10 Best Yocto Project Courses and Certifications Online

The Yocto Project is an open source collaboration project that provides a set of tools and resources to create custom Linux-based systems for embedded devices. It is widely used in the industry to build and maintain embedded Linux systems. As the demand for skilled Yocto Project professionals increases, online courses have become a popular option for individuals seeking to enhance their knowledge and skills in this area. This article aims to provide an overview of some of the best Yocto Project courses available online, highlighting their key features and benefits.

Here’s a look at the Best Yocto Project Courses and Certifications Online and what they have to offer for you!

10 Best Yocto Project Courses and Certifications Online

1. Embedded Linux using Yocto by Linux Trainer (Udemy) (Our Best Pick)

This course, titled “Embedded Linux using Yocto,” is taught by a Linux Trainer and aims to teach students how to become a Yocto developer and create a custom embedded Linux image for their custom board. With over 2000 students enrolled and 50+ 5-star reviews, the course comprises over 80 lectures that cover all the essential concepts and topics needed to get started with Yocto. The course includes challenges to help students verify their learning.

The course starts with basic Yocto concepts and terminology and moves on to setting up a development PC for building Yocto, building and running generated Yocto images, exploring build and source directories, and understanding the booting process of Raspberry Pi3 and Beaglebone black. Additionally, the course covers adding custom layers to the build, generating and flashing Yocto images for different devices, and adding ssh support. The course also covers the Yocto release process.

Students can ask questions anytime using the Q/A section and have access to existing questions and answers. The course comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee. The course content and sections include an introduction, Yocto terminology, exploring Poky directories and files, Yocto on BeagleBone, Yocto project releases, meta-ti BSP layer, and Yocto on Raspberry Pi3.

2. Yocto Embedded Linux by Sergio Torres Soldado (Udemy)

The Yocto Embedded Linux Course with the Raspberry Pi is designed for Embedded Linux Engineers who want to join the development team of a project that utilizes Yocto. The course provides a strong practical component that utilizes the Raspberry Pi platform as an example. Participants will gain an in-depth understanding of each Yocto component, including adding new recipes and layers, and building images that include these. The course will also cover specific components, such as the Linux Kernel, through examples that represent likely workflows.

The course is divided into various sections, including an Introduction, Hello World, Yocto, Bitbake and Others, Layers and Recipes, Creating and Using an SDK, Using Devtool, and Using Qt. Participants will have the opportunity to explore each section in considerable depth, with a focus on hands-on practice.

Throughout the course, participants will learn how to use Yocto to solve challenging problems and address real-world scenarios. They will also develop the skills necessary to navigate the complexities of embedded Linux development, with a particular focus on the Raspberry Pi platform. By the end of the course, participants will have a comprehensive understanding of Yocto and be prepared to tackle a range of challenges in the field.

3. Embedded Linux Using Yocto Part 2 by Linux Trainer (Udemy)

The course titled “Embedded Linux Using Yocto Part 2” is aimed at enabling learners to gain a comprehensive understanding of the Yocto Project. The course instructors are Linux trainers who will guide learners through the process of creating their own layer, recipe, and image. The course curriculum is divided into five hours of training sessions that will cover various topics related to Yocto Project.

The course will cover various operators that are used by bitbake, including ?=, ??, =, +=, =+, and overriding style syntax. Learners will also learn how to create their own layer manually and automatically. They will also explore the process of creating a custom image from scratch or by reusing an existing image. Additionally, learners will be taught how to customize the image using IMAGE variables and IMAGE_FEATURES.

The course will also cover the basics of recipes and the important tasks performed by Bitbake in detail. Learners will also be taught how to write a recipe for a simple hello world c program and explore various variables used in Recipe such as WORKDIR, S, D, PN, PV, PR.

Learners will also be introduced to log files and Bitbake Logging Functions. The course will include recipe examples for Makefile-based projects and git projects. Additionally, learners will be taught how to automatically fetch the latest revision, fetch a specific revision, fetch a branch, fetch a tag, fetch a local repository, and apply patches.

The course comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee in case learners are not satisfied with the course. Enrolling in this course will allow learners to take the next step in mastering Yocto Project. The course content and sections include Operators, Layers, Image, Image Features, Image Variables, Basics of Recipes, Writing Recipes, Logging, Recipe Examples for Makefile-based projects, Recipes for git projects, and notes.

