OS SELECTION HOW TO CHOOSE HOW TO CHOOSE
Choosing your OS is the first step, so take the time to consider your choice fully. There are many parameters to take into account:
l Is this a new project or the evolution of an existing product?
l Using the same SW stack? Re-using existing code?
l Is your team familiar with a particular OS?
Ø Using an OS you are already comfortable with can help
l What are the HW constraints of your system?
Ø Some operating systems require more memory/processing power than others
l Have no SW team? Not sure about the above?
Ø Contact us so we can help you decide!
Ø We can also introduce you to one of our many partners!
1 OS SELECTION OPEN SOURCE VS. COMMERCIAL OS Embedded OS BSP Provider $ Cost
Open-Source OS Boundary Devices
• Embedded Linux / Android Embedded Linux $0, included • Large pool of developers available with Board Purchase • Strong community
• Royalty-free And / or partners
3rd Party - Commercial OS Partners
• QNX / Win10 IoT / Green Hills $>0, depends on • Professional support requirements
• Unique set of development tools
2 OS SELECTION OPEN SOURCE SELECTION OS SELECTION
PROS CONS
Embedded Linux Most powerful / optimized Complexity for newcomers solution, maintained by NXP • Build systems
Ø Yocto / Buildroot Simpler solution, makefile- Not as flexible as Yocto Ø Everything built from scratch based, maintained by BD
Desktop-like approach, Harder to customize, non- Package-based distribution easy-to-use atomic updates, no cross- • Ubuntu / Debian compilation SDK Apt install / update, millions • Packages installed from server of prebuilt packages available
Android Millions of apps available, same number of developers, Resource-hungry, complex • AOSP-based (no GMS) development environment, BSP modifications (HAL)
• APK applications IDE + debugging tools
3 SOFTWARE PARTNERS Boundary Devices has an industry-leading group of software partners. All of our partners have worked on our hardware and have significant experience with i.MX and embedded projects
TIMESYS Kynetics Silex Technology Embedded Linux, Fastboot, Qt5 Android OS Customization Wi-Fi Connectivity Solutions
Ridgerun Crank Software Green Hills Software Embedded Linux, Gstreamer UI Tools RTOS Experts
Witekio QNX O.S.Systems Embedded Linux, Android, Operating Systems Yocto Customization WindowsCE7
Qt Company GuruCE Asset Inertech Creators and owners of The Qt SourcePoint is a C/C++ Windows Embedded Operating Toolkit and Application Debugger System Framework
4 OS DETAILS OS OFFERING
Yocto Project Linux distribution
l Build system supported by NXP
l Embedded Linux build system
Ø Complete, customized, embedded Linux system
Ø Builds source code from scratch
l Builds a distribution (rootfs, SDK, packages)
l Uses Layers for specific support
Ø NXP provides meta-imx
Ø Community provides meta-freescale and meta-freescale-3rdparty with many contributions from Boundary Devices Team!
Ø Boundary Devices provides meta-boundary
l Boundary Devices always up to date with latest releases
6 OS OFFERING
Buildroot
l Also an embedded Linux build system
Ø Complete, customized, embedded Linux system
Ø Builds source code from scratch
l Builds a root file system (no packages, but SDK possible)
l Simpler approach than Yocto (Makefile-based configuration)
l Uses external repositories for specific support
Ø Community provides main repository
l i.MX architecture maintained by Boundary Devices
l All BD platforms supported upstream
l Boundary Devices provides buildroot-external-boundary
Ø For specific support like WiFi/BT driver/firmware
7 OS OFFERING
Debian & Ubuntu
l Linux package-based distribution
Ø Every component provided as .deb package
Ø Based upon our Github repositories (kernel, u-boot)
Ø Also integrates every NXP-specific library
l Unique offering from Boundary Devices
l Provides a similar experience as Desktop OS
Ø Installing new packages only requires one command line
Ø Full-blown Desktop environment (menus) available
l Boundary Devices following latest releases
Ø Debian Buster available for all platforms
Ø Ubuntu Focal available for all platforms
8 OS OFFERING
Android
l World-famous mobile OS
Ø SoC support provided by NXP
Ø Countless applications already available
Ø Ease of use / debug / develop undeniable
l Currently supporting Android 10
l Boundary Devices additions
Ø Multi-platforms support with same image
Ø Display orientation on-the-fly configuration
Ø Open-Source app store support (F-Droid)
Ø Security updates integration in timely manner
9 MISC SLIDES USER INTERFACE OPTIONS CHOOSING A TOOL TO DEVELOP THE UI
Now that the OS is selected, what about a User Interface?
l Most projects utilizing the i.MX family of processors require the development of a User Interface
l Boundary Devices is a global partner with Qt
l Providing Boot2Qt images timely with every release
l We also recommend Crank Software for internal development of a UI
Ø Industry leading suite of UI development tools
l Android / Java native App
l Browser-based (HTML5) design
11 OTA UPDATES OPTIONS
Yocto / Buildroot
l Open-source solutions:
Ø SWUpdate
Ø Mender.io
l Commercial solutions:
Ø Update Factory (Kynetics)
Ø UpdateHub (O.S. Systems)
l Android
Ø Native solution (A/B or non-A/B)
Ø Update Factory (Kynetics)
l Debian / Ubuntu
Ø Package update included (apt)
12 OS OFFERING
Embedded OS BSP Provider
Boundary Devices
Embedded Linux
And / or partners
3 Party - Partners
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