The steps for building an embedded system (development board) for a particular application are described bellow.

Since Linux is known for its embedded capability this article will tell you what an Embedded System is all about.

Before discussing the root article, Embedded Programming, let us have a look on Embedded Systems.

The MSP430 microcontroller with its 16 bit RISC processor, built-in hardware multiplier, lot of sophisticated analog peripherals on chip is well suited for precision instrumentation and control systems. A set of serial communication resources and a well designed interrupt system support a fairly complex design easily. Here's a look at key characteristics of these resources and their implications.

Embedded system designers need low power devices in general. It is a prime consideration for device selection for battery powered devices. Many mixed signal systems, real time instrumentation in particular, fall into this category. Texas Instrument's MSP 430 family of microcontrollers (datasheet) is positioned precisely at this segment.

In order to develop software for the devices connected to the PC, we should have enough knowledge of computer. The hardware platforms of different ages might vary in interfaces. In a Pentium class x86 PC, the regular interfaces are following: IDE, PCI, AGP, ISA, PCMCIA/PC Card Express, RS232, Parallel port, VGA (maybe you do not think it can be an interface, but you are wrong about it.) and DVI/HDMI, Ethernet, IEEE1394, IrDA, Bluetooth, WiFi and USB.

Please do not get confused by the title. This is not a resource book of EDA software for electronics engineering, but a collection about how to program hardware in high level languages and alternative approaches. I prefer to call it as Rapid Hardware Programming with High Level Languages.

RTOS stands for Real Time Operating System. An embedded system is a combination of hardware and software integration, accomplished for a specific function.

Linux is becoming a very popular operating system, especially for embedded domain. From 1991 it was continuously developed and now it is one of the most popular operating system. A lot of hardware platforms (microcontrollers) are using embedded Linux, some of them being ARM, PowerPC, Intel.

This article shows how you may play WAV file created on your PC on an audio embedded system (comprising of a microcontroller, a DAC and a D class amplifier); it will detail the format of WAV files, show how you may extract raw data from them, how you translate it and how you should play it on. PC motherboards have both negative and positive supply voltage, therefore it is relatively easy for them to generate the dual polarity signal required to play a sound in a speaker. But how about audio embedded systems? Their overwhelming majorities (think about the number of mp3 players on the market!) have only positive power supply, so audio data has to be somehow translated to a positive interval.