Introduction

So you think your PC/laptop isn't fun enough?
Are you the kind who does hourly checks on the latest phones, more so if they run Linux ? Do you look up in amazement and awe at the horizons where hardware and software meet?
Are you the FOSS devotee who is curious about cross-development but finds build systems Greek and Latin?
Then this is the event to be, where the world of linux-based handhelds gets unravelled....from embedded systems, evaluation boards from Atmel to Beagleboard, phones like Openmoko and much more...
Get to know how Linux powers the most talked about gadgets today, discover the best among the distros that run on such devices and check out the preferred cross-development frameworks like Open Embedded.
Whats more, you even get see your own "Hello world"program or the GTK app you wrote running on a sweet little piece of hardware :)
Also, if you are a newbie wishing to explore, expect us student developers to hold your hands and give you a walk- through in this exciting space..

    Beagleboard
    3x3 sq. inches of Magic ! :)

                           Openmoko- Free your phone ->

Event Format

The workshop shall consist of a couple of talks or lecture series, video conferences and a hands-on demo session on the 3rd night of the hackfest. The section below gives an overview of the session, pre-requisites and other details. Keep checking this space for updates on timing and venue.

A brief round-up of the sessions

Video Conference Talk by Florian Boor:

Time: 2 ^nd October 2009, 6.30 pm to 8.00 pm.
Venue: ICSR Main Auditorium
Overview: This session provides some insight into various aspects of working with a hardware-software combination, adding Linux support for new devices. The session covers low-level aspects like opensource JTAG software and bootloader choices, and progresses up to userland covering on the way, details about how Open Embedded fits in the whole process and so on.
Pre-requisites: Decent familiarity with Linux and basic programming skills are a must. F/OSS development experience highly recommended and preferred. A background in CSE/EE is also helpful.

Using Open Embedded to accelerate DSP and 3D Graphics support for SOC platforms by Pratheesh Gangadhar

Time: 3 ^rd October 2009, 2.00 pm to 3.30 pm.
Venue: ICSR Hall 3
Overview: A brief overview of Open Embedded and Bitbake, examples of how OE simplifies 3D Graphics and DSP application development making use of TI SDKs and hiding sometimes difficult integration details and allowing application developers to concentrate on real development task at hand. Demo. of advanced applications - e.g. video texture streaming which can be used for implementing 3D desktop effects

Pre-requisites: Same as previous and additionally a basic working knowledge of Open Embedded. OE skills are favourable though not a must and a detailed session will be conducted as a part of the pre-Shaastra series which will cover the same. Some background in DSP and graphics will help.

Embedded programming with the GNU toolchain by Vijay Kumar:

Time: 3 ^rd October 2009, 10.00 am to 11.30 am.
Venue: CS Dept, Room: CS 15
Overview: This session will deal with the Cortex-M3 architecture, simulating the processor with Qemu and basic assembly and linker scripts for the same.

Pre-requisites: Basic development experience in Linux and F/OSS. Some experience of/exposure to micro-processors and micro-controllers would be an additional help.

Speaker Profile

Florian Boor

Florian Boor is an independent software architect, consultant and developer for Kernel Concepts, a company that offers consulting and Linux based solutions, especially for embedded platforms. He has more than 16 years of experience in software development and more than 9 years in developing for Linux on handhelds. He is one of the core developers in many celebrated open source projects. Some example projects are OpenEmbedded where he is known for adding support for new devices from time to time, GPE Palmtop Environment where he maintains various components and GPE Phone Edition where he was one of the main software architects. He is also a prominent member of communities such as Maemo and LinuxToGo.

His interests and work include handset-level system and application development, Linux porting and driver development for various embedded devices. When he is not working with exotic boards in Kernel Concepts or contibuting to OE or GPE, he spends his time guiding people on IRC, training nutters as part of his work as mentor for the Google Summer of Code program, presenting cool demonstrations at LinuxTag as an OE representative, blogging about interesting projects at http://fl0rian.wordpress.com and once in a while, giving talks on GPE applications and Maemo. He is a fellow of the Free Software Foundation Europe and has been awarded the Forum Nokia Champion title twice in a row in 2008 and 2009.
More information about him and his work can be found at his above-mentioned blog and the following web-pages :

http://www.bsystems.de/
http://labs.kernelconcepts.de/Members/Florian

Pratheesh Gangadhar

Pratheesh Gangadhar is a Technical Lead at the Emerging End Equipments/ Application Processors and Floating point DSPs group at Texas Instruments India working on helping customers ramp their products on the TI SOC platforms. He has been with Texas Instruments since 2002, after his BTech (Honors) in CS&E from NIT Calicut.
He is actively involved in the Beagleboard community's efforts to enable 3D graphics support in the Angstrom distribution/ Open Embedded using SGX. His interests include open source contribution, embedded system optimization, power management, working on multimedia frameworks and 3D graphics engines. He enjoys porting and optimization of applications to the OMAP and DaVinci processors. His session will start with a brief overview of Open Embedded and Bitbake. The focus will be to demonstrate how OE simplifies 3D Graphics and DSP application development making use of TI SDKs and hiding sometimes difficult integration details and allowing application developers to concentrate on real development task at hand.

