User manual

1 Introduction
1. Introduction
1.1. OnRISC Family
The OnRISC is an ARM-based RISC industrial embedded computer family. The great variety of
interfaces like LAN, CF, microSD, USB, CAN
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, I2C, serial interface and digital I/O makes it easy
to connect various industrial devices to the OnRISC. New OnRISC device provide graphical display
(VS-860 has built-in 8” LCD display and Alekto2 provides HDMI interface to attach an external
monitor).
Compact dimensions and DIN Rail mounting capability make the OnRISC to a space saving and
flexible mounting industrial computer. It is feasible to be installed even in space limited environ-
ments.
Due to RISC based architecture the OnRISC has very small power consumption, so fanless heat
dissipation is possible. Working in an extended temperature range the OnRISC can be used under
harsh industrial conditions. Therefore the OnRISC is downright designed for industrial automation.
Refer to the Hardware Manual for exact characteristics.
The embedded computer runs full-featured Debian GNU/Linux on ARM operating system. With
Debian’s repository database it is easy to install and update the free software on the OnRISC. The
OnRISC is capable to act directly as software development host, Web, Mail, Print and Database
server or as desktop computer with X11 window manager and many more.
1.2. How to Read the Manual?
First of all the manual describes two different hardware architectures KS8695 based devices (Alekto,
Alekto LAN, Alena) and OMAP3 based devises (VS-860, Alekto 2). For example the first group
uses BIOS stored in a NOR flash, the second group uses in CPU built-in Boot ROM to boot from
MMC card directly and so on. Hence you’ll find Sections marked for KS8695 based devices or
OMAP3 to highlight the differences.
Hardware Manual should be consulted first to understand, how the device is going to be powered.
Section “Getting Started” will get you from power on till log on and basic network configuration.
Section “Debian Maintenance Notes” describes how to search/install/remove Debian packages.
Section “Network Services and Tools Provided by OnRISC” shows how to setup various network
services like SSH, Apache, mail server etc.
Software development related sections are spread over the manual and touching different aspects
of embedded software development for OnRISC devices. Section “Software Development” gives
step-by-step instructions, how to setup development environment, get source code for the Linux
kernel and programming examples. Section “Hardware API” gives overview of hardware interfaces
and how they can be accessed in software. Sections “hwtest” and “hwtest-qt” describe test utilities.
The source code of these utilities is a good starting point to see the topics described in “Hardware
API” being used in practice. Section “Recommended Books” provides a list of books about Linux
administration and programming.
Section “Buildroot” introduces another embedded Linux distribution built from scratch, that can
be used instead of Debian.
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OnRISC Alena, Alekto2 and VS-860 devices
May 2014 OnRISC User Manual 9