Embedded FreeBSD Cookbook (Embedded Technology) (Paperback)

~ Paul Cevoli Paul Cevoli is an embedded systems engineer and programmer with over 15 years of experience with various embedded operating systems. (Author) "Embedded computer system permeate all aspects of our daily lives..." (more)
Key Phrases: sysent structure, interrupt status control register, cdevsw structure, Base Address Register, Bourne Shell, Data Base Address (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Book Description

Covers all the fundamentals, and provides sample code for most of the major software components of a typical embedded system.

Product Description

The FreeBSD operating system has become a popular OS choice for embedded systems due to its small size and the fact that it is free to users. However, detailed information on using FreeBSD is difficult to find. Author Paul Cevoli, an experienced embedded systems engineer, answers that need in this cookbook aimed at making life easier for engineers working with FreeBSD. Topics covered in the book include core operating system components, processes, process scheduling, virtual memory, device drivers and debugging, as these are the core features necessary for embedded system developers. The core software provided to the reader on the accompanying CD-ROM is written in C. Each chapter discusses basic components of FreeBSD, device drivers, Unix kernel, and C and GNU development tools, and provides the reader with the information needed to accomplish the stated task, along with sample source code.


* Provides numerous examples of system software with source code and debugging techniques that can provide starting points for your own designs

* Covers core operating system components, processes and process scheduling, system booting, virtual memory, device drivers, debugging, and much more

* All sample code is provided on the accompanying CD-ROM, along with other useful programming tools

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Product Details

• Paperback: 233 pages
• Publisher: Newnes (December 10, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1589950046
• ISBN-13: 978-1589950047
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.9 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,579,236 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A unique look inside the embedded development process, December 13, 2004

By	Richard Bejtlich "TaoSecurity.com" (Metro Washington, DC) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

When I skimmed 'Embedded FreeBSD Cookbook' (EFC) in the bookstore, I was impressed by the amount of general FreeBSD information it contained. Now that I've bought and read it, I'm glad this book caught my eye. Although EFC is somewhat dated by its use of FreeBSD 4.4 (released Sep 01), I learned more about about FreeBSD internals. I also gained insights into what is needed to create an embedded appliance from the ground up.

EFC describes how the Measurement Computing company used FreeBSD 4.4 to create their Digital Input-Output (DIO) server appliance, built on a Network Engines 'Roadster' platform. The author explains the advantages of embedded systems and why it makes sense to construct them using open source software. He also defends the use of BSD-licensed software to build the DIO.

The best aspect of the book was its direct nature and breadth of coverage. EFC addresses many topics in a clear and concise manner, including processes, daemons, system calls, and library usage. I found this direct and efficient approach a good way to become familiar with subjects covered in much greater depth by books like McKusick and Neville-Neil's 'The Design and Implementation of the FreeBSD Operating System.'

On the downside, for a reader on the eve of 2005, the book is dated in several respects. EFC's use of FreeBSD 4.x means some of its material no longer applies to FreeBSD 5.x. For example, 5.x uses DEVFS in place of manual device node creation. System source code (like the cdevsw structure in bus_private.h) is often much different. Some code, like ch 2's explanation of forking, works on 4.x but not 5.x. The use of the Java JDK version 1.1.8 really dates the book, as well. Finally, several typos change the meaning of parts of the text. For example, p. 30 appears to show 'gcc -00' (two zeroes) when I believe it should be 'gcc -O0' (capital O, zero) to disable compiler optimizations. Below on the same page, objdump should be passed the '--disassemble' or the '-d' switch, not '-disassemble'.

Overall, I still liked reading EFC. The book gave me plenty to consider, should I ever want to deploy an embedded appliance. Companies like St Bernard do use FreeBSD in their appliances, so perhaps an update by one of their developers would be in order?

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Nothing to do with embedded BSD, January 3, 2006

By	B. Ben Ami "Embedded developer" - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I have several years of experience working on embedded Linux. I've bought this book, thinking it will help me better understand how to use BSD in an embedded env (like number of embedded linux books available). However, instead on focusing on the embedded side, this book simple describe how to wirte deamons, what's a system call etc. Read Steven's books if you need this kind of training.

5 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Thinking outside the box, April 18, 2003

By A Customer

Amazing book, like no other. Most books include things like a 'Table of Contents' and organized chapters.. not these guys. They have learned to think outside the box and have created all new features never seen before in any other book, such as placing part of chapter 4 inside of chapter 2 and omitting chapter 1 completely. Amazing, Brilliant.
Yes, this is sarcasm. Be careful when ordering this book because, although they are pretty good writers, they are not very good at book binding.

But luckily, they do include a cdrom that contains the entire book in electronic format so you're not completely [lost].