Step by Step instructions for kindle development environment

[knc1]

Originally Posted by coplate

- - - -
It looks like qemu and debian can use the sparse files, so that would be a nice shortcut for people working on this, if they start with that image.

Not just debian -
any operating system that supports ext2/3/4 file systems.

In fact, most 'inode' based file systems support sparse files.

Another application that uses sparse files; VirtualBox

[Yourcat]

For 2 GB I wouldn't think about sparse files. Also don't forget the fun involved when the parent FS is full and the sparse file can not allocate blocks.

[geekmaster]

Originally Posted by coplate

The resize2fs doesn't just fill the filesystem with zeroes, it also tells the partition map that the partition is now 2 GB, and that's what we want from it in this case.

Otherwise when we boot from it, the OS will see only 512MB
...

I was referring to the steps at twobob's linked code. I should have established context. Yes, exyending from 500 ro 2000, does need it (as I also mentioned).

[geekmaster]

Originally Posted by coplate

The resize2fs doesn't just fill the filesystem with zeroes, it also tells the partition map that the partition is now 2 GB, and that's what we want from it in this case.

Otherwise when we boot from it, the OS will see only 512MB




It looks like qemu and debian can use the sparse files, so that would be a nice shortcut for people working on this, if they start with that image.

I was referring to the steps at twobob's linked code. I should have established context. Yes, extending from 500 ro 2000, does need it (as I also mentioned).

EDIT: I see now that twobob's code wrapped in my smartphone browser (no code tags) -- I missed the append flag. My comment was moot.

[encol]

Originally Posted by coplate

This method has the fewest shortcuts.

...

This will install a armel VM onto your vmware VM

1. wget http://http.us.debian.org/debian/dis...tboot/vmlinuz-3.16.0-4-versatile
2. wget http://http.us.debian.org/debian/dis...boot/initrd.gz
3. qemu-img create -f raw armdisk.img 2G
4. qemu-system-arm -m 256 -M versatilepb -kernel vmlinuz-2.6.26-2-versatile -initrd initrd.gz -hda armdisk.img -append "root=/dev/ram"

...

Perhaps a typo?

[coplate]

Originally Posted by encol

Perhaps a tipo?

yeah, the original posts had the older version number, vs what I actually did, my post was a mix of the two.

[nasser]

Hello, All!
I'm a rank amateur/beginner/dilettante/newbie as regards cross compiling. Though I've helped out with bug testing and feature suggestions for some applications.
A few years back, twobob exhorted me to try. He gave his example - how he learnt stuff, tried and succeeded. Well, It was inspiring, but I was too lazy to do anything further.
Now, there is a fairly stable open source chess problem solving program called Popeye (https://github.com/thomas-maeder/popeye). It's a CLI program.
I managed to compile this and run it on my netbook running Ubuntu 14.04. Earlier, I was using the pre-compiled windows .EXEs.
So, you can guess where I'm leading this up to! I would very much like to compile and get it running on my Kindles. I wasn't able to persuade anybody to do it for me, so looks like I've to jump into the pool after all!
To start off, I need one help from you experts: Which cross compiling tool chain should I first install on Ubuntu? I'm confused between "armel", "armeabi", "armhf", etc. I read somewhere here that Kindles are armel.
Obviously, I'll update my progress and hopefully upload/link the finished Kindle executable here when I've succeeded!
Thank you, in advance!

[encol]

Instructions in this thread are a good place to start.
Use the first method (the others should be equivalent, but this is what i tested).
An important thing: when you test gtk apps, remember that in kindles all windows must follow a particular title convention: read this (in particular posts #11 and #13)

[nasser]

Thanks for your reply, encol!

Ok. From looking at your instructions, it looks like Kindles need an armel tool chain.

The application I'm interested in porting is not a gtk app... as far as I can make out.

Also, it looks like you're creating a full armel environment inside your linux box, by using qemu emulation, etc. Maybe you use this for testing the ported app within your linux box itself, before copying it over to the kindle

I don't know whether that's required in my case. I'm OK with producing an armel specific image of the final executable on linux and copying it over to kindles for testing.

