1 |
Dear Eric, |
2 |
|
3 |
esa wrote: |
4 |
> It's my first step to program a embedded system. |
5 |
|
6 |
Fantastic! Welcome to the world of embedded Linux. |
7 |
|
8 |
I have a customer who was in a situation almost identical to yours. |
9 |
|
10 |
I would like to try to break down your questions a little, I think it |
11 |
can help. Also I would like to say that if you do not have a strong |
12 |
UNIX/Linux background you are facing a very large project. |
13 |
|
14 |
You are basically going to start from scratch, learning hundreds if |
15 |
not thousands of details about a new computer operating system, and |
16 |
one or several new programming languages. Then you're going to |
17 |
re-implement your application on top of all those new things. |
18 |
|
19 |
It is relevant to know what your application does to make any |
20 |
accurate estimates, but even without knowing any of that I can say |
21 |
that you're in for a development and learning effort several years |
22 |
long, and that the technical outcome in the end can be very much |
23 |
state of the art. |
24 |
|
25 |
The outcome can also be a problem filled pile of mistakes. In |
26 |
particular, I feel strongly that trying to "cheat" the process of |
27 |
learning a new system through the use of RAD (Rapid Application |
28 |
Development) tools when producing software for an embedded system |
29 |
creates more problems than it solves. It is even worse if said RAD |
30 |
tools aren't open source. The problem is that there are so many |
31 |
things you suddenly give up control of. Completely. |
32 |
|
33 |
Because you look toward graphical interfaces I guess that you have a |
34 |
GUI software in your system. My advice is to never use anything |
35 |
"fatter" than GTK+ in the system. GTK+ can already be considered too |
36 |
heavyweight but it does have decent performance. There are other GUI |
37 |
toolkits (different widget AKA control libraries) which your app can |
38 |
use, which are even lighter and faster. |
39 |
|
40 |
|
41 |
> - Do I install the GNOME, X Windows or KDE for using CODE::block ?? |
42 |
> What is the best ? |
43 |
|
44 |
I have no idea what CODE::block is, and this mailing list is about |
45 |
embedded gentoo so it is probably not the best place to find that |
46 |
advice. |
47 |
|
48 |
Per Google I found http://www.codeblocks.org/ which is Code::Blocks, |
49 |
AKA CodeBlocks. |
50 |
|
51 |
|
52 |
> - For my target, I use uclibc. Must I install code block under my |
53 |
> CHOST (where I install uclibc ). Or maybee it is not necessary. |
54 |
|
55 |
CodeBlocks is an IDE, a development environment. You do not need and |
56 |
should never have the development environment on your target system. |
57 |
GNOME or KDE on your development system does not matter. You can have |
58 |
both. CodeBlocks uses wxWindows which is a widget abstraction |
59 |
library, it doesn't have any widgets itself but can use GTK+. |
60 |
You will need X, and should also understand it, on both development |
61 |
and target system if you want to use any kind of GUI. |
62 |
|
63 |
|
64 |
> - In this case, must I configure CODE::block to use uclibc ? |
65 |
|
66 |
uclibc is a C library implementation so it should really just be a |
67 |
drop-in replacement for GNU libc, without need for any configuration. |
68 |
|
69 |
|
70 |
> -Is it something important to configure in MAKE.CONF ? |
71 |
|
72 |
Impossible for us to answer. You have to learn about everything that |
73 |
can be done in make.conf yourself, and find the correct settings |
74 |
which matter in your system, and decide what their values should be - |
75 |
or explain your system to someone else who is able to offer you |
76 |
professional assistance. |
77 |
|
78 |
|
79 |
> - my target is a Industrial PC with a GEODE processor. |
80 |
|
81 |
I am also involved in coreboot, a BIOS replacement which runs well on |
82 |
many Geode boards, and can have Linux running in less than a second |
83 |
after power on. I would suggest looking into the possibility of |
84 |
leveraging coreboot on your target board to gain even more control of |
85 |
your end product. |
86 |
|
87 |
|
88 |
> Is it a document, where I can find what I can use and how to |
89 |
> configure ? |
90 |
|
91 |
I don't think so. Not that I know of at least. There is a lot of |
92 |
great documentation for Gentoo which is recommended reading, but I |
93 |
don't know of comprehensive documentation, much less a single |
94 |
document, that covers all the areas that are relevant for your |
95 |
project. If you ask me, you have to get or buy the experience. |
96 |
|
97 |
|
98 |
> Thanks again for your help. |
99 |
|
100 |
You're welcome! Please don't feel discouraged, there are many places |
101 |
(this mailing list, and others) where you are very welcome to ask for |
102 |
help, but please also remember that it is always easiest to give good |
103 |
answers to concrete questions. |
104 |
|
105 |
|
106 |
Best regards |
107 |
|
108 |
//Peter |