In Embedded Systems Firmware Demystified, author Ed Sutter teaches you how to build embedded microprocessor-based systems from the ground up. You explore the interaction of firmware and hardware during the first critical few seconds after the microprocessor is powered up, and learn what makes embedded development different from application development. You work through a complete field-tested solution. You get hands-on experience with the fundamental steps in starting an embedded system — from the basic boot in assembly language, exception handling, flash drivers and a flash file system, serial and Ethernet connections, right on up to a network-bootable application.

Working with a simple schematic, you will learn how instructions are fetched from memory, and appreciate the implications of FLASH vs. EPROM, SRAM vs. DRAM, microcontroller vs. microprocessor, and data bus vs. address bus. Complete source code is provided for an embedded systems boot platform that contains all of the scaffolding on which to build your applications.

366 pages, softcover, CD-ROM included

CD-ROM Contents

• Source code
• User documentation for the boot platform
• A full, unrestricted GPL distribution of Microcross GNU X-Tools that includes cross-compilers, cross-assemblers, simulators, board support libraries, and other prebuilt, ready-to-use embedded development tools for 21 target processors

About the Author

Ed Sutter started his career with AT&T Bell Labs in 1981. Now a distinguished member of the technical staff (DMTS) at Lucent, he has been working in embedded systems since 1983. Starting with the 8085, Ed has worked with a wide range of systems over the years including most of today's common CPU architectures. He has put his experience in developing hardware, firmware, and software to good use by building several different development environments. While he is most comfortable with C and assembly language on embedded systems, he has developed code for Win32 and UNIX varieties as well. His firmware tools have recently been the subjects of articles in Embedded Systems Programming and Circuit Cellar OnLine magazines.