A.1. Analysis

An operating system by itself is not much fun. What makes an OS great is the applications that can be run on top of it. Unfortunately, Pocket Linux currently does not have much room for anything other than system programs. Still, it would be nice to expand the system just enough to host some cool applications. Obviously a full-blown X-Windows GUI is out of the question, but running a small console based program should be within our reach.

Rather than doing a typical "hello world" program as an example, application hosting will be demonstrated using a console based audio player called mp3blaster. Building mp3blaster offers more technical challenge than "hello world" and the finished product should be a lot more fun. However, it should not be construed that a console-based jukebox is the only application for Pocket Linux. On the contrary, after completing this phase the reader should have the knowledge and tools to build almost any console-based program he or she desires.

So what will it take to turn a pocket-sized GNU/Linux system into a pocket-sized mp3 player? A few things are listed below.

• Add support for audio hardware.

• Create space for the mp3blaster program.

• Provide a convenient way to access audio files.