XPort Devkit
The XPort Devkit plugged into a student's laptop
The XPort Devkit is a small embedded development kit designed for teaching. It uses the Lantronix XPort Pro and a custom USB dongle to provide a power supply, debug console and interface. The XPort Pro is the perfect teaching platform, as it is easy to use, runs a simple MMU-less Linux (uCLinux) and is easy to program.
The dongle incorporates a 500mA switch-mode power supply and breaks out the XPort Pro's 3 spare GPIO pins using an MCP23017 I/O expander chip, giving 8 LEDs, a switch and 7 I/O lines that can be used to connect peripherals.
We are using this development kit in our Advanced Embedded Linux course, which aims to teach students the basics of how the Linux kernel works and how to interact with hardware devices using buses such as I2C, as is used by the MCP23017.
The course takes students through the process of compiling uClinux and busybox for the XPort Pro, the basic kernel module development cycle, and how to use the I2C bus. The outcome is a driver that can handle interrupts from the switch, and an interface through which a userspace application can toggle the LEDs.
Students will come out of the course with an understanding of how embedded programming with Linux is accomplished, and will be able to take their experience and apply it to real embedded systems.
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