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Re: [microblaze-uclinux] PetaLinux documentation update
John Williams wrote:
> Hi folks,
>
> There has been some discussion lately about using PetaLinux under
> Windows, and the idea of split Linux/Windows environments.
I am in the process of completing a 2 part article that Circuit
Cellar is planning on printing, specifically about embedded Linux
development in a Windows world.
There is a thin over view of number of approaches including cygwin,
and vmware, as well as connect to a real linux machine from windows
(which is my typical approach)
The focus of the article is on using coLinux -
http://www.colinux.org. I make heavy use of coLinux whenever I have to
work on the road.
coLinux is a sort of offshoot of User Mode Linux - running Linux as
a process under Linux. This is NOT the same is xen/vmware/microsoft
virtual PC, ..
coLinux is a REAL linux, but it uses a set of custom drivers - cobd,
conet, cofs, cocd, ... that basically pass Linux resource requests
throough a sort of IPC system to windows daemons
that perform the real hardware access (sort of).
If coLinux is Idle there is almost no windows overhead. Obviously
when it is loaded performance si based on the total coLinux/windows load.
Aside from the ipc/driver virtualization this is real Linux running
as a process under Windows. You can do almost everything you can on a
Linux box (no sound driver, no "video" driver, and a few other similar
limitations). For those so inclined you can run Xming on the windows
side and connect to Gnome or KDE on the colinux side. Though for
embedded work I normally connect using putty.
I am sufficiently enamoured with the coLinux approach that I am
developing a similar target-host rpc driver solution for Pico's hosted
embedded powerPC's
I am also working on a custom coLinux installer for Pico that builds
a colinux environment on your windows machine with the crosscompilers,
Linux source, busybox, .... all there and ready to use.
colinux also provides a filesystem driver - cofs, that allows
colinux to mount directory trees on the host (the approach is different,
but think of it like smbfs, or maybe more like sshfs under fuse for
windows). Like cygwin - you can not compile a Linux kernel that is
hosted on a windows filesystem (without all kinds of evil machinations)
but you can move files back and forth between colinux and windows trivially.
Though I started using coLinux for embedded development entirely on
my own. The idea is apparently not original - I have subsequently found
several embedded platforms that are providing their own coLinux
development environment - including blackfin.
The first part of my article - why coLinux and how to get it
installed is complete.
The second on setting coLinux up as an embedded development
environment is about 80% complete and should be finished this week.
I can provide a limited # of copies for review on request - and I
would appreciate feedback. But I can not do anything that might be
construed as "publishing" it for something like 120 days after it
appears in print.
--
Dave Lynch DLA Systems
Software Development: Embedded Linux
717.627.3770 dhlii@xxxxxxxxxx http://www.dlasys.net
fax: 1.253.369.9244 Cell: 1.717.587.7774
Over 25 years' experience in platforms, languages, and technologies too numerous to list.
"Any intelligent fool can make things bigger and more complex... It takes a touch of genius - and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction."
Albert Einstein
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