4. Embedded Linux using Yocto Part 3 by Linux Trainer (Udemy)

This course, titled “Embedded Linux using Yocto Part 3”, aims to provide an in-depth understanding of the Yocto Project. Upon completion of this course, learners will be able to create their own packages and recipes for static and dynamic libraries using autotools and cmake. The course covers important topics such as File Searching Paths (FILESPATH, FILESEXTRAPATH, FILESOVERRIDE), specifying build time and run time dependencies in recipes using DEPENDS&RDEPENDS, and understanding the concept of bbappends.

The course curriculum is divided into sections that delve deep into the aforementioned topics. The FILES and PACKAGES section covers variables and how to create your own package. The Static and Dynamic Library section includes Yocto recipes for both types of libraries and how to handle unversioned libraries. The Dependencies (Build Time and Runtime) section covers variables such as DEPENDS and RDEPENDS, -g option bitbake, and noexec. The Autotools section covers an introduction to Autotools, Hello World Autotools, GNU Hello, and recipe for Autotools. Similarly, the CMake section covers Introduction to CMake, Hello World CMake, Recipe for CMake, and Devshell.

This course also covers additional topics such as FilesPath, Splashscreen, and adding your own custom logo on boot. The course is designed for individuals who wish to gain a deep understanding of Yocto Project and how to create their own packages and recipes. The technical writing style and breaking of paragraphs every three lines of text enhance the course’s readability.

5. Embedded Linux using Yocto Part 4 by Linux Trainer (Udemy)

Course Title: Embedded Linux using Yocto Part 4
Course Instructors: Linux Trainer

This course focuses on the Yocto Project and covers various topics related to it. Participants will learn about clean and incremental builds, shared state cache, tasks in Yocto, and bitbake clean tasks. They will also gain knowledge about bitbake namespaces, RPROVIDES, virtual targets, and PREFERRED_PROVIDER. Additionally, they will learn about Yocto Linux kernel development, kernel recipes, package groups, and out of tree modules.

The course starts with an introduction to clean and incremental builds and provides an example of both. The participants will learn about shared state cache and how it affects build performance. They will also gain an understanding of tasks in Yocto and the benefits of a per-task over a per-recipe approach.

The course covers various commands like bitbake-dumpsig and bitbake-diffsigs. Participants will also learn about the SSTATE_DIR variable and bitbake clean tasks like clean, cleanall, and cleansstate. Moreover, they will gain knowledge about PROVIDES list and bitbake namespaces like recipe names and package names.

The course also covers Yocto Linux kernel development and kernel recipes. Participants will learn about kernel source, configuration, patches, and creating a new kernel recipe in Yocto. Additionally, they will gain an understanding of kernel customizations, patching the Linux kernel, and modifying an existing kernel recipe.

Furthermore, the course covers package groups and the difference between package group recipes and normal recipes. Participants will learn about writing a package group recipe and recipes for out of tree modules. The course also covers automatically loading modules on boot.

This course comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee. If participants are not satisfied with the course, they can get their money back. So, enroll now and take the next step in increasing your Yocto knowledge.

6. Learn Embedded Linux using Yocto Project by Sonu Abraham (Udemy)

This course titled “Learn Embedded Linux using Yocto Project” is taught by Sonu Abraham and is designed to teach participants about embedded Linux development using the Yocto Project with Raspberry Pi, Beaglebone Black or qemux86 emulator. Participants will gain knowledge about Yocto’s tools and processes required for developing embedded Linux-based products that are ideal for rapid prototyping. The course is divided into eight sections, starting with an introduction to Yocto Project, where students learn how to set up the Yocto build environment, build and run minimal image, and GUI-based images for x86 target. In section two, students learn about Yocto build system components, such as recipes, packages, and images. They also learn how to create new recipes, layers, and images and analyze a few recipes and layers.

Section three focuses on understanding how to use the Bitbake tool to perform various tasks when using the Yocto project. Section four covers application development using Yocto project, including how to develop various applications using different recipes, create static and dynamic libraries, write test applications to test created libraries, create standard SDK, and use it with Eclipse IDE. This section also teaches how to generate enhanced Software Development Kit (eSDK) and use it using the Devtool. In section five, students learn how to work with different types of kernel recipes and customize kernel images.

Section six is about Board Support Package (BSP) development, where students learn how to develop BSP packages with the Yocto project. They analyze BSP layers for x86, Beaglebone Black, and Raspberry Pi boards and learn how to create new BSP layers. Section seven teaches how to use package management when developing software applications with the Yocto project, with a focus on trying and using OPKG package manager. Finally, in section eight, students learn how to debug applications developed earlier using Eclipse IDE and gdbserver.

