Pandora Compilers in a PND?


ManlyStump

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So getting Java onto your Pandora involves a pnd which installs it onto the actual system. I was wondering why that can't be done with c++ compilers (or any other kind for that matter). It seems like the only way of getting compilers on the system is through a long procedure of wgets and whatnot. Every time I've tried one stage hasn't worked and I haven't been able to continue. Not aided by the fact I don't have wireless internet at home! I just can't see why it's not possible to package up all the necessary files into an installing PND; especially since all Pandoras surely have identical architecture?


Can anyone please tell me if this is indeed impossible or simply the fact that nobody has done it yet?
 
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so a pnd with the following:



Code:
#!/bin/sh

gksudo opkg-install <packages lists taken from bollocks style thread>


seems pretty pointless to me, as it would just be typing a single line in the terminal
 
A PND that kicks off a shell with all the tools, paths, libraries, etc. set up could be handy...
 
so a pnd with the following:



Code:
#!/bin/sh

gksudo opkg-install <packages lists taken from bollocks style thread>


seems pretty pointless to me, as it would just be typing a single line in the terminal

Except that installs into NAND or you have to mess with SD card installs. No, I'd rather have a PND as well.
 
right, so installing everythign you'd need for developing on the pandora, but installing to an sd card with everything setup as it should be?


so why not just have a dev environment on an sd card? saves a hel of a lot of hassle, if you needed any extra packages to compile something (happens quite a bit) then you'd need to install them from opkg onto the sd card aswell so you don't fill the nand in 2 minutes
 
right, so installing everythign you'd need for developing on the pandora, but installing to an sd card with everything setup as it should be?

What I was thinking of is a self-contained PND with the development environment "installed" in the PND file system and exposed via a shell.
 
right, so installing everythign you'd need for developing on the pandora, but installing to an sd card with everything setup as it should be?
For Java, I just took everything that was needed for Java, put it into a PND, and then created a script which mounts that PND and executes the java executable inside it. That script is the only thing that gets installed to NAND. Something similar could be done with gcc and all the compiler libraries.
 
I just can't see why it's not possible to package up all the necessary files into an installing PND


[...]


Can anyone please tell me if this is indeed impossible or simply the fact that nobody has done it yet?

It's not that easy but first steps were taken. But it's not a PND, which is by design meant to be read-only.

Something similar could be done with gcc and all the compiler libraries.

jilse started a nativ gcc compiler enviroment. It requires about 2,5GB for operation. Supported languages if everything works smooth: "Unterstuetzte Sprachen in dem Paket (sofern alles glatt geht): c, c++, objc, obj-c++, fortran, java und Support fuer "lto" ("link time Optimization")."
 
What I would really, really like - and would make my job of coding for the Pandora really much easier - is a self-contained PND of the Delphi-like IDE (and FPC contained with it) Lazarus. My PandaBAS is written in Delphi under Windows and compiles for Linux with FPC/Lazarus. However, getting Lazarus to compile an ARM binary requires re-compiling Lazarus, which means that I have to re-compile again when I want to build the x86 binary. Having Lazarus in a PND would mean that I could build the ARM binary on the Pandora itself.


Unfortunately, building Lazarus to run on ARM is way beyond my abilities :(


Of course, if anyone could explain to me how to build it to run on the Pandora, I'd be more than willing to give it a go when I get mine back from ED :)


D.
 
I'd like to see a fairly complete package of development tools and libraries.. PND preferable or just a directory to put on an SD card..


Last time I tried installing a bunch of Development tools with the opkg Angstrom repository method it wouldn't boot up properly and I needed to reflash..
 
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^ Exactly what happened to my boot-from-SD experiments after installing the necessary packages. Which is why I'm now cross-compiling.
 
so a pnd with the following:



Code:
#!/bin/sh

gksudo opkg-install <packages lists taken from bollocks style thread>


seems pretty pointless to me, as it would just be typing a single line in the terminal

Er... no......


Those opkg-install lines download stuff from the internet (when it can find it) and put the data wherever necessary. What I was saying was to have all the data from the internet packaged up into an installer, so you don't need to connect to the internet in order to install it. I wouldn't mind if all the files were put onto an SD card (if that's much easier), so if all that was necessary was a zip file you can download onto a card, whack it into the Pandora and then compile with it, the key issue is not having to get my Pandora connected to the internet itself.
 
The wiki at http://pandorawiki.org/Compile_directly_on_the_Pandora has very recently been updated to include the t4b method that double7 mentions. It looks like you can download a big tar file with an online computer, copy it to your pandora (which would need to be running the OS from a SD card), and then splat the tar file over your root directory to give you a development environment.


Other than that method, I too have been thinking about how useful a pnd with a compiler in it would be: I'm going to try and make one this weekend.
 
Really, I don't understand why its so hard to set up the compiler-onboard (bollocks) style of environment .. is it because the Angstrom repo has been changed drastically and no longer has a proper configuration?


For the record, I compile onboard and its wonderful.
 
Really, I don't understand why its so hard to set up the compiler-onboard (bollocks) style of environment .. is it because the Angstrom repo has been changed drastically and no longer has a proper configuration?


For the record, I compile onboard and its wonderful.

Because as I said in my OP I don't have wireless internet at home, and every time I've gone somewhere where I can get wireless and tried those methods it's said one of the packages can't be downloaded and I can't get anywhere with it.

Other than that method, I too have been thinking about how useful a pnd with a compiler in it would be: I'm going to try and make one this weekend.

That would be very cool if you could do that! :)
 
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and every time I've gone somewhere where I can get wireless and tried those methods it's said one of the packages can't be downloaded and I can't get anywhere with it.

it's probably a stupid question, but are you doing an opkg update beforehand?

I can't remember now, its been about 2 months (sod the TM) since I last tried. If the instructions told me to then I probably did, otherwise I doubt it.
 
Because as I said in my OP I don't have wireless internet at home, and every time I've gone somewhere where I can get wireless and tried those methods it's said one of the packages can't be downloaded and I can't get anywhere with it.
Connect it to your PC via USB, leach internet that way. You need to activate USB networking on the Pandora and your PC first, which is easy in Linux (I gave steps to do so a couple months back which you should be able to search for, or if you can't find I'll repeat them when I'm at a proper computer tomorrow) and I'm sure it's possible in Windows but I have no idea how.
 
Because as I said in my OP I don't have wireless internet at home, and every time I've gone somewhere where I can get wireless and tried those methods it's said one of the packages can't be downloaded and I can't get anywhere with it.
Connect it to your PC via USB, leach internet that way. You need to activate USB networking on the Pandora and your PC first, which is easy in Linux (I gave steps to do so a couple months back which you should be able to search for, or if you can't find I'll repeat them when I'm at a proper computer tomorrow) and I'm sure it's possible in Windows but I have no idea how.

I might give that a go this weekend then. I take it that's with one of the micro usb ports on the pandora? (stupid question alert)
 
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