We come from a background in interfacing Windows to simple microcontrollers in C. It seems a natural progression to use a BeagleBone Black to do both on the same board.
I/O and control seem straight forward, but when it comes to form based Linux forms controlling I/O there seem so many IDE’s, plug-ins and Linux distributions it is all a bit confusing.
Is there some straight forward advice in setting up a C++ IDE (Ideally with the debugging in Windows) and some examples to drive I/O from a form based interface?
Thanks, Mark
Linaro has gcc binaries for windows. You just need to pick the proper toolchain for the distro you’re running on the BBB.
After that, like with any other variant of gcc, it is fairly simple to setup with Code::Blocks. However, it has been my experience that GDB support in Code::Blocks is a bit flaky for some ( many ? ) embedded gcc toolchains. So i have personally started to use GDB from the command line. This can either be done via Windows cmd, or by using Cygwin to run the executable from within windows. Only reason I mention Cygwin in this case ( because it is not really needed ) is that the Cygwin console has more resize options compared to the standard Windows cmd window.
Anyway, I have been meaning to write up a blog on this, just have not gotten around to it yet though. It would however behoove you to learn more about gcc, and its cmd line options, and getting to know the tools in general. That knowledge will apply for more than this one single case. Just for starters, you can issue the given command with the -h flag, and the executable will spit out its help documentation( or should ). meaning \path\to\executable\gdb.exe -h, or similar.
William,
Many thanks for the advice, there seem to be so many toolchains, Eclipse, Arm Development Studio and various different Linux Distro’s all with there own strengths and weakness. Looking at the various forum’s though, it makes sense to get to know the command line stuff again, takes me back to the days of DOS and being able to write to I/O without a kernel in the way. I may do this the hard way and try, Eclipse, DS-5 and the Ti dev tools and see, which is the most rookie friendly, hopefully they will not clash if we have all three going.
Best Regards,
Mark
Well eclipse would work with linaro’s gcc too. But personally I am kind of allergic to JVM so . . . but yeah if it can be done with Code::Blocks Eclipse could do the same. You can even use Visual studio, either using the free version with batchfile( makefile project ) or write a plugin for the toolchain if you have a paid version of pro or better. Honestly though. I really do like VS for an IDE, but that is too much work for me anyways . . .