1.3. The tools

This section describes the tools we used during the process. Most are trivial to install and use. When neccesary, consult the appropriate url or manual.

• HardHat Linux: First and foremost, HHLinux, now known as MontaVista Linux, is the distribution we started with. The distribution contains LSPs (same as BSPs) for PowerPC in a number of board configurations. For porting to our board, we took the LSP which is closest in hardware to our Artysyn PMPPC board, and started from there.

• LXR: This is THE killer tool, which allowed us to port Linux in a very short time. LXR is a cross referencer, which means it reads a piece of code (the Linux kernel, for example), and then allows browsing the code, searching through it and much more. I cannot emphasize enough how important this tool is. To see what the end result looks like, look at http://lxr.linux.no/source. LXR itself can be downloaded at http://lxr.sf.net

• VisionICE: A hardware debugger, which has the ability to stop, run and add breakpoint straight in the CPU. VisionIce is very usuful when no operating system is running, and allows to step in the kernel during boot process. The application can also be used to take a binary image of a kernel, load it into the target's RAM memory and run it - useful when you've got no boot loader.

• CVS: A version control system, allows you to keep multiple versions of the code. Other than backing up the code, it allows diffing between different version, and reverting to older version, when needed.

• A terminal program, like HyperTerminal or ProCOMM for Windows™, or minicom for Linux.