Yocto Project Masterclass: Build Custom Embedded Linux OS

Define hardware as devices like microcontrollers, processors, and sensors, including BeagleBone, Raspberry Pi, Jetson Nano, and iMX8, then show how Intel and AMD build x86 core processors for Dell PCs.

Explore arm architecture and how Cortex-A cores, Sitara AM3358, AMBA bus, NEON data engines, floating point unit, and debug interfaces assemble a soc with ram, rom, and peripheral interfaces.

Explore how ARM architectures split into M, A, and R series, embracing microcontroller, real-time, and high performance or high efficiency cores built by ARM and third-party companies.

Contrast Cortex-A15 and Cortex-A8 within the ARM-V7-A architecture. Explore neon data engine, L1/L2 caches, floating point unit, and BeagleBone SOC with RAM, ROM, peripherals, and system on chip.

In Yocto masterclass, explore system on chip designs in single board computers and how the boot sequence loads the operating system from external RAM and flash via a boot device.

The lecture describes loading code into RAM, locating the SD card boot device, and initializing external RAM, and it discusses ROM code and RAM SRAM.

Learn the boot process: initialize external RAM, detect the boot device, load the SD card OS, then boot from MLO to U-Boot, kernel, and root filesystem to a login prompt.

Explore three system on module form factors ram module, insert‑and‑remove, and direct mounting, and how soc, pmic, external ram, and flash integrate on a single pcb versus a carrier board.

Explore hardware concepts with carrier and bagel boards, contrasting standard and customized boards, and learn how bare metal, rtos, and os-level software control embedded hardware.

Explore how carrier and bagel boards support student and industry use, contrast standard vs customized hardware, and explain bare metal applications, RTOF library, and operating system software for hardware control.

Compare bare-metal, RTOS, and full operating system architectures, and explain how device drivers, the Linux kernel, and device trees (DT/DTS) interact to control hardware such as LEDs.

Learn how device drivers integrate with the Linux kernel, and how to build and flash bootloader, kernel, and rootfs components for embedded boards, including pin mode selection and dtb usage.

Discover how a build system automates downloading, compiling, and packaging thousands of components—such as u-boot, kernel, and rootfs—into one command to create a custom embedded Linux operating system.

Discover how the Yocto project revamps embedded Linux builds with Bitbake and OpenEmbedded Core, offering a customizable Linux distribution through Poky, unlike binary distros like Ubuntu.

Learn how to build a customized Linux OS with Pokey as the reference distribution, using source code to create your own distro and review version milestones and long-term support.