How to Create a Board Support Package

Article
06/30/2006

A board support package (BSP) is software that implements and supports an operating system (OS) on a standard development board (SDB). With a BSP, you can rapidly bring up an OS on an SDB and evaluate the features of the OS. Using a BSP, OEMs and independent hardware vendors (IHVs) can reduce the time required to develop a Microsoft Windows CE–based platform. For more information about BSPs and the elements that make up a BSP, see Board Support Packages.

If you do not have an existing BSP and do not want to create a new BSP from the beginning, you can use the BSP Wizard in Microsoft Platform Builder to clone a BSP designed for similar hardware. For more information, see Cloning an Existing BSP.

If you have an existing BSP and want to migrate or update it to be fully compatible with the features in Microsoft Windows CE .NET 4.2, see How to Migrate a Board Support Package to Windows CE .NET 4.2.

To track your progress in the following table, select the check box next to each step.

	Step	Topic
	1. Develop a boot loader to download the OS image.	How to Develop a Boot Loader
	2. Develop an OEM adaptation layer (OAL) to link to the kernel image and initialize and manage your hardware.	How to Develop an OEM Adaptation Layer
	3. Create device drivers to establish direct communication with devices. For information about the driver development process, see Driver Development.	How to Create a Device Driver
	4. Modify the platform configuration files to reconfigure your BSP. The modifications you make to the files will depend on previous choices you have made in the BSP creation process, such as your hardware and the location of your directories.	Platform Configuration Files

How to Create a Board Support Package

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