You're reading from Mastering Embedded Linux Programming Create fast and reliable embedded solutions with Linux 5.4 and the Yocto Project 3.1 (Dunfell)

Product type Paperback

Published in May 2021

Publisher Packt

ISBN-13 9781789530384

Length 758 pages

Edition 3rd Edition

Languages

C++

Tools

Linux

Concepts

Embedded Systems

Authors (2):

Frank Vasquez

Mr. Chris Simmonds

View More author details

Table of Contents (27) Chapters

Preface

1. Section 1: Elements of Embedded Linux

2. Chapter 1: Starting Out FREE CHAPTER

3. Chapter 2: Learning about Toolchains

4. Chapter 3: All about Bootloaders

5. Chapter 4: Configuring and Building the Kernel

6. Chapter 5: Building a Root Filesystem

7. Chapter 6: Selecting a Build System

8. Chapter 7: Developing with Yocto

9. Chapter 8: Yocto Under the Hood

10. Section 2: System Architecture and Design Decisions

11. Chapter 9: Creating a Storage Strategy

12. Chapter 10: Updating Software in the Field

13. Chapter 11: Interfacing with Device Drivers

14. Chapter 12: Prototyping with Breakout Boards

15. Chapter 13: Starting Up – The init Program

16. Chapter 14: Starting with BusyBox runit

17. Chapter 15: Managing Power

18. Section 3: Writing Embedded Applications

19. Chapter 16: Packaging Python

20. Chapter 17: Learning about Processes and Threads

21. Chapter 18: Managing Memory

22. Section 4: Debugging and Optimizing Performance

23. Chapter 19: Debugging with GDB

24. Chapter 20: Profiling and Tracing

25. Chapter 21: Real-Time Programming

26. Other Books You May Enjoy

Filesystems for flash memory

There are several challenges when it comes to making efficient use of flash memory for mass storage: the mismatch between the size of an erase block and a disk sector, the limited number of erase cycles per erase block, and the need for bad block handling on NAND chips. These differences are resolved by a flash translation layer, or FTL.

Flash translation layers

A flash translation layer has the following features:

Sub allocation: Filesystems work best with a small allocation unit, traditionally a 512-byte sector. This is much smaller than a flash erase block of 128 KiB or more. Therefore, erase blocks have to be subdivided into smaller units to avoid wasting large amounts of space.
Garbage collection: A consequence of suballocation is that an erase block will contain a mixture of good data and stale data once the filesystem has been in use for a while. Since we can only free up whole erase blocks, the only way to reclaim this free space...