PeeWeeLinux is an ongoing development effort to provide an environment that makes the configuration and installation of a Linux operating system on an embedded platform as easy and painless as possible. Some of the key features of PeeWeeLinux are:

• Developed on a Red Hat 6.2 platform
• Packages build and maintained using rpm
• Packages are customized to minimize memory footprint
• Ncurses driven graphical configuration and installation tools
• 2.2.x kernel enhanced for embedded applications
• USB support
• PCMCIA support
• XFree86 support

The configuration utility is menu driven and allows for complete packages, or a subset of files from packages, to be included in the target system. Target system using syslinux or lilo bootloaders are supported. Targets can consist of root ramdisks, read-only root partitions and conventional single read-write root partitions. Projects can be saved for later use; thus making it very easy to test several different configurations.
PeeWeeLinux includes a complete and growing assortment of utilities and applications for a variety of products. Custom configuration files and binaries can be added to a project and saved with a project. Possible applications for systems build with PeeWeeLinux include:

• Rescue floppy disks
• Routers
• Firewalls
• Thin-Clients
• much more

The PeeWeeLinux kernel sources include a number of important features for embedded applications; like GPL compliant drivers for flash devices, the latest available network drivers, USB and PCMCIA support.

PeeWeeLinux as a whole is distributed under the GPL license. Individual packages and components are licensed per their respective owners.

PeeWeeLinux is available free and there are no hidden costs or royalties for using it.

REQUIREMENTS:
 
The PeeWeeLinux development environment requires a pre-existing Linux system with a complete set of development tools installed. PeeWeeLinux is currently developed on a Red Hat 6.2 system with some updated packages and not necessarily a stock kernel.

Currently the loading of target devices directly attached to the development system are supported. These include floppy drives, IDE hard drives, scsi hard drives, M-Systems Disk-On-Chip and CompactFlash devices. CompactFlash has been successfully loaded using PCMCIA adapters and USB readers.

CompactFlash to IDE adapters are ideal for attaching a CompactFlash card to a target device. They are currently being used with great success inside the K-Net Router, Datalux IPIX and many other embedded boxes in lieu of a common hard disk drive.