Building Your Own Embedded System

Embedded system is a computer system dedicated to perform one or a few functions. Embedded system products are gaining increasing popularity in consumer appliances we use daily, including set-top boxes, media players, game consoles, home security and automation systems, mobile phones, GPS receivers, etc.

Ever thinking of developing your own embedded system like Internet media player or home automation system? To build one, an Intel Atom processor based motherboard, a USB flash drive, a DDR2 memory module, and a power supply unit are what you need. It would just cost you around RM500.

With free open source software like Embedded Linux, you can build the software or firmware of the system at zero cost. You need to first setup a Linux operating system like Kubuntu in your PC. To setup the compiler toolchain, using Buildroot would be helpful. It makes it easy to generate a cross-compilation toolchain and your target Linux system using the uClibc C library. You are then ready to develop the system software of your embedded system.

Koay Kah Hoe

DreamCatcher Technical Training

Dec 2009