In the world of cloud-based software, developers enjoy the advantage of fully automated testing. Continuous Integration (CI) systems check every software update, testing every part of the software. However, this level of automated testing hasn't been easy for embedded software and devices. The main reason is their dependence on specific physical hardware, which traditionally requires manual testing by a person. This manual approach is slow and becomes more challenging as the number of device variants grows.

Jumpstarter was created to help with that. It introduces a way to test embedded software automatically, just like cloud software. With Jumpstarter, we can test our software on the actual hardware it will run on, but without needing someone to manually handle the device for each test. This is a big step forward because it makes testing faster, more consistent, and less reliant on manual effort. It fits right into existing CI/CD systems like GitHub CI, GitLab CI, Jenkins, Tekton, etc.., making it easier for developers to include it in their workflow.

Testing in hardware requires a testing harness to connect your hardware to Jumpstarter, as we couldn't find anything readily available and Open; this is why we also created the jumpstarter-board that allows power control and metering, storage flashing, console access, and other functions. We are working on the release 2.0.0 with additional functionality and expandability. Additionally, the Jumpstarter software is designed with a driver architecture that enables the creation of drivers for additional testing harnesses.

This talk will explain how Jumpstarter makes embedded software testing easier and more efficient. We'll explain how it can save time and ensure better testing results, which is crucial for developing reliable embedded systems.

We will bring the Jumpstarter board with us and share details to let you build your own or get it built for you.