Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 11 Comments on Reducing truetype font file size for embedded systems

Reducing truetype font file size for embedded systems

Embedded systems often have limited memory, that can be a challenge when your application requires Asian languages where fonts might be several megabytes large. Below we describe a method to reduce the file size with Fontforge using simhei.ttf, a CJK font as an example. Fontforge Fontforge is an open source font editor running under Linux and Windows/Cygwin. For the latest version see http://fontforge.sourceforge.net/ Reducing Font Size Removing Bitmap from Font File. Some TrueType files embed a bitmap version of the font. When Fontforge opens such a file, it will ask whether to keep the bitmap or not. We can remove the bitmap to reduce the file size. Using a glyphs subset adapted to your application. We can use Fontforge with cidmap (Fontforge proprietary) and/or Cmap (from adobe) to perform this task. Please check http://partners.adobe.com/public/developer/font/index.html#ckf for further information on CJK/CID file for your language. In our example (simhei.ttf), which can be […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments on Mounting a JFFS2 image in a Linux PC

Mounting a JFFS2 image in a Linux PC

We often use JFFS2 binary images for embedded system, generating them with mkfs.jffs2. In some instances, it could also be good to mount a jffs2 image into your PC to modify it directly. To do that,  type the following commands as root in a linux shell: modprobe mtdcore modprobe jffs2 modprobe mtdram modprobe mtdchar modprobe mtdblock dd if=image-jffs2 of=/dev/mtd0 mount /dev/mtdblock0 mnt If your image is larger than the default kernel size (4MB in my case), you can try to adjust the mtdram device size with the total_size parameters. when inserting the mtdram module, e.g.: modprobe mtdram total_size=8096 where total_size is expressed in KB Further details can be found @ http://www.handhelds.org/hypermail/familiar/62/6232.html

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Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments on Resizing an NTFS partition with Linux

Resizing an NTFS partition with Linux

If you have a computer where you already installed Windows and you wish to install Linux as well (dual boot), you may want to resize the NTFS partition to get more space for the Linux partitions. One way it to use Gparted (Gnome Partition Editor) – http://gparted.sourceforge.net/ with a boot CD. Here are the instructions: •  Boot from the CD •  Hit <ENTER> when you see the message “Boot:”. •  Select language, keyboard and screen resolution from the menus. •  The partitioner should start and the following steps are intuitive More details are available @ http://mlf.linux.rulez.org/mlf/ezaz/ntfsresize.html#example It is also possible to do it with a USB Thumdrive if you do not want to burn a CD and your bios can support booting from a USB device. http://gparted.sourceforge.net/liveusb.php

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment on Sigma Designs EM862X Resources

Sigma Designs EM862X Resources

We are using EM8623 for the development of set-top-box and digital signage applications. In order to develop for that platform, an SDK must be purchased directly from Sigma Designs. However, the linux kernel is open source so companies need to release the source if they modified it in their products. For example, you could download the GPL source released by Kiss Technology – http://www.kiss-technology.com/files/firmware/GPL.zip. This is only the GPL source for your reference, after that there are also sigma linux drivers (not released by sigma) and not GPL, and the MRUA package that needs to be purchased from Sigma Designs. One the challenge of using EM862X platforms (EM8620L, EM8621L, EM8622L, EM8623L etc..) is that it has no MMU (Memory Management Unit) and that may make the software debugging very interesting.. You may experience spectacular crashes, kernel panic without any apparent reason. But most of the time this is due to […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment on Software Development Cycle Tools

Software Development Cycle Tools

In order to manage software development with a small team, we use the following tools: Version control software: e.g. CVS, Subversion, git… Bug tracking software: e.g. Bugzilla Nightly build scripts or continuous integration software: e.g. CCNet For our linux based projects (embedded software), we use CVS, Bugzilla and nightly build scripts (with crontab) For our Windows-based projects (.NET Framework), we use CVS, Bugzilla and CCNet.

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