open source copyright, and is highly portable to many machine platforms. Presently, the hardware key-technology is highly skilled. The margin of 3C industrial has gone down rapidly. Therefore, people focus on adapting integrated technology to practicality and innovation to make cost down. Developers choose appropriate ARM micro-controllers according to demanding functionality of their products. The microcontroller is not necessary running with Linux distribution. Two approaches can be used to resolve the embedded OS issue. The first approach is porting Linux to the platform without any refund. The second approach is to pay for commercial Linux. Embedded system peripheral devices aim at powerful functionalities and economy. For instance, UART interface is cheap and low data transfer rate. The target board communicates with host via RS-232. RS-232 acts as serial console to play dumb terminal under Linux. Industrial applications often make use of RS-xxx for UART physical transmission layer. For instance, RS-485 applies modbus protocol to build cheap monitor systems. Network transmission is a necessary function, and it generally achieves high data transfer rate application through Ethernet. The UNIX-like network socket has served network application very well. Embedded systems are usually diskless systems. In order to keep permanent data, using flash memory as block disk system is a widely adapted strategy and which operates flash memory through MTD subsystems¡][28]¡^. An MTD subsystem contains two different modules, ¡§user¡¨and ¡§driver¡¨. In the driver module, CFI¡][40]¡^ is applied to probe flash chip, partition it and provide operating function. Flash translation layer and file-system are applied in the user module. MTD BLOCK is used to emulate the flash partitions as block devices which are then mounted into Linux virtual file system¡]VFS¡^with JFFS2 type, designed according to the feature of flash devices. In this thesis, we will describe in detail the procedure of porting Linux to ARM micro-controllers. The motivation of the work is introduced in chapter 1. In chapter 2, we introduce development tools and the main flow of the porting procedure. In chapter 3, we describe the LH79525 platform and the main perepherals on the target board, then introduce the ARM programmer model. In chapter 4, we examine the required knowledge and the important issues for porting ARM Linux. In chapter 5, we describe the details of porting Linux to run with Sharp LH79525, including modifying the key source codes and adjusting kernel configuration for embedding the UART, ethernet MAC, and MTD subsystem. In chapter 6, we do step-by-step validation and apply an integrated application with the LF-314CP temperature controller¡][46]¡^ by law-chain technology for the LH79525 target board running with the ported ARM Linux. In chapter 7, we present some issues for future work and improvement, then make a conclusion for the thesis.