184 Chapter 8 • Additional Functionality and Third-Party Contributions
www.gzip.orgzlib eCos provides support for the Microwindows Graphical User Interface GUI. Microwin-
dows is an open-source project focused on allowing the features of modern graphical windowing interfaces to be run on smaller devices. The Microwindows package
CYGPKG_MICROWINDOWS is located under the
services\gfx\mw directory. Additional information about Microwin- dows is provided under the
doc directory within the package as well as online at: www.microwindows.org
A generic power management package is also provided by eCos. This package provides a framework that allows the incorporation of additional power management facilities in an embedded
system. The power management package CYGPKG_POWER is located in the services\power
directory. Additional information about the power management package is contained in the doc
directory within the package.
8.11 Summary
In this chapter, we took a brief look at some of the additional features provided in the eCos sys- tem and by third-party contributors that can be included within an application. These additional
features extend eCos’ core functionality, allowing eCos to meet the requirements of a wider range of embedded systems. Now that you are aware of these features, with some additional
investigation they can quickly be incorporated into your system.
References
Sakamura, Ken. µITRON 3.0, An Open and Portable Real-Time Operating System for Embedded Systems. IEEE Computer Society Press, 1997.
Stevens, W. Richard. TCPIP Illustrated, Volume 1: The Protocols. Addison-Wesley, 1994. McKusick, Marshall Kirk, and Keith Bostic. The Design and Implementation of the 4.4BSD Operating
System. Addison-Wesley Longman, Inc., 1996.
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9
The RedBoot ROM Monitor
his chapter covers the RedBoot ROM monitor embedded software tool. The RedBoot ROM monitor provides debugging and bootstrap support. We cover thhe installation and
configuration details necessary to get RedBoot running on target hardware and communicating with a host unit.
We look at the RedBoot user interface and commands provided for controlling the features provided. It is important to understand the method for building a RedBoot image to make use of
upgrades and to extend the default command set; however, we cover this information in later chapters of this book. Although RedBoot is a standalone program that can be used with any real-
time operating system, the information in this chapter focuses on using RedBoot with eCos applications.
9.1 Overview
RedBoot is an acronym for Red Hat Embedded Debug and Bootstrap. It is a program designed for embedded systems to provide a debugging and bootstrap environment. RedBoot is intended
to take the place of older programs; specifically, CygMon and GDB stub ROM. In fact, CygMon is no longer supported.
RedBoot is an eCos-based application and uses the eCos Hardware Abstraction Layer for its foundation. However, RedBoot can be used on any embedded system or with any RTOS. RedBoot
can be used for debug support during the product development cycle or in a released product to provide flash and network booting. Some of the features provided by RedBoot include:
• Boot scripting support • Command Line Interface CLI for monitor and control support
T
