Embedded Software Development with eCos (Bruce Perens' Open Source) [Paperback]

Embedded Software Development with eCos shows developers and managers the advantages of using eCos -- the Embedded Configurable Operating System from Red Hat - over proprietary or commercial embedded operating systems. As an Open Source solution, eCos provides a low-cost, royalty free option for embedded software development. Anthony Massa shows how eCos, and the eCos development environment, has all of the features and functionality to meet the needs of almost all commercial embedded system requirements. Massa provides an understanding of how to use the open-source licensing and royalty free nature of eCos in order to eliminate high startup and per unit costs associated with many of the proprietary real-time operating systems on the market today. Embedded systems are operating systems that must operate with a very small footprint (usually less than 100KB of space) and must be self-contained. Most companies use either proprietary solutions or expensive commercial solutions. eCos is the first powerful, royalty-free Open Source solution, from Red Hat.

• How to build low-cost, royalty-free embedded solutions with eCos
• Covers eCos architecture, installation, configuration, coding, debugging, bootstrapping, porting, and more
• Incorporates additional open source software components to extend the features and functionality of eCos, meeting the requirements of a wide range of embedded systems
• Includes open source tools for a complete embedded software development environment with eCos as the core
• Contains extensive code examples and complete application case study

Foreword by Michael Tiemann, CTO, Red Hat Software and Co-founder of Cygnus Solutions

—Michael Tiemann, CTO, Red Hat Software and Co-founder of Cygnus Solutions

Build low-cost, royalty-free embedded solutions with eCos—step by step.

The Embedded Configurable Operating System (eCos) gives professionals a low-cost, royalty-free embedded software development solution that works in highly constrained hardware environments, while scaling smoothly to larger products. In this start-to-finish guide to eCos solution building, Anthony Massa covers eCos architecture, installation, configuration, coding, deployment, and the entire eCos open source development system. Additional open source tools are included to configure a complete embedded software development environment. Massa's code examples and application case study illuminate techniques for building virtually any embedded system, from the simplest device to complex Internet-enabled wireless systems. Coverage includes:

• Understanding eCos architecture: kernel, hardware abstraction layer, and other components
• Preparing your eCos embedded development environment
• Incorporating additional open source tools for a complete embedded software development environment
• Working with exceptions, interrupts, and virtual vectors
• Managing threads and synchronization
• Utilizing the eCos networking stack, I/O system, and file system
• Covering additional eCos functionality, including third-party open source contributions
• Using RedBoot, the standardized embedded debug and bootstrap solution
• Porting eCos to new hardware platforms