2025-04-07 (3 VO): Introduction

Quiz

Intro: Course Contents

Live demo of what’s going to happen in the next two semsters …

  • Command line usage: basic commands, file types, special files

  • SSH usage: interactive login to my home Raspberry (more on SSH)

  • sysfs GPIO demo

    • See here for more about sysfs GPIO)

    • Make an LED (on GPIO 21 / 533) blink:

      $ v=0; while true; do sleep 0.5; v=$(($v+1)); v=$(($v%1)); echo $v > /sys/class/gpio/gpio533/value; done

    • See here how to transfer a live movie of a blinking LED from my home desk to the FH auditorium.

  • Outlook: systems programming. Rewrite the above shell snippet in C (here)

  • Talk about last year’s project: Crazy Car on Linux

Homework

Install Linux

We want to work on our own laptops, using Linux. Three options:

  • You have native Linux installed on the laptop. Nothing to do but install a number of packages. See below.

  • Use Teiniker’s VirtualBox Debian image. Should have everything installed that we need.

  • Install Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL). This is more lightweight than a full VM; it installs Ubuntu Linux inside Windows, and sets up an easy integration path between the host and guest operating systems.

Install Programs

Whichever Linux you use, please take care that the following programs are installed:

  • git

  • gcc and g++

  • cmake

  • make

  • Visual Studio Code

    • If you chose WSL, you install the Windows version of Code, on Windows

    • If you chose Teiniker’s VirtualBox/Debian, you install the Linux version of Code inside it

On Debian/Ubuntu, there exists the meta-package build-essential. Installing this single package pulls in all the required programs (except Code) and more.

On Debian/Ubuntu, you install git (for example) by saying

$ sudo apt install git