Any software expected to have a long lifetime will require maintenance which in turn means that you need to be able to build the software again in the future. So how can you ensure that in 10 years time that you will even have a system that is capable of running today’s build system? How …
Tag: Yocto
FOSDEM 2025
FOSDEM 2025, one of the largest open-source software conferences in the world, took place in Brussels, Belgium in February this year. The Good Penguin attended and in this blog post we will share some of our highlights. Exploring Open Source Dual A/B Update Solutions for Embedded Linux – Leon Anavi At The Good Penguin we …
The Impact of Non-Blocking Consoles (nbcon) on Linux Boot Time
During the Linux boot process, the boot console is responsible for relaying boot messages to the user. On embedded systems this console is often attached to a serial port that can only handle a maximum data rate of a few kilobytes per second which degrades overall boot time. In this post we’ll explore how the …
Embedded Linux Conference 2024 Europe
Open Source Summit Europe 2024 happened in mid September In Vienna and incorporated the Embedded Linux Conference. The Good Penguin sent a group over to participate to both network and also to keep up to date on what new developments are happening, not just in the Embedded Linux space but also the broader Linux and …
Handling Security Vulnerabilities in Yocto Scarthgap
The latest Long Term Support (LTS) version of Yocto was released last month with the code name “Scarthgap” – presumably named after a mountain pass in the Lake District national park. It promises 4 years of support, meaning regular point releases with security and bug fixes. In the context of increasing regulatory requirements for cyber …
Linux Yocto layer for the ARM Morello board
We have recently developed and now maintain the meta-morello Yocto layer for ARM’s Morello board which has now became part of the official software stack. The layer is capable of providing the firmware image that goes on the SD card and a bootable image with Linux that goes on the USB stick, these two images …
Self-installing Yocto Image from a USB drive
We are all familiar with the process of installing a desktop operating system onto a PC; simply insert the installation media, typically a USB stick, and boot the device. A minimal version of the OS then runs to perform the process of partitioning discs and installing the full OS. Yocto also has the ability to …
ARM Morello with Linux
ARM has recently made their Morello development on the Linux kernel public and since we are lucky enough to have access to the Morello board we decided to give this a spin. This is in contrast to our last blog post which used an Android stack and ran in a simulator. Kernel development in the …
Delta OTA Update with SWUpdate
With the complexity and dependence on software ever growing, it’s crucial to be able to perform over-the-air (OTA) updates to devices to provide fixes, features and patches for security vulnerabilities. However, a combination of cheap storage and complex software stacks has resulted in an increase in the size of software distributions thus requiring devices to …
Improving Yocto Build Time
Yocto is an excellent distribution builder, however building any Linux distribution from scratch is resource intensive and may take a frustrating long time. This blog posts examines some of the most common techniques that can be used to reduce build times (and resource use). Downloads During a build, bitbake fetches source code from the internet …