7. Yocto Zero to Hero – Building embedded Linux by ECLABS Embedded and Automotive Linux (Udemy)

The “Yocto Zero to Hero – Building embedded Linux” course is designed to provide a simplified tutorial on creating custom embedded Linux using Yocto. Linux is popularly used due to its open-source nature and flexibility. However, porting it to different hardware devices can be challenging due to the large number of lines of code in the Linux kernel and library dependencies. Yocto build system helps in creating custom Linux distributions catering to specific needs with varying footprint size. The course covers the basics of Yocto development, minimal image creation, C application development, kernel development, multimedia application development, and package management. The use of embedded hardware is recommended for learning, and the Yocto Mega Manual can be used to address any queries. The course has several sections, and support is available through Udemy communication platforms.

Section 1: Introduction to Yocto
Section 2: Creating First Yocto Image
Section 3: Extend your Images
Section 4: Application and Kernel Development
Section 5: Package Management
Section 6: Building Kodi Media Centre with Yocto

The course provides a comprehensive understanding of Yocto build system and its development.

8. Deep Dive into Yocto Embedded Linux with Beagle Bone Black by Hariharan Veerappan (Udemy)

The “Deep Dive into Yocto Embedded Linux with Beagle Bone Black” course is designed to provide an in-depth understanding of Yocto fundamentals and architecture, along with custom Linux Yocto board support package. The course starts with a brief introduction about Yocto fundamentals and architecture, poky reference system, bitbake, meta open embedded core, and Yocto board support package.

Participants are guided through a step-by-step procedure to set up Yocto build system for Beagleboneblack, starting from installing dependencies, downloading the poky system from yocto-project git repository, preparing build environment, build targets, building core-image-minimal and various targets, and flashing the image into beagleboneblack.

The course also provides information about Yocto meta-data, recipes, bitbake files, bitbake append files, class file, etc. and Yocto bitbake layers with various options like show-layers, show-recipes, create-layer, add-layer, remove-layer, show-cross-depends, layerindex-fetch, show-overlays.

Participants are taught to create new Yocto layer starting from a simple helloworld to optimized custom Yocto board support package layer. They also learn to create recipes with starting from a helloworld, custom full feature media box image generation recipes, and recipe to add IoT gateway middleware framework and applications.

Overall, the course has five main sections, which include Yocto Fundamentals and Architecture, Yocto for Beagle Bone Black, Yocto Open Embedded Core Layer (meta), Yocto bitbake Tasks, layers and Creating a helloworld recipe to build simple helloworld.c. Finally, the course concludes with Yocto Custom Embedded Linux Image creation.

9. Creating a Bespoke Raspberry Pi 4 web app OS using Yocto by Jorge Corona (Udemy)

The course titled “Creating a Bespoke Raspberry Pi 4 web app OS using Yocto” will teach participants how to create a web app that runs on their Raspberry Pi 4 using Yocto. The course is aimed at individuals who want to create a minimum viable product (MVP) using a Raspberry Pi 4 hardware and the Yocto Project. It is suitable for those who have a web app already or need help with tasks such as connecting to a Wi-Fi without SSH, shutting down or rebooting their Pi, and logging their activities via a web app.

The course is divided into two phases. In Phase I, participants will set up their Yocto Build Server in Virtual Box. After this phase, they will be able to boot from their Raspberry Pi 4 and connect to it via SSH. In Phase II, participants will go through 5 builds to get from a “Hello World” web app to the final web app with various features such as connecting to a “Webapp” Adhoc Network, scanning Wi-Fi, configuring the system and resetting the Wi-Fi back to Adhoc mode.

The course content is divided into three sections: Getting Started, Phase I, and Phase II. The course instructors are Jorge Corona.

10. Yocto Project: The Videocourse by Pedro Planas (Udemy)

The Yocto Project: The Videocourse is designed to provide an introduction to the world of Yocto Project for those who are just starting out. The course instructor is Pedro Planas. The course aims to make learning about technology and informatics easy for beginners. The course content covers a range of topics related to the Yocto Project.

The course is suitable for anyone who is interested in Yocto Project and wants to learn the basics. It is recommended that learners have a clear understanding of why they are learning the topic so that they may benefit the most from the course. The course provides many tips and strategies to help learners study effectively.

Learning about the Yocto Project can be beneficial for career opportunities, as many companies are actively searching for individuals with technology skills. Therefore, starting early with a course like this can be advantageous for learners. The course emphasizes the importance of dedication and hard work to advance one’s knowledge of technology.

The Yocto Project: The Videocourse is divided into different sections, starting with an introduction to the topic. The course content covers a variety of topics related to the Yocto Project. The course provides a comprehensive overview of the Yocto Project and its applications. Participants can learn at their own pace and are encouraged to stay motivated throughout the course.