In this course attendees will learn how to develop and customize Linux device drivers.
The following topics will be covered:
- Introduction to the Linux kernel – Kernel responsibilities, general architecture, development process, and versioning, source code overview, license, navigation tools.
- Kernel configuration and build process – configuring the Linux kernel, compiling the kernel, generated images, installing the kernel, compiling the device tree, passing parameters to the kernel.
- Kernel modules – monolithic kernel vs microkernel architectures, Linux kernel modules, advantages of using modules, compiling and installing modules, CLI tools to manage kernel modules, passing parameters to modules, developing a kernel module, integrating the module into Linux’s source code.
- Hardware devices – Linux hardware access, device classes, character device driver, major/minor number, implementing file operations, exchanging data with userspace, registering a character driver, deallocating resources, error handling.
- Accessing hardware – ways of accessing I/O (bus I/O, port I/O, memory mapped I/O), memory-mapped I/O with MMU, requesting an I/O region, mapping a physical address to a virtual address, accessing registers, I/O access APIs.
- Frameworks – Linux driver model, kernel frameworks (tty, alsa, framebuffer, v4l, mtd, input, hwmon, watchdog, rtc, etc), framebuffer driver, power supply driver, input driver, LED framework.
- GPIOLIB – accessing GPIOs on Linux, GPIOLIB, GPIO access in userspace (sysfs and chardev), GPIO access APIs in kernel.
- Bus infrastructure – introduction to the bus infrastructure, architecture and advantages, power management, bus core and bus adapters, I2C bus analysis, analyzing an I2C device driver, registering a device on the bus, platform bus, platform drivers and platform devices.
- Device tree – device tree history and introduction, device tree syntax, properties and nodes, device tree examples, analyzing some device tree nodes, changes required in drivers to support device tree, device tree APIs, device tree organization, device tree bindings.
- Process management – processes and threads on Linux, the states of a task, Linux schedulers, real-time tasks, kernel threads, kernel threads API, events and synchronization, wait queues, completion variable.
- Interrupt handling – hardware interrupt events, interrupt handling in the kernel, registering an ISR, restrictions on interrupt handling, how to implement an ISR, dividing the handling of an ISR into two parts (top half and bottom half), tasklets, work queues, threaded IRQs.
- Concurrency management – multitasking and concurrency, Linux kernel concurrency, critical sections and mutual exclusion, atomic operations, locking, mutex, spinlocks.
- Final thoughts – Additional links and resources, book recommendations, closing questions and comments.
For more details on the content of this training session, you can download the full agenda and the training slides (in Portuguese).
Some pictures of training sessions already presented are available here.
Audience
Students, engineers and software developers of embedded systems projects.
Requirements
Command line interface, C language, embedded Linux architecture.
Equipment
All required development tools and equipment will be provided by Embedded Labworks.
Material
The course material contains the slides of the presentations, book of activities and exercises, reference guides, and additional reference documents. All materials will be provided in an electronic format at the start of the training session.
Development kits
The training exercises will be performed on the Colibri i.MX6 Toradex module with the Aster carrier board and an expansion board with a lot of peripherals, including leds, buttons, trimpot, buzzer, UART, temperature sensor, 7 segment display, GPIO expander and accelerometer.
Open sessions
The open training sessions are presented in a pleasant environment, with a properly equipped laboratory and Internet access. Classes are usually presented full time, with a stop for lunch and a coffee break in the morning.
If you are interested in participating in the training but there is no open session available, please fill the pre-registration form clicking here. We will contact you as soon as a new training session is opened.
In-company sessions
If you plan to train your team or a group of people, consider a training session in your company.
In-company classes have the same characteristics of an open training session. In this model, the company is responsible for providing the necessary resources needed for the training, including room, data projector and development machines. This model also brings big advantages for the company, since the cost of transportation and accommodation of several employees is reduced only to the instructor.
If your company has a special requirement, we can study a program that meets your needs in a specific way, like preparing the training material for a specific hardware platform or developing additional content. Do not hesitate to contact us by e-mail or leaving a message in the contact page.
Take the training to your city
You can take the training session to your community at any city in Brazil!
Can't afford to take the course in São Paulo? Do you have a study group and want to learn more about a specific technology? Do you coordinate or participate in the coordination of a course at your university and would like to train the teachers and students? Do you have a space and would like to get some friends together and spend enjoyable hours learning about embedded systems?
Send an e-mail or leave a message in the contact page. Send the name of the course you are interested and the city. If we can get together a group of interested people, we can bring the training to your city!
Customers who already attended
Questions?
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