Comparison of Embedded Linux Development Tools for the WiiPiiDo Distribution Development

Abstract

The increasing interest in connecting small sensors to the internet has led to the development of operating systems able to support all network, graphical and server functionalities over diverse embedded hardware. Globaltronic, a company based in Portugal, has developed an embedded computer called WiiPiiDo, powered by an ARM SoC (System on a Chip), which is highly specialized for IoT applications. It features NB-IoT - LTE Cat NB1 (Narrow Band IoT) to ensure robust connection to the Internet even in harsh conditions, and allows rapid development of complete IoT solutions for end-users. The development of a Linux image that exposes all the potential of the hardware platform is a must and will provide extra value to it. To create such an operating system, we examined the Yocto Project, which is a Linux building environment that is gaining a growing community of users, particularly enterprises. Nevertheless, Yocto is not the only choice for the embedded platform developer community. In fact, Armbian, a Debian/Ubuntu based distribution, appears as an popular alternative for embedded development in ARM boards. In this paper we show the steps we took from testing the first boot on the WiiPiiDo board until the development of the supporting operating system, finalizing with performance tests. We present a comparison of the two build systems that were used and report the results from the performance tests.