PocketIX Kernel Based on Embedded Linux

Article Title: Kernel-based embedded Linux PocketIX system. Linux is a technology channel of the IT lab in China. Includes basic categories such as desktop applications, Linux system management, kernel research, embedded systems, and open source.

In the IT industry, if you want to ask what is the most popular topic today, people engaged in hardware development will not hesitate to answer: Information appliances; people engaged in software development will also not hesitate to answer: linux. in fact, many years ago, when people talked about PDAs, handheld computers, and set-top boxes, the post-PC era came, or the information appliance age came.

Information appliances have not become popular until now. A very important reason is the addition of Linux. The combination of cheap Linux resources and information appliances has truly announced the arrival of the information appliance age! Embedded Linux in Information Appliances (or other devices) is a new favorite of the international software industry. Linux is a natural network operating system, because it is derived from Unix, Unix has developed for decades, mature and stable. Linux is Open Source. Anyone can modify it or develop their own applications. The Linux system can be customized. The system kernel is only kb at the minimum. A core program with a Chinese system and graphical interface can be less than 1 MB, and it is also stable! Therefore, as an embedded system, Linux has great potential.

There are hundreds of Embedded Linux development plans internationally. In China, this development is also very fast. Bolis software has made some useful attempts in this regard, and recently launched an embedded Linux operating system-PocketIX preview version (download URL: www.pocketix.com/software/software.htm .). PocketIX is a standard Linux-based embedded operating system. It consists of a very small kernel and some system modules that can be customized as needed. The system features low space occupation, Fast startup speed, good stability, and multi-task and multi-thread features. Compared with traditional embedded systems, PocketIX adopts a standard Linux structure. All application software running in standard Linux can be smoothly transplanted to the system.

Technical advantages of PocketIX

Standard Linux systems are usually used in servers and desktop environments. Many functions and mechanisms are not suitable for embedded systems, such as security systems, logs, and a large number of server programs. At the same time, some embedded systems have special features, which are not provided by standard Linux. Therefore, standard Linux must be transformed on a large scale. according to the analysis, the embedded Linux products can be divided into four major series: Linux Thin Server/Thin Client, Linux with small GUI, unbounded Linux, and PDA-based Linux. We also know that a big difference between an embedded system and a desktop system is that there is no WinTel alliance like a desktop system in an embedded system, and there are even more CPU chips, this creates a lot of trouble for developers. In the future, PocketIX will support most chips and platforms.

The technical advantages of PocketIX are as follows:

In Linux, many functions such as file system, driver, and network support are implemented in the kernel, so the kernel is quite complex. Therefore, PocketIX retains the necessary functions and removes irrelevant modules from the kernel.

Standard Linux boot requires a lot of time to load the system, detect and initialize the device and file system, start the driver, and check the hard disk. embedded applications require instant boot. Therefore, PocketIX uses storage images and a series of related technologies, so that the system can be instantly loaded.

Good portability. Considering that Linux provides a wide range of open source program resources, the system must provide the same APIs as standard Linux, so that existing programs can be used without modification or modification. The APIS here include syntactically, such as the format of functions and system calls, and also have semantics. For example, the same device name has the same function.

For some embedded applications, these programs are too large. Therefore, PocketIX uses both X and non-x gui systems.

A well-built storage solution is deployed on servers and desktop platforms. The storage usually includes hard disks, memory, and network resources. Standard Linux uses virtual storage, buffering, and other mechanisms in terms of capacity, speed, and cost for various storage media. On the embedded platform, the memory is relatively small. Flash memory is usually used instead of the hard disk as the persistent storage medium. PocketIX removes swap space on the hard disk and manages the memory allocation process in a more intensive manner to maintain sufficient continuous memory. In terms of memory ing mechanism, PocketIX uses a large number of shared libraries and provides a swap-out mechanism for shared libraries to reduce memory consumption.

PocketIX features

PocketIX adopts the Linux standard kernel, but it is reduced and supplemented to make it more compact. It uses a graphical interface. Currently, all installations can be performed on Windows, and you can choose a variety of custom graphical interfaces. It adopts international standardized Chinese Character Processing Technology and supports multiple Chinese Character Input technologies. Currently, only one Chinese font is provided in applications to save space. However, to adapt to embedded applications, users are allowed to add their own fonts. All Unix and Linux programs can be smoothly transplanted to the PocketIX system.

The system configuration for PocketIX without X must be 4 MB in memory and 5 MB in disk. the system configuration for PocketIX must be 4 MB in memory and 20 MB in disk. pocketIX supports a variety of 32-bit CPUs. Currently, it supports Intel386 or more CPUs. In the future, it will support arm, Intel, Motorola, NEC, and other microprocessors.

PocketIX supports standard Ethernet and TCP/IP protocols, and supports standard X Windows. Chinese supports international routes:

1 ,? The Desktop Manager has a Win95 style and provides standard menu bar, clock, system resource indicator, and mail Button indication.

2 ,? File Manager is similar to Windows Explorer and provides file manager, Web browser, and ftp client functions.

3 ,? A standard scientific calculator.

4 ,? An enhanced function is similar to text editing on a wordpad.

5 ,? F3 can enter the intelligent Pinyin input method, and F7 can enter the five-stroke input method.

6 ,? Ctrl + Space can be switched between Chinese and English input methods.

7 ,? The multi-desktop switch function is provided, which is the same as that of most desktop managers in X Windows.

8 ,? Other Linux applications can be easily transplanted to this system. You can add them as needed.

 

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