Guide to the Itsy Prototypes

This page presents the following information about the Itsy prototypes:

• Documentation: the documentation that is referenced by this page is grouped into three categories:

  1. about the Itsy Project
  2. about the implementation of the Itsy prototype (i.e., the hardware)
  3. about the software that is available and/or is being developed for the Itsy prototype
     
     

  NOTE: if you already have an Itsy prototype, refer to the Release Notes document for a description of what has changed since the previous release and what steps you may have to take in order to upgrade your system.

• Software: this page provides pointers to the sources and binaries that are supplied along with your Itsy prototype

• a run-time environment that you can use "right out of the box", that is, without you having to generate the necessary files yourself
• files containing various the sources and binaries of various utilities that must be installed

Documentation

Information about the Itsy Project

See the Itsy Project Web Pages.

Information about the Itsy Prototype (i.e., the Hardware)

Itsy v1

• The technical note The Itsy Pocket Computer Version 1.5: User's Manual describes the low-level programming model of Itsy v1.5, i.e., all the hardware information required to port an OS (the data sheets for the major components will also be required). This document also contains the complete daughter-card specifications.
• The information necessary to build an Itsy v1.5 is available for non-commercial use. This distribution includes the document The Itsy Pocket Computer Version 1.5: Hardware Description, the schematics (including net-list), the PLD programming data, the PCB manufacturing data, the PCB assembly data (including bill-of-materials), and the case manufacturing data.
• The technical note The Memory Daughter-Card Version 1.5: User's Manual describes the Memory Daughter-Card v1.5. This daughter-card provides an additional bank of flash memory and up to three additional banks of DRAM as well as fast-prototyping "hooks". Although many other daughter-cards have been designed, this one has been documented as an example of how to build a daughter-card.
• The information necessary to build a Memory Daughter-Card v1.5 is available for non-commercial use. This distribution includes the document The Memory Daughter-Card Version 1.5: Hardware Description, the schematics (including net-list), the PCB manufacturing data, and the PCB assembly data (including bill-of-materials).

Itsy v2

• The research report The Itsy Pocket Computer presents a good overview of the Itsy project with an emphasis on Itsy v2.
• The technical notes Power Evaluation of Itsy Version 2.3 and Power Evaluation of Itsy Version 2.4 study the average power consumption and battery lifetime of the last two revisions of Itsy v2.
• The technical note A Simple CMOS Camera for Itsy presents an example of a daughter-card for Itsy v2.

Connection to the host computer

• Host-computer connection - This guide describes how to connect an Itsy v1 or Itsy v2 to a host computer using the supplied input/output connector.

Information about Software

Introductory guides

• A guide explaining how to set up a cross compilation environment so that you can compile applications on an x86-based Linux workstation and run the binaries on an Itsy prototype.
• A guide describing the the software environment used at WRL to develop software and hardware for the Itsy prototype.
  
• Itsy Sessions and Itsy Packages.

Run-time Environment (link to FAQ)

• Itsy Sessions, the Itsy Session Manager "gmanager", and Itsy Packages.
• the flash file system
• Java, based on the kaffe java virtual machine from Transvirtual.

Linux operating system (link to FAQ)

• ARM Linux web site (the official one)
• Floating point emulator

System Drivers (link to documentation)

System Libraries (link to FAQ)

• Libggi - 2D graphics library.
• Softfloat library - provides floating point support through library calls
  

Compilers, Linkers, Languages (link to FAQ)

Applications (link to FAQ)

• Itsy session manager "gmanger".

Utilities (link to FAQ)

• boot-itsy
• eterm and term
• the Itsy sampling-based instruction profiler

Software

Supplied Run-Time environment

The Software directory in the distribution you have received contains the following files that when installed on an Itsy prototype provide you with a run-time environment. For instructions on how to download and install these files on your Itsy prototype, see the section To Down-load a Ramdisk, Parameters File, or Kernel into the Flash Memory in the user guide.

• the kernel
• the params file
• the ramdisk for installation in the flash memory on the motherboard
• a set of packages that you can install in the flash memory of the daughtercard using either the Itsy Packages method or using a ramdisk.

Supplied Sources and Binaries

The following are also included in the distribution, and are contained in the subdirectories of the Software directory..

• apps: a tar file (apps.tar.gz) containing the sources for a number of applications.
• kernel: containing the kernel and params file that are part of the supplied run-time environment.
• monitor: two versions of the Itsy monitor program: a stripped down version offering minimal functionality, and a more complete version. See the section Full Monitor in the users guide for more information.
• packages: a number of packages exist that may be installed on your itsy to extend its functionality. The available packages are listed in the release notes.
• ramdisks: containing the ramdisk for installation in the flash memory on the motherboard
• tools : a tar file (itsy-distribution.tgz) containing the binaries of the compiler that is used to generate the binaries that are run on an Itsy prototype. See the document Cross Compilation Environments for details.You must upgrade your kernel sources. To upgrade to Release 5.0, you can either reinstall the compiler tools distribution which includes the complete kernel sources or replace your existing kernel sources using the tar file containing only the kernel sources. The kernel sources must be installed in /usr/local/arm-unknown-linuxelf/src/linux.This subdirectory also contains a untility called unpack-itsy that is used to unpack the compiler
• utils: containing a tar file (bin.tar.gz) containing various scripts and the sources for various programs, both of which are used to manipulate ramdisks, for profiling programs on your Itsy, and interacting with the Itsy prototype. You will probably want to install the binaries in this tar file into your /usr/local/bin directory on your host machine.

The Itsy Project is a joint effort of the Western Research Lab and the Systems Research Center