Embedded Linux Conference 2013

Embedded Linux is at a cross roads where the combination of More's law making devices more powerful and the mass production of consumer devices making them cheaper means that the old ways no longer work. Only a few years ago we though in mega: MHz, MBytes, MBits/s. Now we have to think in giga. The days of the single core CPU are almost over, as are the days of the QVGA display.

All this means that there is a need to re-think the way that embedded devices are programmed, taking advantage of the extra processor power and memory. We can move away from ad hoc solutions and use off-the-shelf distributions instead. That should improve security and maintainabilty, and reduce the amount of effort required to create the base platform. But which distribution to choose? This talk looks at the pros and cons of three obvious choices: Debian, Yocto and Android