Date   : Wed, 12 Jan 2011 06:20:52
From   : heyrick.beebsoc@... (Rick Murray)
Subject: [BeebSoc] A book recommendation, please.

My video recorder is a Neuros OSD. It runs Qt4 on a stripped down 
version of Debian (Linux kernel 2.6.15). The processor is a TMS320DM320 
which is an ARM9 hooked to a DSP and some other video stuff.

I was busy this weekend getting Portable Ubuntu / CoLinux running so I 
now have a build environment that works within Windows; though it has a 
few deficiencies (default policy is to wipe all object files and 
recompile for scratch - and Qt4 takes a lot of time and ridiculous 
amounts of memory).

The next step is to get to understand how this thing works. Thanks to 
Chinese websites and Google translate, I have a fair idea how the 
hardware works - though controlling it is the domain of closed source 
(meh!) Ingenient codecs.

But the operating system itself? I know very little about this. I'm not 
sure exactly how it boots (after U-Boot), for there seems to be 'rc' 
scripts scattered around, with number suffixes, several of which look alike.
What, exactly, is the arrangement of the filesystem? Is there a specific 
difference between /bin and /sbin? How about /usr/[s]bin? And associated 
data files? What about Qt? Not to mention those files with .ko and .so 
extensions...

The default installation is a fairly read-only filesystem that lives in 
Flash, with some stuff overspilling on to CF card. What I would like to 
do is put the kernel in Flash (as per usual) and move the entire rootfs 
to CF so it can be mounted read/write (to work around a fair few kludges 
with settings files). This is probably a pretty simple thing for Linux 
hackers to do, that might be as easy as unpacking the cramfs into the CF 
and fudging the main mount point to /dev/<whatever>


So... Can anybody recommend a good book to help me understand the OSD?

I guess something like "Debian for Dummies" (if it exists), only with 
some hardcore info in the later chapters. ;-)


Thanks.


Best wishes,

Rick.