Software & Tools

Embedded Linux for ARC® Processors

Open Source Embedded Linux Distributions for ARC Processors

Linux is an open source operating system that has been ported to most major processor architectures, including ARC processors. Linux is supported by a large development community of engineers contributing back into the open source project. Embedded Linux allows developers to innovate and to offer cost-effective solutions for embedded systems. It is easy to deploy for a wide variety of applications that require a full-featured operating systems environment.

Because of the importance of open source software in embedded systems development, ARC invests in open source projects, such as Embedded Linux and GNU tools, on ARC processors. ARC ensures there is up-to-date open source Linux support for its processors by continuously updating and optimizing Embedded Linux distributions for ARC processors.

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| ARC Embedded Linux 2.6 | Obtaining ARC Embedded Linux |

ARC Embedded Linux 2.6

ARC Linux offers all of the benefits of open source software, including, complete source code and a large install base. ARC Linux allows ARC software developers to leverage a large amount of Linux-compatible application software to quickly build complex systems using open source components.

ARC Linux distributions include embedded Linux distributions of the Linux 2.6 kernel that run on ARC 750D processor configurations that include the memory management unit (MMU).

ARC Linux distributions are integrated, built and tested with ARC GNU tools. ARC GNU Tools are provided in source packages than can be built to run on Linux, Solaris and Windows host platforms (running on Windows requires using a Cygwin environment). ARC GNU Tools are available for software developers using ARC configurable processor IP cores, ARC Multimedia Subsystems and for ARC-based® processors sold by ARC licensees.

Highlights

Robust operating system environment including a reliable multi-tasking capability
Licensed based on an open source model (GPL licensing) with no royalties
Allows developers to leverage a wide range of Linux compatible applications
Tested and verified on ARCangel™ 4 FPGA system using the Linux Test Project (LTP) test suite, Stream memory benchmarks, Dhrystone, NTTCP network throughput test, RFC 1812IP Version 4 tests, and RFC 2544 Network Interconnect Device tests.
Used in ARC Video demonstrator
Developed from standard Linux 2.6.19 kernel Native POSIX Thread Library (NPTL)
- Kernel preemption support
- Dynamic module support
- Kernel parameters support
- O(1) scheduler
- Dynamic kernel module support
- Complete networking support including NFS
- Boot-time kernel module support
Supports ARC 750D based processors that include MMU

Automatic detection of instruction cache and data cache configuration
Fast context switching using ARC700 MMU's multiple address spaces
Provides Ethernet, IDE and UART drivers for ARCangel 4 development system
Support for ARC SIMD, DMA and extensions

Ptrace support for GDB debugging
Compatible with ARC GCC 3.4.6 and 4.2 tools
Busybox 1.6.1
Init RAM FS 1.0

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Obtaining Embedded Linux for ARC Processors

Embedded Linux distributions for ARC processors can be downloaded from the following locations:

ARC maintains and supports the latest ARC Linux distributions for ARC processor core and subsystems. ARC customers who have joined the ARC Open Source Software Progam can download distributions from the open source section of ARC Customer Support and Technical Reference Site:

More information on ARC Open Source Program

ARC's partner Codito also maintains independent versions of embedded Linux for ARC processors including previous versions of the ARC Linux and µClinux. These distributions can be accessed at: http://www.arc-linux.org.

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