Category: Training

Our Embedded Linux system development course has been for many years one of our most popular training courses. It is our course targeted at engineers who are getting started with Linux on embedded systems, and need to understand the big picture, but with a sufficiently deep level of details. It describes the overall structure of an embedded Linux system, and teaches step by step how it is build: cross-compilation toolchain, bootloader, Linux kernel, minimal root filesystem, storage, integration of user-space components, build systems, etc.

Even though this course has seen many small updates throughout the years to use newer versions of the different software components and various improvements and updates to the training materials, the course had remained fundamentally the same for quite some time. However, we had identified a number of areas on which we wanted to make some more fundamental changes, and we’ve taken the chance of the summer season to prepare a brand new version of this course, with many major changes and improvements.

This updated version of the course is now available, and as usual with Bootlin its training materials are freely available:

• Agenda for on-site sessions
• Agenda for on-line session
• Slides
• Practical labs instructions
• Data for the practical labs

Compared to our previous version of this course, the main changes are:

• Major rewrite of the lecture section on bootloader and firmware, to better cover UEFI, Trusted Firmware (TF-A), Trusted Execution Environment, and overall reflect the increased complexity of the booting process of modern embedded platforms. The corresponding practical lab also makes use of TF-A to illustrate this.
• Addition of a new section on Accessing hardware devices with many details on the Device Tree, how to identify kernel drivers for devices, and what are the typical interfaces in Linux to access hardware. This is illustrated by a new lab in which we manipulate GPIOs, LEDs, add support for a sound card connected over USB, and add support for a joystick connected over I2C, which extending the Device Tree and manipulating pin-muxing.
• Removal of the practical lab on flash filesystems, due to the progressively reducing number of platforms that use raw NAND flash. We still have a lecture on how raw flash memory is handled in Linux (MTD, UBI, UBIFS), but no longer a practical lab, in order to spend time on topics that are more commonly relevant.
• A major rework of the final part of the course which covers the user-space stack, with the aim of showing how to build a reasonably realistic product:
  • We explain and demonstrate how to cross-compile and integrate manually libraries and applications in an embedded Linux system. We illustrate this by cross-compiling alsa-lib and alsa-utils to play audio with our USB audio device, libgpiod to manipulate GPIOs, and ipcalc to manipulate the Meson build system.
  • We then explain the concepts and principles behind embedded Linux build systems (with a focus on Buildroot and Yocto), as well as binary distributions. We illustrate this by using Buildroot to build a complete embedded Linux system, which uses mpd as an audio player daemon.
  • We then cover open-source licensing topics.
  • We then cover the major Linux software stacks for graphics, multimedia, networking, as well as systemd and D-Bus. We illustrate this by changing our system to use systemd as an init system, and use udev for device management.
  • Finally, we cover application development and debugging: how to cross-compile your own application, how to debug it, using strace, ltrace, gdb, perf, valgrind. We illustrate this by implementing an application that allows to use an I2C-connected joystick to control the audio playback of an audio playlist. This application is then analyzed and debugged using the relevant debugging tools.
• The real-time Linux part of the course has been removed from the course, as we now have a dedicated real-time Linux with PREEMPT_RT course, which goes into many more details on this topic.

The course is currently delivered with practical labs done on the STM32MP1 platform from ST, but we intend to port it on the BeagleBone Black and Qemu as well. In any case, the course is very generic and relevant for all embedded Linux projects, regardless of the specific hardware platform being used.

This new edition has already been delivered to several customers, both on-line and on-site. All our slots for 2022 are already fully booked, but we do offer for 2023:

• A public on-line session on January 30, 31, February 2, 3, 6, 7, 9, 2023, from 2:00 PM to 6:00 PM UTC+1. Registration is accessible directly online. This is the best option to train a few engineers from your team.
• Private sessions, either on-line or on-site, upon request. You can contact us to discuss the details and get a quote.

We are really looking forward to continuing to share our knowledge about embedded Linux with even more engineers, and are confident that this updated version of the course will make this knowledge sharing even more efficient and fruitful.

Since the start of the pandemic in March 2020, we have been offering our popular training courses online to our customers, in both public sessions (opened to individual registration) and dedicated sessions (organized on-demand for our customers, at their choice of date/time).

Our public sessions were initially all organized in the afternoon of Europe (14:00 to 18:00 Paris time), but we started in late 2021 proposing our Embedded
Linux system development training course for customers in the US/America, especially on the West Coast. Thanks to the success of this, we have decided to also start offering at times convenient for US/America customers the following courses:

• our Linux kernel driver development training course. The first session is scheduled from April 11 to April 21, with Bootlin engineer and trainer Miquèl Raynal, who is also a maintainer in the Linux kernel! The course runs from 09:00 AM to 1:00 PM Pacific, 12:00 PM to 4:00 PM Eastern, 6:00 PM to 10:00 PM Europe. Registration at the discount rate until March 10 for 829 EUR.
• our Yocto/OpenEmbedded system development training course. The first session is scheduled from March 7 to March 10, with Bootlin engineer and trainer Maxime Chevallier. The course runs from 09:00 AM to 1:00 PM Pacific, 12:00 PM to 4:00 PM Eastern, 6:00 PM to 10:00 PM Europe. Registration at the discount rate is available until February 6 for 519 EUR.

