PetaLinux Overview

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An embedded Linux system typically consist of specialised hardware devices with constraints imposed on its physical size, CPU and memory. The bootloader, the Linux kernel and relevant GNU software enables provision of Linux OS on specialised hardware devices. Together they contribute a powerful and stable platform that can be used to provide solution to a wide range of market verticals.

The development environment for a Linux based embedded system requires software components such as the cross-compiler tool chain, the bootloader, the Linux kernel along with the GNU Software, C libraries and the debugger. These components need to be incorporated into a single build framework and configured for the target hardware before it can be used to build programs for the target device.

This process is further complicated when developing embedded Linux systems on reconfigurable devices. Separate development environments are typically used for the hardware build process and the embedded Linux software build process. This requires complex and error prone synchronisation of the hardware and the software system configuration.

PetaLinux™ brings all of this together into a single development environment, integrating with Xilinx EDK and ISE tools. PetaLogix AutoConfig™ technology simplifies the synchronisation between the hardware and software configurations. This technology propagates the hardware attributes to the bootloader and Linux kernel configurations, removing the need for manual synchronisation.

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