Category: Software

Inside the RT (Linux Kernel) Patch

Posted by lazlo – April 19, 2013

A interactive map of the Linux Kernel

Posted by lazlo – April 19, 2013

I just discovered that the image, I’d carelessly have taken from Google image search when looking for a depiction of the Linux kernel structure months ago,is actually “only” a bitmap of an interactive map that can be found at MakeLinux.net and has been created by Constatine Shulyupin.

Linux_kernel_mapNot only can you zoom in and out of the kernels structure but each entity is linked to a documentation page.

Read “Stop Writing So Much Firmware”

Posted by lazlo – April 17, 2013

Just read an very nice article by James Grenning titled “Engineers and Programmers, Stop Writing So Much Firmware” on software design with regards to embedded system and this piece of software embedded folks call firmware.

He makes the point that business logic must be decoupled from technological implementation dependencies very nicely. This wisdom is nothing new but still you don’t see it used very often in the real world (sadly).

My conclusions from this reading are basically:

  • firmware should be designed with a systems software aspect in mind (not application software)
  • decouple any business logic from implementation technology (okay, this is an obvious one)

I think especially the first point is one I’ll be able to apply to my  prototype scope firmware.

lzoDSO – legacy firmware reanimated

Posted by lazlo – April 12, 2013

After preparing a somewhat more modest presentation of what is already existing from the projects hardware and software (we now call it the prototype), we have finally taken the old “legacy” (no tests) firmware sources and made them work (without having to change anything) on the ATmega644 micro controller board we use with the prototype setup.

Still, there is so much missing but before adding more functionality to the firmware we will try to replace part by part with code that is developed in a “test first” fashion to give us a stable base to work on. But before that can happen will need to refactor some sections of the sources in order to make them testable.

Enough for today…maybe

Write and Submit your first Linux kernel Patch

Posted by lazlo – April 3, 2013

lzoDSO – a DIY Oscilloscope

Posted by lazlo – March 19, 2013

After quiet a while I have started to put my oscilloscope project online. Work is still in progress but I decided it won’t hurt to have online what has been done so far.

The End of Embedded Linux

Posted by lazlo – February 18, 2013

The Embedded Linux Quick Start Guide

Posted by lazlo – February 17, 2013

MINIX 3 talk by Andy

Posted by lazlo – February 3, 2013

Haven’t seen such an entertaining OS talk for some time.

test-driven development for embedded systems

Posted by lazlo – February 2, 2013

Found a nice article at embedded.com on how mocking can help build more robust and clear code. The article talks about development using C/C++ and the Unity unit testing framework which I have been using for quiet a while (thanks to the book “Test-Driven Development for Embedded C” by James Grenning).