Embedded Gentoo?

An anonymous reader writes "Gentoo Linux may soon begin showing up in consumer gadgets, thanks to a new project creating an embedded version of Gentoo Linux. The year-old project has achieved preliminary releases on x86, MIPS, PPC, and ARM. The releases include native core system binaries, along with toolchains for native or cross-platform compiling. Native compiling, eh... considering it's Gentoo, how long would X take to compile on an iPAQ? :-)"

You wouldn't compile from scratch.

[Principito]

Compiling from scratch would be insane. The easiest way to accomplish this would be to put cross compiling tools on a host machine and build your iPAQ or whatever in a chrooted environment. After which you would transfer your build.

$0.02

PS:
Cross compiling tools are part of this project.

Alright

[Apreche]

ARM eh? I see some gentoo on my Nintendo DS real soon...

Oh, and anyone who things that a source based distribution would be bad for embedded, the opposite is true. Since its embedded you probably wouldn't be managing packages on it, like if it was say, a portable DVD player. Gentoo is really technically a meta-distro. It would just make it easier to create linux systems for different devices without having to do full on LFS. The compiling would be done once by the developer, then imaged into the devices. But the build would be device specific, meaning it would be as good as it can be.

Re:So why is Gentoo the right choice for this?

[GileadGreene]

How many program projects that you know of offer linux-ppc or linux-mips or linux-arm binaries?

Well, Debian for one. In fact, Debian supports [debian.org] x86, Motorola 68k, SPARC, Alpha, PowerPC, ARM, MIPS, PA-RISC, IA-64, and S/390 architectures. Porting to the AMD64 and Hitachi SuperH is also underway. Note that the 68k, PowerPC, ARM, and SuperH are all popular for embedded applications.

Re:This post

[MindStalker]

Many people want Gentoo for the portage system and not nessesarly for the advantages of running the most super optimized kernel possible.

compiling

[SuperBanana]

how long would X take to compile on an iPAQ?

Helloooooo distccd.

I have a P2/300 Mobile, a Celeron 450, and a P3/600. Compiling stuff with distcc set up is a breeze and I fail to see the complaints about gentoo compile time...of course, they're all bare-bones console-only systems (firewall, mail/web, and fileserver), but you get the idea. Two of them only have 128MB of ram...

Re:So why is Gentoo the right choice for this?

[SRain315]

As of right now, Gentoo is the right choice because _they already did it._

Location:Real Estate::Available:Technology

Re:Gentoo zealouts out in full force today

[SilveRo_kun]

Well, my take of this is that most people are already sick of hearing the same crappy and ridiculous jokes over and over again. You must be pretty pissed that all those useless comments aren't modded up to +5, huh?
Heh, I'm sorry, but most people seem to have common sense, something you lack....

Re:So why is Gentoo the right choice for this?

[EntombedVirus]

I am afraid this is going to be a "me-too" post. I have found Gentoo very easy to maintain once I have it up and running. Granted, compiling does take long, but atleast my system does not get corrputed over time. I rememeber the RPM nightmares I had to endure before I found Gentoo. I also like the fact that I was able to learn much more about the inner workings of linux. Applications that are optimized for my machine, atleast in my case, is just a bonus and not the defining reason why I run Gentoo on my desktop.

Did any one read this

[pavkb]

I would have read about 40-50 comments & all i see if people have serious misunderstanding of this project..

Here is their project goal. From what i read, build in ur PC & move it to embeded device, gentoo style.

2. Project Goals
The intention of the project is to make Gentoo viable for embedded systems. This includes creating a system for cross compiling and building the image for an embedded system on a Gentoo workstation. The base install image should be minimal, with different libc options. Building on this base, the system can be customized for the particular system.

Re:So why is Gentoo the right choice for this?

[LWATCDR]

My question is who does embeded development that does not roll there own kernel anyway?
I mean really you are most likey to cross compile everything for your appliaction.

Re:Alright

[Anonymous Coward]

Hmm, seems tivo is updating shit on my settop box all the time. How many devices does tivo run on these days?