openembedded (#1) - Advice to help me get started (#16) - Message List

Advice to help me get started

I'm an old Unix hand, but I don't have any real experience with Linux. I've come to the conclusion that I'm going to need a Linux system to host development for the Z2. So I'm looking for pointers on what I should get and install. I don't need anything elaborate, I'm happy with a shell prompt. Something diskless I can throw up on a fileserver would be fine, or I can scrounge up a disk drive if that's easier.

A pointer to what I should download would be appreciated.

tsprad
07/17/08 22:52:46
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  • Message #20

    tsprad,

    Keep in mind that this device is an X-Scale based processor, so you typically compile on your host system (most use Linux as their default OS, can use Windows if you use Wubi to install ubuntu, etc.). OpenEmbedded, one build system, should run on unix, but I haven't specifically heard of it.

    We have had people develop applications for it using OpenEmbedded, Scratchbox, and Buildroot (google will lead the way to each of these). I favor OE, but YMMV (it's very big if you just want to build some console apps).

    Once you get the binary of your application built via your host computer, you place it on your MiniSD card to run. Root around on this wiki, or join us on IRC for specifics.

    drmikecrowe
    07/18/08 09:09:16
    • Message #21

      OK, I guess I'm confused by the names of things. I was thinking that OpenEmbedded was the system that runs on the embedded (limited-resources) machine, the Z2 in this case. Are you telling me that OpenEmbedded is a system I can install on an i386 PC and run the cross-compiler on?

      Then the cross-compiler is part of/comes with OpenEmbedded?

      The first thing I need is a system that can create the ext3 filesystem on the miniSD so I can boot it up and get a shell prompt.

      Has anyone tried running a native complier on the Z2? Maybe with sources on an NFS server? I've compiled a lot of code on a lot of machines that had a lot less resources.

      tsprad
      07/18/08 20:28:38
      • Message #22

        OE is the cross-compiler and more. It includes many makefile updates to support lots of open-source projects.

        This is a boot-to-shell project: http://linux.zipitwireless.com/wiki/Z2Shell. It does not use ext2. The Z2 boots from the fat partition. More extensive projects which require ext2 must boot on the fat partition, then chroot to the ext2 partition. This page http://linux.zipitwireless.com/wiki/OpenEmbedded documents a script that one of members wrote to create an SD card with 2 partitions (fat and ext2).

        I don't think anybody has tried compiling via NFS.

        drmikecrowe
        07/18/08 21:09:03
        • Message #23

          Progress report:

          First I did some homework. Figured out that OpenEmbedded, Scratchbox, and Buildroot are three alternative cross development "environments", and decided that was too much for a starting point. So I found the necessary tools to use FreeBSD to put the FAT16 and ext2 filesystems on the SD card.

          I was starting to make some progress until I ran into a bug in FreeBSD's handling of ext2 filesystems. After much experimentation, I figured out that it was related to size, and I didn't need anything near 1800 MB, so I built an ext2 filesystem of about 400 MB and it worked OK.

          However, when I tried to boot that on the Z2 it it hung "Please wait... booting" as reported by sweissman and Skunkette.

          Rather than try to debug that immediately, I just stuck the z2_shell_v2 files in my FAT16 partition and tried that. And it worked! When I remembered that I had to do some configuration for my network, even the wireless networking worked the first time.

          One little problem: When I tried to scp out I got "/usr/bin/dbclient : file not found", so I just symlinked all of /mnt/sd0/bin to /usr/bin and solved that problem.

          It works great, but it's an awfully limited system, so now I need to drop back and try to figure out what's wrong with the base image r59 system.

          Thanks for all your help! I haven't had this kind of fun with a computer in years.

          tsprad
          07/20/08 16:28:13
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