Timesys released v5.0 of its LinuxLink embedded Linux distribution, adding full Yocto Project compatibility backed by a “Bakery” setup wizard.

In recent years, Timesys has aligned its LinuxLink platform with Yocto Project code. Now, LinuxLink 5.0 promises full compatibility, bringing it in line with other major embedded distros. The company continues to provide , as well.

LinuxLink, which is available in free and commercial versions, now provides a “Bakery” web wizard UI to ease Yocto Project development for newbies starting from a semiconductor backed reference BSP. Bakery helps users “quickly configure a custom Yocto Project image, create and download a Yocto Project installer and set up the development environment,” says Timesys.

Additional services that have been customized for Yocto Project development include support contracts, consultation, and training. Developers can also continue to work directly with semiconductor-derived BSPs without using Yocto Project code.

 
Background on Yocto Project and Timesys LinuxLink

The Linux Foundation hosted Yocto Project is an open source collaborative project to provide developers with templates, tools, and methods to help developers create custom Linux-based systems for embedded products, regardless of the hardware architecture. Tools and resources available through the project include a development environment, emulation environments, debuggers, an Application Toolkit Generator, metadata, and documentation. Also included are core system component recipes from the OpenEmbedded project.

Timesys, which has been around since the dawn of commercial embedded Linux, was an early supporter of the Yocto Project. Yet, it was slow to follow the trend among commercial embedded Linux vendors such as Wind River Linux and Mentor Embedded Linux of fully adopting the Yocto Project codebase.

Timesys continues to survive among better-funded competitors with its flexible configuration options, web-based development scheme, and support for a wide variety of processors, both mainstream and arcane. Timesys moved to a flexible “roll-you-own” approach to Linux development back in 2005, and then advanced to a web-oriented platform with LinuxLink 3.0 in 2009. In 2010, the company released a LinuxLink Free Edition.

LinuxLink supports processors including TI’s Sitara, NXP/Freescale’s i.MX6, Intel Atom, AMD G-Series, Atmel SAMA5, Qualcomm Snapdragon, and many more. These include profiles for some less mainstream, embedded processors, such as Xilinx Zynq, and even specific computer-on-modules. So if you want to build your project around, say, the Renesas RZ/A1 SoC or Critical Link’s TI OMAP-L138-based, FPGA-enhanced MityDSP-L138 module, Timesys has you covered.

“The Yocto Project is pleased to have Timesys as a founding member organization,” stated Jeffrey Osier-Mixon, Yocto Project Community Manager. “Their dedication to the user experience is inspirational, particularly in configuration which is one of the most complex aspects of building any operating system.”

 
Further information

LinuxLink 5.0 is available now in free and commercial versions. More information may be found at the Timesys LinuxLink product page, and this introduction to the new Bakery tool.