Description
INTRODUCTION:
The venerable Arduino, while fun and useful, is an old and weak system:
Limited CPU power greatly restricted the possible processing.
Limited memory greatly restricted the type of software that could be run.
The available libraries were minimal, and mostly device related.
Development had to be done on another system, cross-compiled, and then
up-loaded and flashed onto the Arduino.
The Edison is a much more powerful platform. It runs a full-blown Linux system:
it hosts remote terminal access via both USB and WIFI.
it has a package manager that can be used to find and download software
from the internet.
it can host its own complier and development tools.
Other than size and power, the biggest differences between an Edison and a
desktop computer are:
the Edison does not have a graphics adaptor or support graphical
applications.
the Edison has a great many programmed I/O pins that can be used to interact
with a wide range of sensors and actuators.
These things make it a very reasonable platform for both Embedded System, and
Internet of Things projects.
RELATION TO READING AND LECTURES:
None. All of this work is preliminary to embedded system software development.
PROJECT OBJECTIVES:
ensure students have a working Edison.
ensure that students can log into their Edison via both USB and WIFI.
ensure that students have the ability to transfer files to/from their Edison.
ensure students have a working Edison development environment.
ensure students have the ability to install new packages on their Edison.
This should be a simple matter of following simple steps. But if you do not have
communication with a working Edison development environment, you be unable to
complete the remaining embedded systems projects.
DELIVERABLES:
A single compressed tarball (.tar.gz) containing:
a selfie of you holding your assembled Edison (showing the chip).
a screen shot from a USB terminal command session in connected to your
system, gave it a name and configured network access.
a screen shot from a local session in which you copy a hello world program
from your laptop/desktop to your Edison.
a screen shot from a WIFI SSH session in which you build and run a trivial
program.
a screen shot from a WIFI SSH session in which you install git and clone a
reposoitory.
a README file containing the serial number and WiFi MAC (unless you are
using a hard-wired ethernet connnection) MAC address of your Edison and a
description of the above files.
PROJECT DESCRIPTION:
(if you have not already done so) Read the Intel tutorials on setting up your
Edison..
Follow the instructions to assemble it, power it up and connect it (via USB) to
your personal notebook or desktop.
Follow the instructions to establish a USB terminal login session from your
notebook/desktop to your Edison.
use the configure_edison –setup command to:
give your system a name.
create a root password.
enable and configure WIFI access.
Then run the ifconfig command to display the IP and MAC addresses, and take
a screen shot.
Log in to your Edison (over WIFI) via ssh (or putty or other equivalent tool).
On your notebook/laptop, write a trivial C “Hello World” program. Follow
the instructions to use scp(1) to copy that program from your notebook/
desktop to your Edison (note: this is a pull from your notebook/desktop to the
Edison).
Take a screen shot (on your desktop/laptop) of the successful copy command.
Use ssh(1) to connect (via WIFI) to your Edison, and compile and run a simple
C “Hello world.” program. Take a screen shot of the compilation, and
execution.
Follow the instructions to use the opkg package manager to install git and
then use git to clone a local copy of a repository (e.g. your own github repo).
Take a screen shot of the clone command and directory listing.
Note that you will probably find it much easier to log in and copy files to your
Edison if you set up ssh keys.
SUBMISSION:
Your tarball should have a name of the form lab4a-studentID.tar.gz.
Your README file must include lines of the form:
NAME: your name
EMAIL: your email
ID: your student ID
GRADING:
Points for this project will be awarded:
Value Feature
5% untars expected contents
5% obtain and assemble your own Edison
10% successfully establish USB terminal
session
20% successfully establish ssh session
20% successfully copy a file via scp/sftp
protocol
20% successful compilation and execution
20% successful git install and clone