Linux as a teaching aid for embedded systems

Linux, an operating system kernel with a heritage derived from the room-sized mainframes of the 1970s, has seen a trememdous amount of multidisciplinary and worldwide development which has resulted in its ability to operate on some of the smallest and lowest power microprocessors available today. With its ongoing penetration into mass market embedded systems such as smart phones, automotive and aeronautical equipment, multimedia entertainment devices and personal digital assistants, versions of Linux are now the operating system of choice for many embedded developers. However Linux tends to be overlooked in the more traditional embedded electronics education. This paper explores the characteristics of embedded Linux that affect the education of embedded systems, and describes a tested educational model for its teaching within a general embedded systems education course.