Raspberry Pi 3 with Yocto
The same Yocto concepts on a different board: machine configuration, BSP layers, and what Raspberry Pi is convenient for.
Raspberry Pi 3
The same general Yocto concepts apply to the Raspberry Pi 3.
The hardware is different, but the architecture remains:
This is an important advantage of learning Yocto.
Once the basic concepts are understood, moving between supported hardware platforms becomes much easier.
Raspberry Pi machine configuration
For Raspberry Pi, the appropriate BSP layer provides machine configurations for supported Raspberry Pi boards.
The exact machine identifier depends on the BSP version.
For example, the configuration conceptually looks like:
MACHINE = "<raspberry-pi-3-machine>"
Then an image can be built:
bitbake core-image-minimal
The resulting artifacts can then be written to the appropriate boot media according to the board and image format.
i.MX7 vs Raspberry Pi
The two platforms are useful for learning different aspects of embedded Linux.
i.MX7
The i.MX7 environment is particularly useful for understanding:
- NXP BSPs
- ARM embedded processors
- Vendor kernel trees
- Device trees
- Embedded hardware
- Custom product boards
- Industrial embedded Linux
Raspberry Pi 3
Raspberry Pi is convenient for:
- Rapid experimentation
- Networking
- GPIO
- Prototyping
- Learning Linux
- Testing custom applications
The underlying Yocto concepts remain largely the same.