Hello,

I would be very interested in getting D to work as a cross compiler for Pocket PC, since at the moment I'm using C++ for Pocket PC and D for Windows.

I suspect the path I need to take is something like this:

1. Download and install Cygwin or MinGW, but I don't know which one.
2. Download the GCC sources, but I'm not sure which.
3. Compile GCC on Win32, with "wince-pe" (?) as the target.
4. Download the GDC sources.
5. Compile GDC, with some settings I'm not sure about.

I was wondering if anyone could point me in the right direction for this. Are there any good sites or docs I should read? Do I have my steps mixed up?

Thank you,

Peter

Peter Mackay wrote:
> Hello,
> 
> I would be very interested in getting D to work as a cross compiler for Pocket PC, since at the moment I'm using C++ for Pocket PC and D for Windows.
> 
> I suspect the path I need to take is something like this:
> 
> 1. Download and install Cygwin or MinGW, but I don't know which one.
> 2. Download the GCC sources, but I'm not sure which.
> 3. Compile GCC on Win32, with "wince-pe" (?) as the target.
> 4. Download the GDC sources.
> 5. Compile GDC, with some settings I'm not sure about.
> 
> I was wondering if anyone could point me in the right direction for this. Are there any good sites or docs I should read? Do I have my steps mixed up?
> 
> Thank you,
> 
> Peter

One distribution that looks promising is:

http://packages.debian.org/testing/devel/pocketpc-gcc
http://packages.qa.debian.org/p/pocketpc-gcc.html

Even though this is a listed as being for Debian, it could work for win32.  You would just need to build the sources yourself rather than install the binaries.

I have not seen any good step-by-step instructions for building a cross compiler, but the following script is excellent guide for figuring out how to configure and install the various packages:

http://www.libsdl.org/extras/win32/cross/build-cross.sh

For more instructions, try googling on "build-cross.sh".

The overall steps would be:

1. Install Cygwin or MinGW/MSYS -- Cygwin might have a better chance of working without build glitches.

2. Download the sources (and patches) for pocketpc-gas, pocketpc-binutils, pocketpc-gcc, and pocketpc-sdk.

3. Build the packages in the above order.

Some clarifications:

* The 'configure' flags for each package will be in the 'debian/rules' files created by the Debian patches.  Use these instead of the ones in build-cross.sh.

* You might be able to save a step by using the binary pocketpc-sdk package (since it should just be ARM code.)

* GDC is built along with GCC.  This is explained in the GDC install instructions.

* Phobos will require some customization (see the "Building GDC on AIX PowerPC" thread.)

I think I will try this out myself even though I don't have any PocketPC hardware at the moment.  If I manage to produce a working compiler, I'll post a script for it.

David

Peter, would you please so kind and drop me a
message (or in this group) if you will get some results.
I am interested in porting Harmonia on PocketPC.
(Symbian is also interesting)
Thanks in advance.

Andrew.


"Peter Mackay" <a_pointy_stick.NoJunkMail@yahoo.co.uk> wrote in message news:d61psd$1rrd$1@digitaldaemon.com...
> Hello,
>
> I would be very interested in getting D to work as a cross compiler for Pocket PC, since at the moment I'm using C++ for Pocket PC and D for Windows.
>
> I suspect the path I need to take is something like this:
>
> 1. Download and install Cygwin or MinGW, but I don't know which one.
> 2. Download the GCC sources, but I'm not sure which.
> 3. Compile GCC on Win32, with "wince-pe" (?) as the target.
> 4. Download the GDC sources.
> 5. Compile GDC, with some settings I'm not sure about.
>
> I was wondering if anyone could point me in the right direction for this. Are there any good sites or docs I should read? Do I have my steps mixed up?
>
> Thank you,
>
> Peter

Andrew Fedoniouk wrote:
> Peter, would you please so kind and drop me a
> message (or in this group) if you will get some results.
> I am interested in porting Harmonia on PocketPC.
> (Symbian is also interesting)
> Thanks in advance.
> 
> Andrew.
> 

Ooooo... that would be nice!  I wish we could do that for Palm!

-JJR

> Ooooo... that would be nice!  I wish we could do that for Palm!

Only after when these smart guys will finally decide what they are
building...
Last time they said that PalmOS will be just sort of Linux.
Before they bought BeOS... They might end up with WinCE one day, who knows,
as Symbian already won over the Palm in Europe.

Seriously speaking - PalmOS with its current memory model will never run
even
D console app.

Andrew.

Andrew Fedoniouk wrote:
>>Ooooo... that would be nice!  I wish we could do that for Palm!
> 
> 
> Only after when these smart guys will finally decide what they are building...
> Last time they said that PalmOS will be just sort of Linux.
> Before they bought BeOS... They might end up with WinCE one day, who knows,
> as Symbian already won over the Palm in Europe.
> 
> Seriously speaking - PalmOS with its current memory model will never run even
> D console app.
> 
> Andrew.
> 
> 

Alas, too true. :-(  If only they had succeeded with Cobalt.  It would have been a powerful platform to program on (threading, 32-bit ARM clean, GL etc).  I always have preferred the simple Palm interface to Windows CE style; but the way things are going, things don't look promising for Palm.  That's sad.  Linux may be a good try for them, but there are platforms out there already that are tackling that market.

Sharp Zaurus... now that ones nice! I'd love to see D and Harmonia working on that one.  Unfortunately, it's market share is fairly meager.

Another one to watch... Amiga DE: faultered for several years (or more accurately, didn't do anything), but looks like it /could/ make a comeback with some new potent financial backing.  D would sit beautifully with it.

