[Moved] Choice of development board for embedded OS

[adsf]

Hi

I would like to start playing with some embedded OS. So far I have some experience in programming small uC: AVR, stm etc and also PC programming but would like to learn some embedded OS: linux, winCE or maybe android.

Therefore I am looking for some board that I could start with.
One option that interested me is FriendlyARM (i.e. tiny6410). It has what I need: LCD, ethernet, wi-fi etc. On this board first of all I d like to run some OS, write some apps on PC and then install them on board and run. Optionally I d also like to program it in more low level way (i.e. use some RTOS) but this is not so important.

So my questions:
1. Is this board a good choice? Or are there maybe some other similar boards in a similar price?

2. This board comes with different types of memory. I saw it with either 256MB SLC NAND or 2GB MLC NAND. I heard that MLC memories are slower and less durable but on the other hand 256 MB could be not enough for some systems?

3. I have doubts how programming for such board looks like. I understand that I have to put system image with some boot program on to SD card. Then boot from that SD, install OS into NAND memory. Then lets say I write some application on my host computer, copy it into SD. Run OS installed on board and install that application from SD (just like in mobile phone). Do I think correctly? Or is there some way to do it easier? Is there a way to debug such application on target board from host computer?

Sorry if questions are silly I looked for answers already but didn't find that resolve my doubts.

Regards

 

[mehtadhaval]

Re: Choice of development board for embedded OS

1). There are many board like these are available with various options. I recently worked on SBC6410 Dev Board from Boardcon. For specification and to see other similar products, visit : **broken link removed**

2). I think 256 MB is enough for embedded OS. Also, u have oiption of adding SD card as external storage. So, you have to accommodate only system data on the internal memory.

3). You are right. You have to load any OS on the board through SD boot card. I worked on WinCE Embedded OS. For that, I used Microsoft Visual Studio with WinCE SDK to develop application for the board. It had an option of instantly storing applications on device for debug. But, this is for WinCE. For Linux and Android Embedded OS application development, you will have to work on a PC based on Linux.

one other thing, if you have to access peripherals like GPIO LEDs, etc, perhaps you will have to write drivers for that. Some manufacturers provide drivers for that, but I didn't had drivers, so I had to write it on my own. So, make sure that manufacturer provides the drivers if you want lower level access.