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The Linux/Microcontroller project is a port of Linux to systems without a Memory Management Unit (MMU). uClinux first ported to the Motorola MC68328: DragonBall Integrated Microprocessor. The first target system to successfully boot is the PalmPilot using a TRG SuperPilot Board with a custom boot-loader created specifically for our Linux/PalmPilot port.

ARM Linux is a port of the successful Linux Kernel to ARM processor based machines, lead mainly by Russell King, with contributions from many others. ARM Linux is under almost constant development by various people and organisations around the world.

Distributions

Most of the major players in Linux distribution have embedded versions. These distributions are a bundle of software components, the specific distribution will bring a lof of application specific software module with the Linux kernel.

Linux/RT, by TimeSys

Red Hat，For many years, embedded systems have been developed and deployed with the help of Red Hat's open source tools and runtime software. Because of the diverse range of embedded devices and systems, Red Hat has developed a process to customize tools and runtime software for a wide range of architectures, boards, and systems.

BlueCat embedded Linux from LynuxWorks, based on the 2.6 kernel, is an implementation of the Linux model enhanced for use in embedded systems ranging from small consumer-type devices to large-scale, multi-CPU systems.

MontaVista。 With over 2,000 customers developing on MontaVista Linux across a wide range of industries, MontaVista is the undisputed leading provider of commercial-grade Linux development platforms for intelligent devices and communications infrastructure.

Debian's multiarchitecture support, vendor independence, social contract and huge software base make it an attractive choice for all sorts of systems, but the main distribution is very much aimed at systems with at least desktop resources (big hard discs, plenty of memory). Embedded Debian tries to strip Debian down to be a much smaller system whilst keeping all the good things.

Embedix. With its 20-year experiences of embedded devices development and solid accomplishments as an embedded Linux pioneer, Lineo strongly boosts ubiquitous network era by providing sophisticated-and-robust software products and reliable services for the customers to attain faster time-to-market.

emKnoppix is a distribution of Knoppix tailored for use in embedded systems. Idea for such a distribution arose when I was playing with Knoppix for remastering and building an embedded Linux platform at the same time

Pico/Linux, The Open Source Handheld OS powered by PicoGUI and Linux.

GeeXboX is a free embedded Linux distribution which aims at turning your computer into a so called HTPC (Home Theater PC) or Media Center. Being a standalone LiveCD-based distribution, it's a ready to boot operating system than works on any Pentium-class x86 computer or PowerPC Macintosh, implying no software requirement. You can even use it on a diskless computer, the whole system being loaded in RAM.

LynxOS, Lynixworks offers many RTOS and Linux distribution for real-time and embedded systems.

RTAI, RealTime Application Interface for Linux - which lets you write applications with strict timing constraints for your favourite operating system. Like Linux itself this software is a community effort. RTAI supports x86, x86_64, PowerPC and ARM.

Android is a software stack for mobile devices that includes an operating system, middleware and key applications. This early look at the Android SDK provides the tools and APIs necessary to begin developing applications on the Android platform using the Java programming language. Android relies on Linux version 2.6 for core system services such as security, memory management, process management, network stack, and driver model. The kernel also acts as an abstraction layer between the hardware and the rest of the software stack.

UNIX

Because the relationship between UNIX and Linux, we put embedded UNIX in this section as well.

Embedded FreeBSD. The Embedded FreeBSD project provides tools and documentation for using FreeBSD in an embedded environment. The goal is that FreeBSD can be used to produce products and systems that are competitive in the embedded world. FreeBSD has some unique advantages for embedded developers.

NetBSD. The NetBSD Operating System is the most portable OS in the world, and many of the supported hardware platforms are suited for embedded applications. While embedded development with NetBSD doesn't differ a lot from regular Unix development, some special cases are in the build processes.

polyBSD is a "multi"-purpose (hence "poly") framework for building embedded systems that address certain aspects of information assurance. Essentially, it is a minimalistic install of NetBSD (i386) designed to run from a 256MB flash card or USB memory stick.

Embedded OpenBSD

MAC

Mac OS X (Linux based, for desktop PC and Apple TV)

References

The Consumer Electronics Linux Forum (CELF), a California Non-Profit Corporation, is focused on the advancement of Linux as an open source platform for consumer electronics (CE) devices.