Hi,

I am doing research for selecting a chip which will be running embedded Linux in an embedded system. My question is,
1. In general, what are the minimum requirements for a micro-controller to run embedded Linux?
2. If hareware-wise a chip is not sufficient to run embedded Linux, what outside components can be added to make it run embedded Linux?

Thanks,
Wei Xu

At first glance I would say that its architecture has to be supported. In other words it has to be listed among the sub directories of /arch in a kernel tree. You should also check things like available RAM and mass storage. What can be added to expand that is to be checked with the manufacturer but this information is probably provided in the specs. Of course you'll also need a compiler, a linker, a toolchain and utilities, but if I understand well your question was more about the hardware. I also assume that you will need all that's necessary from cross compiling though.

PS did you consider using a Raspberry pi? At least you are sure that Linux runs well on that.

Hi.

Here is a pretty good "minimum:" http://makezine.com/2015/05/07/next-...st-9-computer/

I remember seeing somewhere in these many treads that you could run Linux insanely small. Of course depends on what you want it to do or add?

Hi Didier Spaier,

Thanks for the reply.
Yes my question is more about the minimum hardware requirements. Beside big enough memory space, I also heard about things like 'an MMU is required for running Linux". Could you confirm if there is indeed such a requirement, and any other similar hardware requirement?

Thanks,
Wei Xu

Unfortunately I don't know. But I believe that you could more easily find the answer to that question on this forum:
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...d-computer-78/ that is dedicated to such matters. Consider clicking the "Report" button and kindly ask a moderator to move this thread there. Additionally that is a question to which sellers of such devices are probably ready to answer.

Try these links:-

http://www.uclinux.org/pub/uClinux/FAQ.shtml
http://www.embedded.com/design/opera...rating-systems
https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Embedded_Systems/Linux

A person can create a rather small footprint of Linux to run some basic tasks. The kernel can be created to support some set of hardware. Generally you pick from known supported hardware rather than try to write code for some new hardware.

Without knowing what you what or are doing I doubt we can guess better.


Consider companies and products that offer some sort of support for linux. Many have images and tool chains to assist you.

Plenty of companies make products that are intended to run some sort of OS from QNX to VXworks to Linux.