developerWorks: Migrating from x86 to PowerPC, Part 2: Anatomy of the Linux Boot Process

“This article describes the most common traits of embedded Linux
distributions that people employ on x86 hardware and contrasts some
of the different options frequently seen on non-x86 embedded
systems.

“By the time a system has booted itself to the point where it
can run your application-level code, any one variant of Linux is,
practically by definition, largely similar to another. However,
there are several different methodologies that you can use to get
the system from power-on reset to a running kernel, and beyond that
point, you can construct the filesystem in which your application
will run in different ways…”

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