Bootlin recently released free and paid resources for the open-source BeaglePlay development board which was launched this year. The course goes over various Embedded Linux topics and targets hobbyists and professionals.

The Embedded Linux training page indicates that some of the boards supported in this course are the BeaglePlay (TI AM6256 CPU), the BeagleBone Black Wireless in addition to STM32 Discovery Boards (i.e. STM32MP157A-DK1, STM32MP157D-DK1, STM32MP157C-DK2, STM32MP157F-DK2).

      

The course is offered in three different formats: private on-site, private online, and public online. The online sessions span a duration of 28 hours, spread across 7 half-days. The regular price for these classes is €999, but currently, there is a discount of €100.00 available.

 

However, all the training materials used in the course are freely available. Some of the materials include Slides and practical labs for the STM32MP1 Discovery, the BeagleBone Black and the BeaglePlay. Similarly, the Lab data can also be found here for the STM32MP1 Discovery, the BeagleBone Black and the BeaglePlay.

 

According to Bootlin, the course will cover the following objectives:

• Be able to understand the overall architecture of Embedded Linux systems.
• Be able to choose, build, setup and use a cross-compilation toolchain.
• Be able to understand the booting sequence of an embedded Linux system, and to set up and use the U-Boot bootloader.
• Be able to select a Linux kernel version, to configure, build and install the Linux kernel on an embedded system.
• Be able to create from scratch a Linux root filesystem, including all its elements: directories, applications, configuration files, libraries.
• Be able to choose and setup the main Linux filesystems for block storage devices, and understand their main characteristics.
• Be able to select, cross-compile and integrate open-source software components (libraries, applications) in an Embedded Linux system.
• Be able to understand the main open-source licenses.
• Be able to setup and use an embedded Linux build system, to build a complete system for an embedded platform.
• Be able to develop and debug applications on an embedded Linux system.

The prerequisites for this course include being familiar with UNIX or GNU/Linux commands. For further details, consult the available free resources provided by Bootlin located here.

Some of the topics covered in the Embedded Linux course include:

• Introduction to Embedded Linux
• Cross-compiling toolchain and C library
• Boot process, firmware, bootloaders
• Linux kernel
• Configuring, compiling and booting the Linux kernel
• Root filesystem in Linux
• Accessing hardware devices
• Block filesystems
• Cross-compiling user-space libraries and applications
• Embedded system building tools
• Open source licenses and compliance

The complete agenda can be found here.

Further information

The initial session is scheduled for September 4th. Further information can be located on the announcements posted on Beagleboard.org and the Bootlin website.