Introduction to the U-Boot bootloader
U-Boot is the universal bootloader used on a vast majority of embedded systems, development kits, products and so on. This session is an introduction into the U-Boot bootloader, including a hands-on part, and covers practical topics like identifying that the board is running U-Boot, accessing and exploring the U-Boot shell, including advanced scripting techniques to make life easier, obtaining information about the current hardware, accessing buses and storage and finally booting the kernel. Furthermore, since every embedded project has it’s unique set of requirements, U-Boot customization topics are briefly touched at the end of the session.
For 2018 we will be using the PocketBeagle.
All the Embedded Apprentice Linux Engineer classes will involve using embedded hardware during the hands-on labs. We will be using the PocketBeagle and a BaconBits cape which are included with the $75 USD registration fee for E-ALE at SCaLE16x and ELC. We will only support doing the labs on the official HW kit; please don't bring your own and try to use that. The HW kits will be delivered to the attendee at the first seminar they choose to attend.
The Techlab cape has the following capabilities:
Stephanie Lockwood-Childs
President / Embedded Linux consultant, VCT Labs, Inc.https://vctlabs.com/
Stephanie is co-founder and President of VCT Labs, an Engineering Services company composed largely of long-time Linux enthusiasts. Her own enthusiasm for Linux has led to over 15 years of embedded Linux consulting, including most recently, work on infrared cameras and medical devices. Stephanie has also been involved in the free software community in a variety of roles over the years: LUG president, member of the Gentoo powerpc team, and GSoC mentor for Beaglebone.org to name a few. So far she has a perfect record of attending every SCaLE conference held thus far, and is looking forward to participating in the embedded track again this year.
Marek Vasut
U-Boot USB/SoCFPGA/PXA custodian, Linux kernel contributor, OE contributor. FPGA hobbyist, Self Employed
I have been a contractor for multiple companies for many years. My primary responsibility is designing and implementing customer-specific functionality. One important aspect of my work is leveraging the benefits of working inside the mainline Linux, U-Boot and OE / Yocto Project, explaining our customers the benefits of pushing the newly produced code back into mainline and effectively doing the contributions. I am therefore heavily involved with both mainline U-Boot and Linux kernel, be it my role as R-Car, SoC-FPGA or USB maintainer for U-Boot, MTD co-maintainer in Linux or others. My speaking experience includes giving talks at ELCE, LinuxCon Japan, EmbeddedWorld and various smaller events across Europe.