Embedded Systems and Operating Systems track

Fosdem is the Free and Open Source Developers European Meeting that organized a track on Embedded and Kernel Development in one of the developers rooms.

Open Source - (open source software) is open-source software. Open source code of programs is available for viewing, studying and subsequent changes. For example, Serial Port Monitor is a free serial port logger program.

The term open source was first voiced in 1998 by Eric Raymond and Bruce Perens. They both argued that the term free software is rather ambiguous and confusing some commercial entrepreneurs.

The use of Free Software in the infrastructure of Embedded Systems is booming, e.g. by the use of Linux, uClinux, eCos, RedBoot, RTEMS and many other Free Software components. Operating System development has always been a very important topic in Free Software. As embedded and real-time systems typically have special OS requirements, we organise this Free Embedded and OS development track at FOSDEM.

This track at FOSDEM provides a remarkable opportunity to present and discuss the ongoing work in these areas, and we invite developers to present their current projects. Technical topics of the conference include but are not limited to :

OS Development: kernel architecture and implementation (e.g. Linux, BSD, the Hurd, ...)

2. Embedded Development: tool chains and project cases (e.g. tool chain projects, packaging for cross-compilation, portability, ...)

3. Real-time extensions, nanokernels and hardware virtualization software (e.g. RTAI, Adeos, KURT, L4, ...)

4. Hard real-time OS's (eCos, RTEMS, ...)

5. Embedded Java: open-source implementations and the compatibility question (Classpath, Kaffe, Wonka, ..., Mauve, JCK, JCP, ...)

6. Open hardware and softcores (e.g opencores.org, OpenRISC, leonSparc, FPGA's, ...)

7. GUI's for embedded systems (Gtk, Qt, MicroWindows, ...)

8. Serial communication applications overview

- Virtual Serial Port

- Serial over Ethernet Software

Many wireless access points of the market are based on hardware that sometimes can run linux and other free software. The goal of this presentation is to give bits of advice on how to hack your hardware, so as to extend its features. An overview of the free software tools (jtag-tools, debuggers, cross-compilers).