What is embedded linux ?

[Wolfgang Denk]

Hi Pravin,

in message <399B0FCD.A6E0A6BE at dnrc.bell-labs.com> you wrote:
>
> I have a silly question. How does embedded linux works without disk
> support ?

There are many ways: loading over ethernet, from flash, ...

> I mean from where it loads shell and other application task images
> without any file system

What makes you think there is no filesystem support?

> support ? For VxWOrks/pSOS have a single object file. How about Embedded
> Linux ?
> I am confused on this matter. Or it always need some kind of file
> support like NFS to boot ?

Usually you will always want to have some filesystem support. Unix is
pretty much build around the idea  of  mounting  some  type  of  root
device  -  so  you  will  usually  always find a root directory, most
probably also a /dev/ directory in it, etc.

There are many ways  to  build  such  a  system.  a  NFS  based  root
filesystem  is one; another is uising a ramdisk image which is loaded
with the kernel from some boot device (flash, network, ...).

Wolfgang Denk

--
Software Engineering:  Embedded and Realtime Systems,  Embedded Linux
Phone: (+49)-8142-4596-87  Fax: (+49)-8142-4596-88  Email: wd at denx.de
Given a choice between two theories, take the one which is funnier.

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