The chosen time is ideal for US/America customers, but also works for participants in Europe who would like to attend our courses outside of their normal working hours.

Of course, we have plenty of other training sessions scheduled, for all our 7 different training courses, covering a wide range of time zones. Check our training page for all the details, and contact us if you have specific needs: a dedicated training course for your company, a session organized at a different date/time, etc.

Since April 2020, we are offering our training courses online, both in public sessions available to individual registration and in dedicated sessions for specific customers.

So far, our public sessions have always been organized from 2 PM to 6 PM Paris time, which was a good fit for our customers in Europe and in the US East Coast, but not so much for our customers in the US West Coast, in the Middle East and Asia.

Therefore, we are happy to announce that we have opened two sessions of our Embedded Linux system development course at different times, to suit the needs of customers in different parts of the world:

• An Embedded Linux system development course will start on November 22, spread over 7 sessions of 4 hours organized from 09:00 to 13:00 Paris time (UTC+1), which is 13:30 to 17:30 in India, and 16:00 to 20:00 in China. This time is best for our customers in Europe, Middle East and Asia. Registration is possible directly online or by contacting us to get a quotation. The trainer for this course will be Grégory Clement.
• An Embedded Linux system development course will start on November 29, spread over 7 sessions of 4 hours organized from 18:00 to 22:00 Paris time (UTC+1), which is 09:00 to 13:00 in the US West Coast, and 12:00 to 16:00 in the US East Coast. Registration is possible directly online or by contacting us to get a quotation. The trainer for this course will be Michael Opdenacker.

In both cases, the course is offered at 829 EUR per participant in the early bird rate (valid for registrations at least one month prior to the course starting date), or otherwise at 929 EUR.

Of course, like for all our training courses, the training materials are fully open, so that you can verify that the course suits your needs. See Embedded Linux system development training page for the complete agenda, slides and lab instructions.

If there is sufficient interest in these new time zones, we will consider offering our other courses at similar times in the future.

Throughout this first half of 2021, our online training courses available for individual registration have been very popular. We have added some new dates for this summer and early fall for all our courses:

• Our next Embedded Linux system development course starts on September 1, during 7 sessions of 4 hours each.
• Our next Linux kernel driver development course starts on September 6, during 7 sessions of 4 hours each.
• Our next Yocto/OpenEmbedded system development course starts on July 19, during 4 sessions of 4 hours each.
• Our next Buildroot system development course starts on October 11, during 5 sessions of 4 hours each.
• Our next Understanding the Linux graphics stack course starts on September 14, during 4 sessions of 4 hours each.
• Our next Embedded Linux boot-time optimization course starts on October 25, during 4 sessions of 4 hours each.

You can register directly online through Eventbrite and pay by credit card, or request an invoice. Note that our sessions are regularly full: our embedded Linux training course next month is full one month before the session, so make sure to book your seat early enough. We offer a 100 EUR early bird discount for registrations taking place at least one month before the course.

These courses are delivered entirely online: you don’t need any hardware to participate, as the hands-on labs are replaced by live demonstrations made by the trainer. All you need is a web browser, a good Internet connection and an audio headset!

We can also organize private courses upon request, if you have a larger group of engineers to train on these topics. Contact us for details!

Our online training courses of January are now all completed, and were again successful. So we’re happy to announce the next dates for our public training courses in March and April, for all our courses: Embedded Linux system development, Linux kernel driver development, Yocto and OpenEmbedded system development, Buildroot system development and Linux graphics stack.

It is worth mentioning that we now have an Early Bird price, which is valid up to 1 month before the course, so register early if you’re interested!

Type	Dates	Time	Duration	Cost and registration
Embedded Linux (agenda)	Mar. 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 15, 16, 2021 + extra session on Mar. 17 if needed	14:00 – 18:00 (Paris, UTC+1)	28 h	Early: 829 EUR* Regular: 929 EUR* Register
Linux kernel (agenda)	Mar. 9, 10, 11, 12, 16, 17, 18, 2021	13:30 – 17:30 (Paris time, UTC+1)	28 h	Early: 829 EUR* Regular: 929 EUR* register
Buildroot (agenda)	Mar. 8, 9, 10, 11, 2021	14:00 – 18:00 (Paris time, UTC+1)	16 h	Early: 519 EUR* Regular: 619 EUR* Register
Yocto Project (agenda)	Mar. 22, 23, 24, 25, 2021 + extra session on Mar 26 if needed	14:00 – 18:00 (Paris time, UTC+1)	16 h	Early: 519 EUR* Regular: 619 EUR* Register
Linux Graphics (agenda)	Apr. 6, 7, 8, 9, 2021	14:00 – 18:00 (Paris time, UTC+2)	16 h	Early: 519 EUR* Regular: 619 EUR* Register