Chapter 3. Bootloaders

In this chapter, you will be presented with one of the most important components necessary for using a Linux system in an embedded environment. Here, I am referring to the bootloader, a piece of software that offers the possibility of initializing a platform and making it ready to boot a Linux operating system. In this chapter, the benefits and roles of bootloaders will be presented. This chapter mainly focuses on the U-Boot bootloaders, but readers are encouraged to have a look at others, such as Barebox, RedBoot, and so on. All these bootloaders have their respective features and there isn't one in particular that suits every need; therefore, experimentation and curiosity are welcome when this chapter. You have already been introduced to the the Yocto Project reference in the last chapter; hence, you will now be able to understand how this development environment works with various bootloaders, and especially the ones available inside a Board Support...