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Mastering Embedded Linux Programming

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)

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Product type Paperback
Published in May 2021
Publisher Packt
ISBN-13 9781789530384
Length 758 pages
Edition 3rd Edition
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Authors (2):
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Frank Vasquez Frank Vasquez
Author Profile Icon Frank Vasquez
Frank Vasquez
Mr. Chris Simmonds Mr. Chris Simmonds
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Mr. Chris Simmonds
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Table of Contents (27) Chapters Close

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

Accessing flash memory from Linux

Raw NOR and NAND flash memory is handled by the Memory Technology Device subsystem, or MTD, which provides you with basic interfaces to read, erase, and write blocks of flash memory. In the case of NAND flash, there are also functions that handle the OOB area and are used to identify bad blocks.

For managed flash, you need drivers to handle a particular hardware interface. MMC/SD cards and eMMC use the mmcblk driver, while CompactFlash and hard drives use the SCSI disk driver, sd. USB flash drives use the usb_storage driver, together with the
sd driver.

Memory technology devices

The MTD subsystem was started by David Woodhouse in 1999 and has been extensively developed over the intervening years. In this section, I will concentrate on the way it handles the two main technologies, NOR and NAND flash.

MTD consists of three layers: a core set of functions, a set of drivers for various types of chips, and user-level drivers that present the...

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