This is a fork of the Buildroot GIT repository to add support for Bifferboard targets.
Buildroot is a set of Makefiles and patches that makes it easy to setup a cross-compiler toolchain and generate complete embedded Linux system images. It provides an easy to use Linux-kernel-like configuration system and comes with a large selection of preconfigured packages that can be compiled for the target platform. As output, Buildroot can generate kernel images, ramdisk images, root filesystems, and boot loaders. It supports a variety of CPU architectures including x86, ARM, MIPS, etc.
The Bifferboard is a i486-based embedded computer with a very low power consumption of only 1W. Is comes with 32MB of RAM, 8MB of Flash storage, 100 MBit/s Ethernet and provides up to two USB 2.0 ports for extensions. By default the Bifferboard ships with the Bifferboard Mini Distribution on Flash and the Bifferboard Wiki contains instructions for installing a variety of other Linux variants on the board.
This fork of Buildroot adds support for the Bifferboard as a default target. It includes a number of Linux kernel patches required to support the Bifferboard's CPU and other features provided by the board, such as control of GPIO pins. In addition to making the Bifferboard a configurable target, this distribution also includes a selection of sensible default configurations for different application scenarios. At the same time board system developers have full control over every aspect of the target's configuration and can benefit from Buildroot's vast selection of different packages.
Clone the repository:
$ git clone git://github.com/nobits/buildroot-bifferboard.git
Or download a snapshot tarball:
$ wget http://github.com/nobits/buildroot-bifferboard/tarball/master
$ tar xfz nobits-buildroot-bifferboard-*.tar.gz
Initial configuration using defaults. The following default configurations are currently available:
bifferboard_minimal_defconfig: A minimal configuration with a default
Busybox configuration and no additional packages.
bifferboard_ssh_defconfig: A minimal configuration + SSH server and
the default 'root' password set to 'bifferboard.
To use a default configuration, execute the following:
$ cd buildroot-bifferboard
$ make bifferboard_ssh_defconfig
Optionally customize the configuration. See the Buildroot Documentation for details:
$ make menuconfig
Build the target kernel image and root filesystem image:
$ make
Upload the kernel image to the Bifferboard:
$ sudo python target/device/bifferboard/tools/bb_eth_upload8.py \
eth0 <BIFFERBOARD_MAC_ADDRESS> output/images/bzImage
Now power up your Bifferboard and ensure it is connected to the network.
Copy the root filesystem image to a USB stick (/dev/sdb1):
$ sudo dd if=output/images/rootfs.ext2 of=/dev/sdb1
Plug the USB stick into the Bifferboard and reboot.