nRF5 to nRF Connect SDK migration via DFU over BLE
This writeup contains some notes on how I was able to migrate one of my clients projects based on the nRF5 SDK, to nRF Connect SDK (NCS) based firmware, via a DFU to devices in the field over BLE.
Who needs source code?
Many developers feel that the supplying source code is essential for licensed software components. There are other perspectives, including the possibility of it being an actual disadvantage. Even the definition of source code has some vagueness.
Getting Started With Zephyr: Devicetree Bindings
This blog post shines some light on how devicetrees are used in The Zephyr Project. Specifically, we understand the mechanisms that enable us to use nodes in the devicetree in the C source files. We use a sample provided in the Zephyr repository itself and work our way through portions of the Zephyr codebase to get insight into the mechanisms that make this possible.
Getting Started With Zephyr: Devicetrees
This blog post provides an introduction to the "Devicetree", another unique concept in The Zephyr Project. We learn about the basic syntax of a device tree and how its structure and hierarchy mirror hardware, from the SoC to the final board. We also see how hardware described in a devicetree can be referenced and controlled in the source code of a Zephyr-based application.
Getting Started with (Apache) NuttX RTOS Part 2 - Looking Inside and Creating Your Customized Image
This hands-on guide peels back the NuttX source tree and shows how to assemble a tailored firmware image. You will learn what each top-level directory does, how to enable apps with menuconfig and search tricks to resolve dependencies, and how to save a defconfig as a reusable board profile so you can rebuild the same image without repeating configuration steps.
Getting Started With Zephyr: Kconfig
In this blog post, we briefly look at Kconfig, one of the core pieces of the Zephyr infrastructure. Kconfig allows embedded software developers to turn specific subsystems on or off within Zephyr efficiently and control their behavior. We also learn how we can practically use Kconfig to control the features of our application using the two most common mechanisms.
Getting Started with (Apache) NuttX RTOS - Part 1
NuttX RTOS is used in many products from companies like Sony, Xiaomi, Samsung, Google/Fitbit, WildernessLabs and many other companis. So, probably you are already using NuttX even without knowing it, like the you was using Linux on your TV, WiFi router more than 10 years ago and didn't know too! Today you will have the chance to discover a little bit of this fantastic Linux-like RTOS! Are you ready? So, let's get started!
Getting Started With Zephyr: West Manifest Customization
Create a reproducible Zephyr development baseline by customizing a West manifest, so your team avoids surprises from upstream changes. This post walks through forking Zephyr and MCUBoot when you need local changes, adapting Nordic Semiconductor's west.yml as a template, and updating remotes and defaults to point at your forks. Finish by running west init -m
Libgpiod - Toggling GPIOs The Right Way In Embedded Linux
Accessing GPIOs through sysfs is simple but fragile, causing race conditions when multiple userspace processes touch the same line. This post explains libgpiod, introduced in Linux 4.8, and shows concise Python examples on a Toradex Verdin iMX8M Plus for requesting lines, tagging the consumer, using active_low flags, and reading or driving values. Learn why libgpiod provides safer, atomic GPIO handling.
Basler pylon on Raspberry Pi with Yocto
Basler's pylon can be packaged into a minimal Raspberry Pi Yocto image in a few clear steps. This walkthrough shows how to clone poky with meta-openembedded, meta-raspberrypi and Basler's meta-basler-tools, tweak conf/local.conf to add OpenCV and accept the Basler EULA, build rpi-test-image and generate an SDK for cross-compilation. It finishes by cross-compiling a pylon_example binary, copying it to the Pi and testing with a Basler acA2440-20gm.
Open-Source Licenses Made Easy with Buildroot and Yocto for Embedded Linux
In this article I will try to explain what are the copyrights/copyleft, what are the popular opensource software licenses, and how to make sure that your Embedded Linux system complies with them using popular build systems ; Buildroot or YOCTO projec
How to use I2C devices in (Apache) NuttX: Adding support for an I2C device in your board
You can add an I2C sensor to NuttX with a few file edits, menuconfig tweaks, and a standard build-and-flash cycle. This guide shows how the BMP280 barometer was integrated into the Raspberry Pi Pico bringup by copying and adapting an existing board driver, wiring the sensor to I2C0, enabling the BMP280 option in menuconfig, and compiling and flashing the resulting nuttx.uf2. It includes exact wiring and build tips.
Embedded Programming Video Course Teaches RTOS
From basic foreground/background loops to priority-inheritance protocols, this free video course walks you through building and improving an RTOS step by step. Lessons cover manual context switching, round-robin and preemptive priority schedulers, efficient thread blocking, and synchronization primitives. The series finishes with a practical port to a professional RTOS in the QP/C ecosystem, showing semaphores, mutexes, and ways to prevent priority inversion.
An overview of Linux Boot Process for Embedded Systems
Booting Linux on embedded hardware collapses PC boot stages into a single bootloader, and understanding the early steps helps troubleshoot low-level failures. Kunal Singh breaks down the sequence from the bootstrap firmware and primary/secondary bootloaders through zImage decompression, MMU and page table setup, start_kernel, and the initrd pivot to the root filesystem. Practical focus favors ARM examples.
Getting Started With Zephyr: Writing Data to EEPROM
In this blog post, I show how to implement a Zephyr application to interact with EEPROM. I show how the Zephyr device driver model allows application writers to be free of the underlying implementation details. Unfortunately, the application didn't work as expected, and I'm still troubleshooting the cause.
