The Linux computer-program is tailor-made for the electronic device designer; whether company, group or individual. It offers many advantages for embedded-computer applications:
It runs on many state-of-the-art microprocessors,
it is royalty-free,
a designer is free to tinker with its design and freely publish the results,
its development tools are readily available including:
The ubiquitous PC which uses Intel x86 type processors,
the Apple and related computers which use the IBM/Motorola powerPC processors,
the SEGA dreamcast games console which uses the Hitachi superH processors,
We offer courses and consultation for the machine/device-designer needing familiarisation with and applying Linux in device implementations. The course is now in its third year and has undergone revision with feedback from former students. Components of our courses are illustrated in the next figure.
We offer two types of embedded courses. ( In both, areas overlap with our Linux-fundamentals course.)
Type1 Linux-embedded-courses for traditional computer-network applications:
This courses for embedded network devices/appliances. These include implementing Linux in network appliances such as network routers, network-bridges etc.
Use of miniature X86-CPU-based main-boards
use of low-power small non-x86 main-boards.
conceptual design of network-appliance devices (for example network-routers).
Type2: Linux-embedded-courses for engineering/scientific applications:
introduction to measurement and process control using Linux machines. The areas covered include:
Use of analogue data acquisition devices on Linux machines (some of these devices have data-sheets available below),
network-based instrument interfaces for laboratory and process plant usage. Instruments include interface to selected electrochemical and related sensors and interfaces for selected photon detectors.
The areas the courses cover include:
Distribution building:
Sourcing low cost low power x-86 boards,
sourcing low-cost non-x86 boards, CPU and related devices,
Linux toolchain construction,
Linux cross-compiling,
building small distributions,
running Linux and related programs from read-only memory and flash-memory.
Course duration: The 'minimum-version' of the course covers 6 seminars (2 days).
Course-costs and dates: Prices, dates and detailed lists for recent course-contents can be obtained on request. Also variants of this course have been run with topics not listed in the topics above. Please
contact us if you are interested in forms of this course with topics listed here or indeed with topics not listed here.
Bundled with our embedded course:
We bundle the following books or the equivalent updated to the 2.6 kernel:
Linux Kernel Programming 3/e -2002 (ISBN 0201719754),
Embedded Linux (Hardware, Software and Interfacing -2002(ISBN 06723322263).
We collaborate with Pearson publishers (the owners of Queue, Sams, Prentice Hall etc) in this area; they are the major publishers of computer books. Also excellent on-line resources are now available on Linux kernel programming, we also provide links to these and where necessary resources from these. We also bundle with the course the current version of Fedora Linux and one box of the current version of SuSE Linux professional edition.
For the entrepreneurial firm, device-designer et al, the advantages of using Linux are listed above. So if you represent a firm interested in implementing Linux in your products of if you are a designer in a firm and interested in using Linux in a device, please contact us stating the applications you have in mind.
You can use the
contact-us link. We are flexible and can tailor a course or consultation to suit your needs.
You can also communicate your needs by
filling out a form.
If we can, we will tailor the appropriate training and post-training regimes. We have excellent links with groups and companies active in the Linux community. If we do not have the type of expertise you require, we will put you in contact with those who might be able to help you.
(The devices that these data-sheets describe are available from Basis Volume. For more information on the cards or to order, please use the contact details given below.)
For information about Linux resources (books, machines and interface cards) available from Basis Volume please browse the
b-vol website. and click on b-vIT.
If you are only interested in training-courses, you can also communicate
your training needs via the web by filling out a form
on-line.
