Author: Michael Opdenacker

  • Yocto Project Virtual Summit 2025: devtool hands-on class slides

    Yocto Project Virtual Summit 2025: devtool hands-on class slides

    Happy to share the slides from my Devtool hands-on class presentation at Yocto Project Virtual Summit 2025. Devtool is a very helpful tool for creating and maintaining recipes. I’m very happy I accepted to take over the traditional devtool hands-on class at the Yocto Project Summit in 2024, because devtool provided invaluable in my Yocto…

  • Using Yocto to build images for Orange Pi 3B

    Using Yocto to build images for Orange Pi 3B

    Introduction Orange PI 3B is a cheap and attractive Raspberry Pi sized single board computer based on the Rockchip RK3566: The versions with 2 GB / 4 GB / 8 GB of RAM are currently sold at 38 / 44 and 66 EUR on the manufacturer’s AliExpress store. For the same amount of RAM, the…

  • Mixing Yocto training and consulting in Italy

    Mixing Yocto training and consulting in Italy

    Training or consulting? In partnership with Amarula Solutions, I was in discussion with an Italian company, Novavision. Moving to a new hardware platform, they wanted to take the opportunity to gain ownership of the tools that are used to build their products, here Yocto, instead of subcontracting this part of system development as they did…

  • Orange Pi RV2 RISC-V board running Linux 6.18-rc1

    Orange Pi RV2 RISC-V board running Linux 6.18-rc1

    Introduction Five days ago, I received the Orange Pi RV2 board I ordered. For about 54 EUR / 64 USD (+ shipping), this board has very attractive features, in particular: All this is amazing, and if not for the slower CPU compared to Raspberry Pi 4 (according to reviews I read), this board could be…

  • Yocto security: Kernel Hardening

    Yocto security: Kernel Hardening

    This is another blog post about securing your Yocto built systems: Introduction The Linux kernel is the cornerstone and stronghold of a Linux based system. Unlike user-space applications which run with limited privileges, if it’s compromised, there is almost no limit to what an attacker can do. While nothing is unbreakable, there are two types…

  • Yocto bookmark and new training dates

    Yocto bookmark and new training dates

    Bookmark After a brief announcement two weeks ago, here is the new Yocto command reference bookmark, in a format you can print and modify, according to the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike license. In particular, the PDF version is ready to be printed. This way you will get 5 bookmarks on double-sided A4 paper.…

  • Linux 6.17 is out and already running at Root Commit

    Linux 6.17 is out and already running at Root Commit

    Linux 6.17 has just been released, and it’s already running here at Root Commit. The first system it’s been running on is this Toradex Verdin iMX8M Mini SOM (below the heat sink!) on the Dahlia Carrier board. I’m using this board for a medical device project at the moment. Here are my notes for building…

  • Digital hygiene: use USB tethering to connect your laptop

    Digital hygiene: use USB tethering to connect your laptop

    When you are on the go, have you thought about connecting your GNU/Linux PC to the Internet through a USB connection to your phone? A better and safer solution is USB tethering. Your PC uses the Internet connection of your phone through a USB data cable. This is much better in terms of security (nothing…

  • Yocto Security: Production and Development Images

    Yocto Security: Production and Development Images

    This blog post is part of a series about securing your Yocto built systems: What to avoid So, you use Yocto to build an image for your embedded device. You tweak the image and distribution settings to get the features you need, and other developers use the SDK built by Yocto to create and build…

  • “Securing Yocto Built Systems” presentation slides

    “Securing Yocto Built Systems” presentation slides

    Last week, I gave a “Making Yocto Built Images More Secure” presentation at the Embedded Linux Conference in Amsterdam. The main goal was to share the research I’ve done so far for a customer project, and gather feedback from the audience. Here are a few highlights: Check out the slides at https://rootcommit.com/pub/conferences/2025/elce/yocto-security/yocto-security.pdf. In the next…