Authors: Karim Yaghmour, Jon Masters, Gilad Ben-Yossef, and Philippe Gerum

Format: Paperback, 462 pages

Publisher: O'Reilly Media, Inc.; 2nd edition (August 26, 2008)

ISBN-10: 0596529686

ISBN-13: 978-0596529680



Review by James Pyles

November 9, 2008



For a long time, Linux has been trying to convince most people (that is, mostly home and business users) that Linux on the desktop is a good alternative to Windows. Linux has already established an outstanding reputation in the server room, so system administrators are already convinced of the virtues of Linux. All that can be considered "Linux, open and above board". What about "Linux under the hood"? By that I mean, what about the virtues of embedded Linux systems? What about Linux running "in everything from cell phones to car ABS systems and water-filtration plants..."? That's what Yaghmour, et al proposes to teach you in this book.



According to the Preface of this edition, "When the author of this book's first edition, Karim Yaghmour, first suggested using Linux in an embedded system in 1997 while working for a hardware manufacturer, his suggestion was met with a certain degree of skepticism and surprise. Today, Linux is either in use already or is being actively considered for most embedded systems..." Updated for the latest Linux kernel (as of the writing of the book), this second edition seems to have come a the right time. But does it present the right information, and to whom does it speak?



To answer the latter question, if building embedded systems is something you've just been toying with, this book probably isn't for you. The authors state that the primary audience is the experienced embedded system designer (so if you had to look up the term "embedded system" to understand what this review was about, that isn't you). On the other hand, you don't have to be an experienced Linux embedded system designer. The thrust of this book is to teach you the "Linux bits". Of course, like most books that speak to a more "advanced" audience relative to a technology, the authors do include some introductory material in the first few chapters, so if you aren't "completely experienced", all is not lost. The best case scenario though, is if you have at least some experience both in embedded systems and Linux (but not necessarily together).



The first three chapters are largely conceptual and don't involve much in the way of "hands on", however they do lay the foundation for what comes afterwards. If you already have "the basics" down, you can probably safely skip this section. The hesitant might want to skim over this portion of the book to make sure you don't actually need it, before proceeding.



Chapter 4 introduces the reader to the development tools to be used in this endeavour, so pay attention from here on in. This is the part where the craftsperson (to be politically correct) gathers his or her tools, organizes the "workbench" and prepares to get to work. The selection of tools to some degree, is determined by the type of job you are planning on doing. Also, like an old Tim Allen standup routine, going over your tools is just plain cool. The following chapters through Chapter 9 comprise the section of the book that is the core of building embedded Linux systems.



I find it interesting that the authors don't consider Chapters 10 and 11 "essential to building Linux embedded systems". While they may be true to an extent, networking services and debugging tools are considered essential to software development in general (at least if you want to get it right).



The last three chapters in the book are new to the second edition (just in case you were wondering where the new material was stashed away) and involve the introduction and discussion of Real Time Linux systems. Actually, Chapters 13 and 14 present the reader with two separate but specific real time solutions. This might be considered the "icing on the cake" part of the book. It's the part of the book that you anticipate as you're working your way through the earlier chapters.



Overall, this second edition does quite well as both an introduction to developing embedded Linux systems and as a reference guide once you're up and running (or for those of you already involved in such development). If you've been interested enough to read and understand this review down to the last paragraph, then you are probably the sort of person who wants and needs this book. Go out and get it.

Title: Building Embedded Linux Systems
Category: Programming
Sub-Category: Programming Books
Author: James Pyles
Added: November 9th 2008
Viewed: 11874 Times
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