Vijay Kumar

Vijay Kumar is an embedded systems developer, currently working for Zilogic Systems (http://www.zilogic.com). He has been hacking various embedded systems ranging from tiny 8051 based firmware to telecom switches running Carrier Grade Linux. As part of his job he has been working on U-Boot and Linux kernel porting for Freescale PowerQUICC processors, firmware development for 8051 and Cortex-M3 architectures. He has been making patch contributions to open source projects including the Linux kernel, Qemu and the Linux Testing Project.

As a trainer, he has been helping newbies to come up to speed in GNU/Linux systems programming and device driver programming. As a
documentation writer, he has been documenting some lesser known areas in open source projects including the Linux kernel, GTK+ and the GNU toolchain. As an enthusiastic free software evangelist, he had co-founded and co-ordinated the activities of the GNU/Linux User Group, Trichy from 2002 to 2004. Some of his work is available from his website http://www.bravegnu.org

Julien Cassignol

                                Julien Cassignol has been a free software enthusiast for a certain amount of time, specialized in IT Security & Networks. He is the leader of "hackable:1" for Bearstech, a distribution based on Debian and the Gnome Mobile Initiative, targeted at first for Openmoko's GTA02. He's also the leader of "SHR" for the community, a distribution based on OpenEmbedded and the FreeSmartphone.Org initiative (SHR being the official FSO distribution), where he intends to develop a mature distribution for smartphones.

Working on these distros, he aims to develop the concept of the "internet of things". He's also a developer for both these projects, when his busy schedule allows him to.

General Information

Pre-Shaastra Talks
A run-up to the actual excitement at Shaastra

From Silicon to Software - An overview of embedded system, with some hardware basics and insights into embedded operating systems, and userland application development.

   Date: 22nd August 2009
   Time: 10.30 am
       Venue: ChLT,IIT Madras Campus

With computers taking over mankind, it is very crucial for us as Engineers to know what goes behind the making of these gadgets without which sometimes its impossible to even think of survival. The brief (if you consider 1.5 hrs as brief, you are with us :) ) talk will cover basic details of creation of these silicon pieces to how several of these chips are put together to make a hardware system. We shall discuss further on how software is added into these "embedded" systems to make what they are today. Details on what goes behind building an embedded system - (Operating System, devices, application software) shall also be discussed. The case under study would be RTEMS - a real time executive for multiprocessor systems (previously missile systems), an operating system widely deployed on various space missions by both NASA and ESA. We will move up the embedded system development layers to touch upon, application development with some live demos using the Freerunner Open Mobile phone running the OpenMoko platform. That explains the title of the talk - "From *Silicon* to *Software*".

Speakers :
     Aanjhan Ranganathan
       Student and Researcher, EPFL Switzerland. Open source developer and contributor to RTEMS,Ubuntu,Fedora Electronic Lab, gnusim8085 and other FOSS projects. Former researcher for development of embedded modules for top
Automotive manufacturers including Audi and Volkswagen.
    Sudharshan S
      Openmoko and Freesmartphone.org developer.

FAQ

Your descriptions are boring to me. Where/What is the cool stuff I can look upto ?

If you think running your app on a 3x3 inch board and utlitizing features that make it as powerful as your laptop is cool, you are with us. You get to learn how cross-compiling is done effortlessly and how linux distros can be customised to run on such platforms. Did we mention some cool tricks on an Openmoko Freerunner phone ?

How do I register for this event ?

Not all sessions require registration. Video Conferences are open to all. The talk sessions need prior registration and the lab session needs prior registration and attendance in the corresponding talk. Create a user for yourself on the Shaastra user portal and use the registration page for single user events to fill in the questionnaire.

What is the target audience for this event ?

Ideally a fairly decent exposure to F/OSS development and some contribution to Open Source, lots of enthusiasm to try out cross-development, some basic knowledge of computer system concepts (where CSE/EE background will help) is a good combination. However, enthusiasm and proficiency in some factors on this list can substitute the lacking ones.

I am an active open source user/contributor but do not have a CSE / EE background. Am I eligible for the workshop ?

Yes. Depending on how comfortable you are with basics of computer organization and some OS concepts, you should pretty much feel at home.

I am new to Linux and F/OSS. Will I benefit from this workshop ?

No.

Do we get hospitality for this event ?

No.

Do I need to attend the pre-Shaastra sessions to be eligible for the Shaastra sessions ?

You don't need to, but they are highly recommended if you would want the maximum from the workshop. One of the sessions assumes some basic OE knowledge, which you can get a good exposure to by attending the pre-Shaastra talk on that.

Do I need to attend the talks to be eligible for the hands-on session ?

Yes.

I am good at programming in C (or some language) but have no development experience, F/OSS or otherwise. Am I likely to be eligible for/ to benefit from this workshop ?

Depends. Preference will be given to those with F/OSS exposure though.

Contact

Co-ordinators

Kirtika Ruchandani +91-9444563596
Vijay Kumar Raju +91-9884095543

Queries can be directed to embeddedlinux@shaastra.org

Primary links