KernelKit 0.5.0 review

KernelKit is a Knoppix GNU/Linux derivative targetting the development of Linux kernel and drivers, as well as Free Sofware embedded

License: GPL (GNU General Public License) File size: 53K Developer: Michael Opdenacker

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KernelKit is a Knoppix GNU/Linux derivative targetting the development of Linux kernel and drivers, as well as Free Sofware embedded systems. It is currently being used in our Embedded Linux Training sessions.

Differences with standard Knoppix GNU/Linux:

- Removed applications not related to Linux kernel, drivers and embedded systems: games, office applications...
- Added tools and libraries for kernel and software development, in particular cross-compiling toolchains for many different architectures

Usefulness

- Embedded Linux trainings: provide all the needed tools in a tested configuration. No need to install a GNU/Linux distribution. No need to check installed package versions prerequisites.
- Embedded Linux demonstration: helps to discover, try and demonstrate useful tools in this technical area.
- Kernel, driver and embedded application development: toolkit to get the job done quickly and efficiently. Useful for support people away from their regular desktop, or for people who are not allowed to install software by themselves.

Cross-compiling toolchains

uClibc toolchains: cross-compiling toolchains for the following architectures: arm, i386, ppc, m68k, mips, mipsel

Development

ccache: a C/C++ compiler cache. Can save a lot of time when you compile the kernel over and over again.
doxygen: a documentation system.
SCons: a Software construction tool. A strong alternative to autoconf / automake / make.
Splint: static C code checker.

Cross-compiling toolchains

uClibc toolchains: cross-compiling toolchains for the following architectures: arm, i386, ppc, m68k, mips, mipsel

Kernel development

git: the new kernel source management system.
cogito: a git front-end.

Emulation

QEMU: a cpu and system emulator for several platforms. Great to experiment with i386 or ppc embedded systems.
SkyEye. An emulator for several popular ARM boards.

Performance analysis

Linux Trace Toolkit": user space tools for analyzing system performance. Note that you can only analyse results so far, and not produce data, as the current KernelKit kernel doesn't have support yet for LTT.
Valgrind: memory debugger and performance analysis tool for x86 Linux.

Lightweight applications for embedded systems

Dillo: a very light and fast web browser.
e3: a microscopic editor supporting several interface types (vi, emacs...).

Unix learning help

fish: the Friendly Interactive SHell makes it much easier to use the Unix command line. The best way to start for beginners (Caution:: strangely broken in the latest KernelKit release)
vimtutor: part of the vim package. Very nice way to learn vi in 30 minutes!

Misc

gkermit: a serial communication utility.
Psyco: a kind of Just In Time compiler for Python. Useful for running the BitBake / OpenEmbedded tool faster.
xvncviewer: a VNC client. Sometimes useful to display target graphics on the host system.

What's New in This Release:
This release is a new remaster from Knoppix 5.0.1.
It also includes more useful tools for embedded Linux system developers: kcachegrind, gitk, monotone, kdevelop, gxemul, cmake, ddd, cscope, kscope, lmbench, clink, finddup, and dupmerge.