Customer Reviews

Embedded Linux Primer: A Practical Real-World Approach (2nd Edition)

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3 star:		(1)
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1 star:		(1)

 

 

In my work, I not infrequently have to familiarize myself with different technologies. I generally don't have a lot of time to do this.

Books like "Embedded Linux Primer" are my salvation. The author states in his preface "This book describes my view of what an embedded engineer needs to know to get up to speed fast in an embedded Linux environment". I am not an engineer, but I am a technologist and this book got me off to a flying start in terms of letting me quickly expand my knowledge of embedded Linux.

This book will not teach you how to use Linux or how to program in C and you'd best have some experience in both to even read the book.

It is not a hardware book either or a book on the Linux kernel.

It is what its title states, a primer on embedded Linux systems and how to get them up and running.

In 19 chapters, author Hallinan walks the reader through initial discussions of why to choose embedded Linux and quickly moves into the anatomy of an embedded Linux system. Hallinan's writing style is wonderfully clear and he rarely deviates from the subject at hand. There are lots of tips in the text covering the idiosyncrasies of working with an embedded system, which I found particularly helpful.

Each of the chapters is a lesson. At the end of each, there are suggestions for additional reading.

In my case, I just needed a coherent overview of embedded Linux. I got that quickly and easily thanks to Hallinan's style. Now that my initial purpose has been accomplished, I can do as Hallinan suggests: take out an old x86 system and follow along as he explains how to get an embedded Linux system up and running. Hallinan makes it a fun task.

Jerry

Like Ghost said. Not a serious how to book. It explains a little theory. Enough to see the buzz words. But not enough to really learn how to implement.

The explanation of the boot process was good. The short walk through on the kernel source code was a good primer. Could not find how to burn new files into Flash though.

Most of the books strong points were showing the reader where to go on line to find the answers. But some of the links to the web no longer exist. I guess this is a problem writing a book on a fast moving technology. It would have been better to go ahead and include the info in the book.

I would also recommend rearranging the chapters to where the Tool-Chain is covered first in an attempt to get the reader up and running so the rest of the book can be applied as the material is read. Thanks for the effort.

The second updated edition of Embedded Linux Primer: A Practical Real-World Approach provides the latest keys to developing embedded solutions using Linux. Newcomers to embedded programming concepts as well as those seeking reinforcement of systems and Linux operations will find this teaches all the basics, includes expanded, updated coverage on kernel debugging, and introduces the latest open source embedded Linux systems. Reference appendixes and configuration tips contribute to a real winner!

Easy to read and understand. Detailed explanation of difficult topics. Gotchas identified and explained. Perhaps the best book on embedded Linux out there.

This is definitely the best book on embedded Linux development. The author covers all important things you need to know to start using Linux on embedded devices. It is unfortunate that I didn't get this book seven months ago when I have just started working with embedded Linux, this would save me a lot of time. I strongly recommend this book for everyone who is starting working with embedded Linux. The only one real disadvantage of this book is too big Appendix :)

I am doing my thesis with the following subject "Analytical Methods on Porting Linux to Embedded Systems" and this book helped me to understand the Big Picture first and then the details I wanted in order to approach my thesis better.
Great writing style and friendly aura from the writer.
I think this is a great start point for beginners to Embedded Linux.
Recommended.

I'm reading yet, but this book have a nice enlightenment. Very good.
Another nice book is "Embedded Linux System Design and Development". Is not about system build, but is about the embedded world.
When has bought the "Embedded Linux System Design and Development", I was searching something like "Embedded Linux Primer".
Is a excelent book, in my humble opinion.

This book may be OK for a first-pass non-technical overview of the area, but it lacks any degree of technical depth and detail. An actual programmer will find it useless, though it might be OK for a suit to get a whiff of what the embedded-linux platform is, kinda, sorta. Otoh, suits don't read books like that anyway. So, I'm not sure who this book is for. And although, like I've said, it's OK for a fleeting resume of the topic, (1) any in-depth book -- that you'll need to get anyway at some point -- will also provide such material (for example a wastly superior book from O'Reilly whose authors I forget at the moment), and (2) the book under consideration here is way too voluminous and, last-not-least, expensive for a BS intro, a piece of one-pass read-and-toss literature (it should cost fifteen bucks -- and will still require too much reading to be worthwhile). Not recommended. Be suspicious about the mass of positive reviews here: I smell self-praise by authors/publishers. The book's not good, any engineer will see it immediately upon thumbing through. Only the O'Reilly book is worthwhile so far (make sure to get the latest edition -- there's been several, the early ones were not good either).

08/22/2011: In response to commenter Mark R. Hicks: the O'Reilly book I was talking about is Building Embedded Linux Systems, by Karim Yaghmour, Second Edition. (Once again, do not accidentally buy the first editon, which is a useless brochure that, in addition to having always been very short on substance, is by now horribly out of date).