[knc1]

Originally Posted by nasser

Thanks for your reply, encol!

Ok. From looking at your instructions, it looks like Kindles need an armel tool chain.

The application I'm interested in porting is not a gtk app... as far as I can make out.

Also, it looks like you're creating a full armel environment inside your linux box, by using qemu emulation, etc. Maybe you use this for testing the ported app within your linux box itself, before copying it over to the kindle

I don't know whether that's required in my case. I'm OK with producing an armel specific image of the final executable on linux and copying it over to kindles for testing.

Work is done under emulation so that all of the native mode tools can be used.

Yes, Kindles are ARMel - softfloat - eabi
Although it is possible to run ARMhf concurrently with the factory system images. - I wrote a thread on that with worked examples.

Do you have the serial port connection set up on your Kindle?
If not, find a way to test your program off of the Kindle.

If you would describe your application - we could probably give you more specific advice.
And if it is a closed source application - go away - we don't do that here.

[nasser]

Hello, knc1! Was waiting for you to join in!

Originally Posted by knc1

Do you have the serial port connection set up on your Kindle?
If not, find a way to test your program off of the Kindle.

No. No serial port. Thanks to you, I did all my JBing without serial port fiddling!
I assume I can copy the cross compiled executable from my Linux box over to my Kindles and test it there?

Originally Posted by knc1

If you would describe your application - we could probably give you more specific advice.
And if it is a closed source application - go away - we don't do that here.

I have already mentioned that Popeye is an open source application and have also given the github link(https://github.com/thomas-maeder/popeye).
It was first written for MS-DOS around 1984 in COMAL, a PASCAL derivative. Later it was converted to C and made to run on a wide variety of platforms.
From the Wikipedia entry:

Popeye is chess problem-solving software. Popeye runs from a command-line interface, but it can be used with several operating systems and can be connected to several existing graphical interfaces since it comes with freely available source code in the C programming language. Popeye is one of the most exhaustive solving programs. It can solve problems with many fairy pieces and conditions, and can output to LaTeX. The original author of Popeye was Philippe Schnoebelen who wrote it in Pascal under MS-DOS around 1983-84. The code was later donated in the spirit of the free software movement. Elmar Bartel, Norbert Geissler, Thomas Maeder, Torsten Linss, Stefan Hoening, Stefan Brunzen, Harald Denker, Thomas Bark and Stephen Emmerson, converted Popeye to C, and now maintain the program

.

Other inormation: It's a pure CLI application. It takes input from a text file or from the keyboard and outputs to screen and/or text file. It uses a hash table. It's able to work with memory from 16M to 1G or more.

[knc1]

Originally Posted by nasser

Hello, knc1! Was waiting for you to join in!
- - - - -

I had no way of knowing that you had not changed the subject.
Yeah, I know, it was all clear in your mind when you wrote the post.

A command line program is about the safest thing you could be building.
At worst, you might have to re-boot the Kindle.

Have you checked any of the major Linux distributors package libraries (like Debian/Jessie) to see if it is already built for you?

[nasser]

Thanks for your reply, knc1!
I've not checked. But I don't think Popeye is something that would be pre-built and added into any Linux distribution. Its audience is small. At most, I would estimate less than 1000 users.
I've written to the current maintainer, but don't think he'll oblige by giving me a nice compiled executable!

Someone like twobob, baf or niluje could do it, i'm sure. But they're busy.

So, with your blessings, I'll start myself!

[knc1]

That is the way to get started, just start.

I have (**somewhere**) Sargon, both the manual and the source.

Also, I am pretty sure I have seen an x86 emulator (for ARM) that can run PC-DOS (well, FreeDOS).
Just if you want to run the original binaries on the Kindle.

Small audience?
You can't get much smaller than the "Mainframe in a zipper case" thread (system-s (360, 370, 390) emulator for the Kindles).
I think there have been about 10 downloads of that in four years.
And that is probably just WebBots that are lost.

[encol]

Originally Posted by nasser

Someone like twobob, baf or niluje could do it, i'm sure.

... or maybe encol