In embedded systems, a Board Support Package (BSP) is implementation specific support code for a given board that conforms to a given operating system. It is commonly built with a bootloader that contains the minimal device support to load the operating system and device drivers for all the devices on the board. An operating system (OS) is a set of computer programs that manage the hardware and software resources of a computer. ... In computing, booting is a bootstrapping process that starts operating systems when the user turns on a computer system. ... Windows XP loading drivers during a Safe Mode bootup A device driver, or a software driver is a specific type of computer software, typically developed to allow interaction with hardware devices. ...

Some suppliers also provide a root file system, a toolchain for making programs to run on the embedded system (which would be part of the architecture support package), and configurators for the devices (while running). In computer programming, a toolchain is the set of computer programs (tools) that are used to create a product (typically another computer program or system of programs). ... It has been suggested that Embedded System Design in an FPGA be merged into this article or section. ...

History

This term has been in use since about 1988. The origin of the phrase is most commonly attributed to Wind River Systems for its VxWorks embedded operating system, but it is in wider use in the industry now. For example, QNX Software Systems also distributes BSPs, as does Microsoft (for its Windows CE operating system). Year 1988 (MCMLXXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Friday (link displays 1988 Gregorian calendar). ... Wind River Systems, Inc. ... VxWorks is a Unix-like real-time operating system made and sold by Wind River Systems of Alameda, California, USA. Like most RTOSes, VxWorks includes a multitasking kernel with pre-emptive scheduling and fast interrupt response, extensive inter-process communications and synchronization facilities, and a file system. ... QNX (pronounced either Q-N-X or Q-nix) is a commercial POSIX-compliant Unix-like real-time operating system, aimed primarily at the embedded systems market. ... Microsoft Corporation, (NASDAQ: MSFT, HKSE: 4338) is a multinational computer technology corporation with global annual revenue of US$44. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...

Example

The Wind River board support package for the ARM Integrator 920T board contains, among other things, the following elements:

- A config.h file, which defines constants such as ROM_SIZE and RAM_HIGH_ADRS.
- A Makefile, which defines binary versions of VxWorks ROM images for programming into flash memory.
- A bootrom file, which defines the boot line parameters for the board.
- A target.ref file, which describes board-specific information such as switch and jumper settings, interrupt levels, and offset bias.
- A VxWorks image.
- Various C files, including: A USB flash drive. ...

flashMem.c -- the device driver for the board's flash memory

pciIomapShow.c -- mapping file for the PCI bus

primeCellSio.c -- TTY driver

sysLib.c -- system-dependent routines specific to this board

romInit.s -- ROM initialization module for the board; contains entry code for images that start running from ROM