Caution: This version of this document is no longer maintained. For the latest documentation, see http://www.qnx.com/developers/docs.

About This Book

This chapter includes:

What you'll find in this guide

The Building Embedded Systems guide is intended for developers who are building embedded systems that will run under the QNX Neutrino RTOS.


Note: QNX Neutrino runs on several processor families (e.g. PowerPC, ARM, SH-4, x86). For information on getting started with Neutrino on a particular board, refer to the appropriate BSP (Board Support Package) documentation for your board.

This guide is organized around these main topics:

Topic Chapter(s)
Getting the big picture Overview of Building Embedded Systems
Getting started with your board support package Working with a BSP
Making an image Making an OS Image
Preparing your target Writing an IPL Program;
Customizing Image Startup Programs;
Customizing the Flash Filesystem;
Sample Buildfiles
Dealing with hardware issues System Design Considerations
Terms used in QNX docs Glossary

Note: We assume that you've already installed QNX Neutrino and that you're familiar with its architecture. For a detailed overview, see the System Architecture manual.

For information about programming in Neutrino, see Getting Started with QNX Neutrino: A Guide for Realtime Programmers and the Neutrino Programmer's Guide. If you plan to use the Photon microGUI in your embedded system, refer to the "Photon in Embedded Systems" appendix in the Photon Programmer's Guide.

Typographical conventions

Throughout this manual, we use certain typographical conventions to distinguish technical terms. In general, the conventions we use conform to those found in IEEE POSIX publications. The following table summarizes our conventions:

Reference Example
Code examples if( stream == NULL )
Command options -lR
Commands make
Environment variables PATH
File and pathnames /dev/null
Function names exit()
Keyboard chords Ctrl-Alt-Delete
Keyboard input something you type
Keyboard keys Enter
Program output login:
Programming constants NULL
Programming data types unsigned short
Programming literals 0xFF, "message string"
Variable names stdin
User-interface components Cancel

We use an arrow (-->) in directions for accessing menu items, like this:

You'll find the Other... menu item under Perspective-->Show View.

We use notes, cautions, and warnings to highlight important messages:


Note: Notes point out something important or useful.


Caution: Cautions tell you about commands or procedures that may have unwanted or undesirable side effects.


WARNING: Warnings tell you about commands or procedures that could be dangerous to your files, your hardware, or even yourself.

Note to Windows users

In our documentation, we use a forward slash (/) as a delimiter in all pathnames, including those pointing to Windows files.

We also generally follow POSIX/UNIX filesystem conventions.

Navigation buttons

At the top and bottom of our HTML docs, you'll see some or all of these buttons:

Use this button: To move:
Previous To the previous part of the document.
Contents "Up" in the document:
  • In a prose book, this typically takes you to About This Guide.
  • In a reference book, it takes you to the listing of items that start with a given letter. For example, if you're looking at the docs for abs(), this button takes you to the listing of the functions that start with A.
Keyword index To the keyword index.
Next To the next part of the document.

Technical support

To obtain technical support for any QNX product, visit the Support + Services area on our website (www.qnx.com). You'll find a wide range of support options, including community forums.

Copyright © 1996-2008, QNX Software Systems GmbH & Co. KG. All rights reserved.