Lizard Embedded Linux Kit (LELK)

Info Box Applies to Lizard Applies to LizardEVB-Lite

Introduction

Major software components of an Embedded Linux system are:

• bootloader
• operating system kernel
• root file system, including user-space application and libraries
• tool chain (on development host)

What is

Lizard Embedded Linux Kit (LELK for short) provides all the necessary stuff required to set up the developing environment to:

• build the bootloader (U-Boot)
• build and run Linux operating system on Lizard-based systems
• build Linux applications that will run on the target.

The kit is composed by:

• hardware platform composed by Lizard system-on-module (SOM for short) and carrier board. Supported carrier boards are:
  • LizardEVB-Lite
• U-Boot bootloader sources
• Linux kernel sources
• Technical documentation such hardware manuals, mechanical drawings, reference schematics, application notes etc.

The documentation related to the software issues helps the user to start and configure the bootloader and the operating system quickly by hiding most of complexity of underlying hardware. For more details about Lizard hardware characteristics, please refer to the Hardware_Manual_(Lizard) section. Access to source files is granted to registered kit owners' only.

What is not

The kit is not a complete Linux programming guide nor a Linux Reference Guide. Internet provides tons of information, tutorials and examples about writing applications and drivers for this operating system and how to work with it from the user's point of view (just try to type “Linux programming” in your favourite search engine for example). As the kit is heavily based on open-source community-maintained software projects, LELK does not provide exhaustive documentation for these software items but it points out where to find the information on the Internet or books. For example, for the U-Boot bootloader, the kit does not list all the commands it handles but provides the link to the on-line documentation and to the public mailing list used by its community.

For novice users who have no experience at all about embedded Linux systems, reading of this section is recommended.

Support service

Technical support is delivered through email exclusively. Only registered kit owners' can access the support service. The address is support-lizard@dave.eu. Technical support and access to download area are lifetime for processor module buyers and one year for the other customers.

The big picture

The heart of Lizard SOM is Texas Instruments Sitara AM3505/AM3517 processor. From software standpoint, Texas Instruments supports this processor through so-called Linux EZ Software Development Kit (EZSDK for short). EZSDK releases are published on a regular basis. For more details please refer to:

• http://www.ti.com/tool/linuxezsdk-davinci
• http://processors.wiki.ti.com/index.php/Category:EZSDK

Lizard Embedded Linux Kit, in turn, is directly derived from EZSDK. Hence LELK documentation often refers to EZSDK resources.

The following table shows how LELK releases are related to EZSDK releases.

	LELK version
Release number	1.0.0	1.1.0	1.2.0	2.0.0
Status	Released	Released	Released	Planned
Release date
Lizard module
Supported carrier boards	LizardEVB-Lite	LizardEVB-Lite	LizardEVB-Lite	LizardEVB-Lite
U-Boot version
Linux version
Drivers
TI EZSDK

DAVE Embedded Systems adds to the latest EZSDK the customization required to support DAVE Embedded Systems' platforms (e.g. Lizard)

For this reason most of the documentation provided by TI itself is valid in the SDK provided by us too. Anyway some customization is required, in particular at bootloader and linux kernel levels.

LELK contains all the required software to develop Linux application on Lizard platform:

• u-boot bootloader source code and pre-build binaries
• Linux kernel source code and pre-build binaries
• sample development root file system
• tools and utilities

Release notes

Please refer to LELK Release Notes for detailed LELK release notes.

Lizard overview

Please refer to Lizard SOM for an overview about Lizard system-on-module architecture.

Quick start

Quick start procedure depends on the carrier board you are working with. Please click on the appropriate link below:

• LizardEVB-Lite Quick Start

Developing environment

LELK Layout

LELK USB/SD Layout

The root folder on the USB or SD card provided with LELK contains the following files and folders:

• doc
• html
• hw
• sw
• update
• readme.html

HowTo Build

For a more detailed explanation of Development Environment see Development Environment HowTo (LELK)

Use cases

Please refer to Uses cases with Lizard Embedded Linux Kit.