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Porting Linux on ARM-Based Micro-controllers

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.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:NSYSU/oai:NSYSU:etd-0730106-013540
Date30 July 2006
CreatorsTsai, Ju-Chin
ContributorsJih-ching Chiu, Hsian-Leing Tsai, Chih-Hung Wu, Tsung-Chuan Huang, Shie-Jue Lee
PublisherNSYSU
Source SetsNSYSU Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Archive
LanguageCholon
Detected LanguageEnglish
Typetext
Formatapplication/pdf
Sourcehttp://etd.lib.nsysu.edu.tw/ETD-db/ETD-search/view_etd?URN=etd-0730106-013540
Rightswithheld, Copyright information available at source archive

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