Getting Started With Zephyr: Kconfig
In this blog post, we briefly look at Kconfig, one of the core pieces of the Zephyr infrastructure. Kconfig allows embedded software developers to turn specific subsystems on or off within Zephyr efficiently and control their behavior. We also learn how we can practically use Kconfig to control the features of our application using the two most common mechanisms.
Dumb Embedded System Mistakes: Running The Wrong Code
Running the wrong firmware on a board can waste hours. This post shows a practical marking strategy for embedded Linux that embeds searchable proof-of-life strings into kernel, rootfs, overlay, and application code. It walks through choosing early-boot log points, using compile-time timestamps, and a small shell script to set, find, and clear marks so you can verify builds before flashing.
Getting Started With Zephyr: Bluetooth Low Energy
In this blog post, I show how to enable BLE support in a Zephyr application. First, I show the necessary configuration options in Kconfig. Then, I show how to use the Zephyr functions and macros to create a custom service and characteristic for a contrived application.
Introduction to Deep Insight Analysis for RTOS Based Applications
Debugging can consume over 40% of a development cycle, and Jacob Beningo argues RTOS projects need more than breakpoints and assertions. He presents deep insight analysis as a trio of techniques—RTOS-aware debugging, run-time analysis, and profiling with coverage—that expose what the system is actually doing. These methods help engineers cut guesswork and speed verification of complex embedded applications.
Zephyr: West Manifest For Application Development
In this blog post, I show a simpler way to create custom West manifest files. This technique eliminates the need to duplicate the complex West manifest from upstream Zephyr. I also show how we can use the West manifest to include out-of-tree board and SoC definitions, and include our own out-of-tree drivers.
Dumb Embedded System Mistakes: Running The Wrong Code
Running the wrong firmware on a board can waste hours. This post shows a practical marking strategy for embedded Linux that embeds searchable proof-of-life strings into kernel, rootfs, overlay, and application code. It walks through choosing early-boot log points, using compile-time timestamps, and a small shell script to set, find, and clear marks so you can verify builds before flashing.
nRF5 to nRF Connect SDK migration via DFU over BLE
This writeup contains some notes on how I was able to migrate one of my clients projects based on the nRF5 SDK, to nRF Connect SDK (NCS) based firmware, via a DFU to devices in the field over BLE.
Embedded Programming Video Course Teaches RTOS
From basic foreground/background loops to priority-inheritance protocols, this free video course walks you through building and improving an RTOS step by step. Lessons cover manual context switching, round-robin and preemptive priority schedulers, efficient thread blocking, and synchronization primitives. The series finishes with a practical port to a professional RTOS in the QP/C ecosystem, showing semaphores, mutexes, and ways to prevent priority inversion.
Getting Started With Zephyr: Bluetooth Low Energy
In this blog post, I show how to enable BLE support in a Zephyr application. First, I show the necessary configuration options in Kconfig. Then, I show how to use the Zephyr functions and macros to create a custom service and characteristic for a contrived application.
Five Embedded Linux Topics for Newbies !
Are you an embedded systems enthusiast looking to broaden your horizons with embedded Linux? explore those 5 topics.
Blocking == Technical Debt
Blocking code in embedded systems trades quick development for long-term pain, effectively becoming technical debt. This post shows how blocking in Arduino examples and traditional RTOS threads hard-codes sequences and timing, making change and extension expensive. It contrasts blocking kernels with preemptive non-blocking approaches and recommends event-driven Active Objects and frameworks like QP as more scalable alternatives.
You Don't Need an RTOS (Part 4)
In this fourth (and final!) article I'll share with you the last of the inter-process communication (IPC) methods I mentioned in Part 3: mailboxes/queues, counting semaphores, the Observer pattern, and something I'm calling a "marquee". When we're done, we'll have created the scaffolding for tasks to interact in all sorts of different the ways. Additionally, I'll share with you another alternative design for a non-preemptive scheduler called a dispatch queue that is simple to conceptualize and, like the time-triggered scheduler, can help you schedule some of your most difficult task sets.
Peripheral Interaction Without a Linux Device Driver Using Spidev
Kernel-space drivers are not always necessary; many SPI peripherals can be handled from userspace using spidev. This post shows how to expose an SPI device through the device tree and kernel, wire a Bosch BMP388 to a Toradex Apalis iMX8 Ixora board, and implement a C userspace app that uses ioctl to read the chip ID. Practical tips on SPI settings and logic-analyzer validation are included.
Getting Started With Zephyr: Devicetree Bindings
This blog post shines some light on how devicetrees are used in The Zephyr Project. Specifically, we understand the mechanisms that enable us to use nodes in the devicetree in the C source files. We use a sample provided in the Zephyr repository itself and work our way through portions of the Zephyr codebase to get insight into the mechanisms that make this possible.
Getting Started with (Apache) NuttX RTOS Part 2 - Looking Inside and Creating Your Customized Image
This hands-on guide peels back the NuttX source tree and shows how to assemble a tailored firmware image. You will learn what each top-level directory does, how to enable apps with menuconfig and search tricks to resolve dependencies, and how to save a defconfig as a reusable board profile so you can rebuild the same image without repeating configuration steps.
