Getting Started with EMAC Embedded Linux Development

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TODO: {{#todo:Done for OE4, need Qt information for OE5 when available; (12.04.13-16:55->KY+)(12.17.13-13:40->MG+)|Klint Youngmeyer|oe 4,oe 5,ky,md,mg,Complete}}

Getting Started

Following the list of articles presented here, in order, will provide a good foundation for building custom embedded applications.

Background Information About EMAC Products

Getting To Know Linux

Getting A Linux Development System Up And Running

The LDC - Linux Development Computer

A popular option to getting started quickly is to use the EMAC Linux Development Computer (LDC). There are two variants on this option, as follows:

  1. The Hardware LDC: This is a desktop computer with EMAC's customized Linux distribution preinstalled with the full EMAC SDK installed and ready to run. This is the most painless method of getting started, especially for those new to Linux and/or developing software under Linux. This is the most preferable system to use for development.
  2. The LDC Virtual Machine: This is a virtual machine image which can be used in a virtual machine manager, such as VMWare[1] and VirtualBox. This, like the Hardware LDC, has EMAC's customized Linux distribution preinstalled with the full EMAC SDK installed and ready to run. This option works well, but may require additional set up and configuration of the host operating system.

If this is the method chosen, the system should be already configured for development. Skip to the Getting Familiar with Eclipse section.

Customer Installed EMAC SDK Packages On Customer's Existing Linux Computer

EMAC provides SDK packages which can be installed by customers on their own Linux machines. This is the most difficult method of getting started, but is often preferred by customers who are already highly skilled with Linux.

Should this method be chosen, start with the EMAC OE SDK Introduction..


Getting Started With Software Development For EMAC Machines

Getting Familiar with Eclipse

These articles will help in getting started with Eclipse. If some other editor or IDE is used for development work, this step may be skipped. Working with a different IDE is beyond the scope of the EMAC documentation and will be unsupported. Using the shell based build system will, however, still work as documented.

Compiling and Running Some Software

Working With Bootloaders and OS images

Bootloaders provide the magic glue between the hardware (or the BIOS, on PC compatible systems) and the operating system. The bootloader is the piece of software which points the processor at the operating system image and kicks off the booting process. The bootloader can also be used to load new firmware onto machines, and perform some other tasks. This section provides instructions for loading new firmware images and customizing the boot process.

Old Bootloader

If you have a machine which uses the older RedBoot bootloader, see the article below.

Customizing Linux Kernels and Filesystem Images

This section provides documentation on advanced tasks with embedded Linux; namely, custom Linux OS kernel image building and firmware image customization.

Programming EMAC OE Machines

This section provides some articles for specific to EMAC embedded machines.

Getting Support

Quick Reference

EMAC provides a quick reference guide as a "cheatsheet" to assist with the initial learning curve.


  1. ↑ VMWare is a trademark of VMWare, incorporated
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