Leveraging Engineering Experience: Embedded Linux Systems Jump-Start

You have a great new design idea. Now that you’ve chosen your processor and the System-in-Package that meets your needs, you need to get up to speed on the device. You grab your cup of coffee and sit down at your computer to check out the resources, but there is so much information out there! Where to begin?

When starting a new embedded systems design, wouldn’t it be nice to have a technical support mentor? Could you use an embedded engineer with years of experience, at your elbow helping you navigate all the information on the web? It can be difficult to navigate through the hundreds of pages of information to find key pieces that can help you get a jump-start on your design:

• Linux
• Power
• PRUs
• Graphics
• Wi-Fi

We asked our applications engineering team for a list of resources they commonly use to direct developers who are getting up to speed designing with the Texas Instruments Sitara ARM® Cortex®-A8 AM335x Processor. With decades of engineering experience, our team has already been down the path of getting started with the AM335x Processor inside of the OSD335x SiP many times.

 Linux Resources for Using Device Tree on OSD335x/AM335x Processor

• Linux Build Steps This page maintained by Robert Nelson at Digikey provides a great resource for the Linux build steps for the Debian distribution
• Linux Device Tree Application Note Linux Device Trees speed design by conveying the hardware configuration of the system to the OS in a standard form
• Linux Device Tree Overlay Application Note Device Tree Overlays describe changes to the system hardware to the OS; learn the structure and build an example
• Device Tree GitHub This tree contains device tree definitions extracted from the Linux kernel source tree. It is synced regularly with mainline Linux (use the correct branch for your kernel, such as 4.14-ti).
• Device Tree Options This list provides the Device Tree Bindings for different devices:

 Power App Notes for HW/SW modification/optimization

• OSD335x-SM Power Application Note Walks through the power management system of OSD335x-SM/ISM device and illustrates power design for custom designs
• Software Power Management with the OSD335x Family Software power management techniques and advantages for the OSD335x in Linux

 Programmable Real Time Units (PRU) Utilization

The PRUs are microcontrollers on the Texas Instruments AM335x processor that are independent of the main Linux processor allowing you to have both the power of Linux but still manage the real-time deadlines in your application.

• PRU / PRU-ICSS Resource Page
• PRU / PRU-ICSS Getting Started Guide
• PRU / PRU-ICSS Hands on Training Labs
• Enhancing Real-Time Capabilities with the PRU Presentation (YouTube)
• Using the C language to program the am335x PRU  EmbeddedRelated.com article
• Using PRUs article from Community member

 Graphics: OpenGL + QT environment (SGX)

• SGX Drivers This resource the steps to build the Intel® Software Guard Extensions (Intel® SGX) for application developers seeking to protect select code and data.
• Sitara Linux Training: Hands on with QT This lab gives hands on tutorial on QT, the GUI development tool, which is a component of the Sitara SDK
• Building Qt with OpenGL ES accelerated by SGX this guides users to build Qt Embedded SDK with OpenGL ES 1.x/2.x (3D Graphics) support accelerated by the SGX – 3D Graphics Hardware

 Adding WiFi to Your Embedded System

• Enabling IoT with OSD335x using Wi-Fi and Bluetooth Add Wi-Fi to the OSD335x, enabling designers and developers to quickly and easily add IoT functionality to products
• Leverage an existing credit card sized IoT Linux Development Board which uses the Octavo Systems OSD3358 System-in-Package

Are there other resources you have used to help get your Texas Instruments Sitara ARM® Cortex®-A8 AM335x Processor based system going quickly? Share them in the comments below!

Our system and applications team is readily available to help designers with design and software questions. Meet with the team using our forums, it’s like having them standing at your side.

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