-JJR

Sure thing. I've not tried anything yet because I've been away from the computer all weekend.

Peter

Andrew Fedoniouk wrote:
> Peter, would you please so kind and drop me a
> message (or in this group) if you will get some results.
> I am interested in porting Harmonia on PocketPC.
> (Symbian is also interesting)
> Thanks in advance.
> 
> Andrew.
> 
> 
> "Peter Mackay" <a_pointy_stick.NoJunkMail@yahoo.co.uk> wrote in message news:d61psd$1rrd$1@digitaldaemon.com...
> 
>>Hello,
>>
>>I would be very interested in getting D to work as a cross compiler for Pocket PC, since at the moment I'm using C++ for Pocket PC and D for Windows.
>>
>>I suspect the path I need to take is something like this:
>>
>>1. Download and install Cygwin or MinGW, but I don't know which one.
>>2. Download the GCC sources, but I'm not sure which.
>>3. Compile GCC on Win32, with "wince-pe" (?) as the target.
>>4. Download the GDC sources.
>>5. Compile GDC, with some settings I'm not sure about.
>>
>>I was wondering if anyone could point me in the right direction for this. Are there any good sites or docs I should read? Do I have my steps mixed up?
>>
>>Thank you,
>>
>>Peter 
> 
> 
> 

Thank you David for your detailed reply. I'll also give it a go some time today or tomorrow and post back on the group.

I'm kind of busy with real life stuff at the moment... :-/

Thanks again,

Peter

> One distribution that looks promising is:
> 
> http://packages.debian.org/testing/devel/pocketpc-gcc
> http://packages.qa.debian.org/p/pocketpc-gcc.html
> 
> Even though this is a listed as being for Debian, it could work for win32.  You would just need to build the sources yourself rather than install the binaries.
> 
> I have not seen any good step-by-step instructions for building a cross compiler, but the following script is excellent guide for figuring out how to configure and install the various packages:
> 
> http://www.libsdl.org/extras/win32/cross/build-cross.sh
> 
> For more instructions, try googling on "build-cross.sh".
> 
> The overall steps would be:
> 
> 1. Install Cygwin or MinGW/MSYS -- Cygwin might have a better chance of working without build glitches.
> 
> 2. Download the sources (and patches) for pocketpc-gas, pocketpc-binutils, pocketpc-gcc, and pocketpc-sdk.
> 
> 3. Build the packages in the above order.
> 
> Some clarifications:
> 
> * The 'configure' flags for each package will be in the 'debian/rules' files created by the Debian patches.  Use these instead of the ones in build-cross.sh.
> 
> * You might be able to save a step by using the binary pocketpc-sdk package (since it should just be ARM code.)
> 
> * GDC is built along with GCC.  This is explained in the GDC install instructions.
> 
> * Phobos will require some customization (see the "Building GDC on AIX PowerPC" thread.)
> 
> I think I will try this out myself even though I don't have any PocketPC hardware at the moment.  If I manage to produce a working compiler, I'll post a script for it.
> 
> David
> 

Hello,

Just to post a heads-up on my progress so far. It seems that building a cross-compiler with "arm-wince-pe" as the target is a definite uphill struggle.

I've seen something here:

	http://win-ce.voxware.com:28575/Development%20Tools/

But it's an old release, 2003. There is a crossgcc mailing list available here, in which the chap Craig Vanderborgh from voxware posted about the development of it:

	http://sources.redhat.com/ml/crossgcc/

It's also a newsgroup on gmane.org if you prefer newsgroups to mailing lists.

	news:news.gmane.org/gmane.comp.gcc.cross-compiling

At the moment I'm not too confident my the ability to get a modern GCC version with GDC compiling for pocket pc. Not with the limited spare time I have available.

Peter

Peter Mackay wrote:
> Thank you David for your detailed reply. I'll also give it a go some time today or tomorrow and post back on the group.
> 
> I'm kind of busy with real life stuff at the moment... :-/
> 
> Thanks again,
> 
> Peter
> 
>> One distribution that looks promising is:
>>
>> http://packages.debian.org/testing/devel/pocketpc-gcc
>> http://packages.qa.debian.org/p/pocketpc-gcc.html
>>
>> Even though this is a listed as being for Debian, it could work for win32.  You would just need to build the sources yourself rather than install the binaries.
>>
>> I have not seen any good step-by-step instructions for building a cross compiler, but the following script is excellent guide for figuring out how to configure and install the various packages:
>>
>> http://www.libsdl.org/extras/win32/cross/build-cross.sh
>>
>> For more instructions, try googling on "build-cross.sh".
>>
>> The overall steps would be:
>>
>> 1. Install Cygwin or MinGW/MSYS -- Cygwin might have a better chance of working without build glitches.
>>
>> 2. Download the sources (and patches) for pocketpc-gas, pocketpc-binutils, pocketpc-gcc, and pocketpc-sdk.
>>
>> 3. Build the packages in the above order.
>>
>> Some clarifications:
>>
>> * The 'configure' flags for each package will be in the 'debian/rules' files created by the Debian patches.  Use these instead of the ones in build-cross.sh.
>>
>> * You might be able to save a step by using the binary pocketpc-sdk package (since it should just be ARM code.)
>>
>> * GDC is built along with GCC.  This is explained in the GDC install instructions.
>>
>> * Phobos will require some customization (see the "Building GDC on AIX PowerPC" thread.)
>>
>> I think I will try this out myself even though I don't have any PocketPC hardware at the moment.  If I manage to produce a working compiler, I'll post a script for it.
>>
>> David
>>