In the previous chapter, we became comfortable with the build system and the reference hardware we are using. We built images, ran them, and learned how to customize and optimize our build system.

Now we have our build environment ready with the Yocto Project, it's time to think about beginning development work on our embedded Linux project.

Most embedded Linux projects require both custom hardware and software. An early task in the development process is to test different hardware reference boards and select one to base our design on. As we saw in the Building Wandboard images recipe in Chapter 1, The Build System, for this book we have chosen the Wandboard, an NXP i.MX6-based platform, as it is an affordable and open board, which makes it perfect for our needs.

The Wandboard uses a SoM that is then mounted into a carrier board and sold as a single-board computer. As the schematics are open, the SoM could be used with a different carrier board design for a much more specific product.

This chapter will introduce us to system development with a focus on the BSP layer. It will explain how to create a BSP layer to contain those hardware-specific changes, as well as show how to work with the U-Boot bootloader and the Linux kernel, components which are likely to take most of the system customization work.