Pandora C++ Development On Pandora - Newbie Quick Start

[DoubleDash]

Last week I managed to compile one of my apps directly on the pandora using Codeblocks which I use already on the PC in Ubuntu. Qudos to the person that compiled and packaged up Codeblocks That application has now moved from windoze, to Ubuntu, to Pandora (it's intended and final destination!). All I actually had to do was take out one link reference!

Let's be honest doing any development on the pandora is tough, screen estate-wise! So I wanted to develop in Codeblocks on my PC and compile directly to the pandora. This would give me:
- large screen area (well two!)
- very quick compiling using the PCs processor(s)
- no need for cross-compiling ("bollocks" )
- no need for newbie scary stuff like extends
- no need to worry about space issues/memory on pandora
- something that works if booting from nand or SD card

I am in no way suggesting that this is the only or best way to develop, it's just the way that I have stumbled upon and will use for the moment, perhaps indefinitely unless something better and easy enough for a newbie like myself comes along! A lot of the super smart devs are possibly using other methods but this works for me atm.

So here it is, how to mount your pandora's filing system securely to your PC:

1. [Ubuntu - add myself to FUSE user group ...not sure if this is necessary?]
System/Admin/User Groups/Manage Groups/fuse/properties/]

2. [Ubuntu - install SSHFS]
Ubuntu Software Centre...just type sshfs...should be enough to find the file system client..install

3. [Ensure that your pandora is willing to serve!]
- Settings/Startup/Enable services/Start Dropbear (SSH login) on bootup
- Turn on WIFI

4. [Create a directory on your PC for your mount point...mine in my home folder which I think avoids permission issues..unless you chmod]
mkdir ~/mnt
mkdir ~/mnt/pandoradisk

5. Create a secure mount point from your PC to your pandora!
sshfs chris@192.168.1.148:/media    ~/mnt/pandoradisk

UNMOUNTING
If the mount point is stored in fstab (probably won't be if you just followed these instructions!) you can unmount as follows....
6. In ubuntu neebies like myself can unmount using the file browser's eject button:)
If not....
7.sudo umount  ~/mnt/pandoradisk

I would think that steps 4-7 should apply to any *nix PC setup.

Hopefully this will help more people to overcome early obstacles and get started doing some pandora development

More knowledgeable forum members please chip in to add/suggest/correct for the benefit of us newbies

PS
Thanks torpor for your guide on compiling directly on the pandora, this was what got me started!
torpor's guide to compiling on the pandora

I will try to edit this post if I think of anything else useful/relevant.

 

[bzar]

I'll probably do it the other way around: mount the development directory from my desktop to my pandora. This way I can work in my normal development directory structure residing on my desktop and won't need to copy stuff to the pandora jsut for deving. Compiling might be a bit slower because all files are read and written over the network, but I think the pros outweigh the cons.

EDIT: hey, post 1234

 

[torpor]

Looks good DoubleDash .. one thing I'd like to mention is that you can set up your project Makefile so that it uses ssh to execute the 'make' command - this way you can be on your Linux PC (where the editor lives), and simply type 'make' in the mounted Pandora-tree, and still get the same results as if you typed 'make' on the Pandora command line itself ..

 

[DoubleDash]

Looks good DoubleDash .. one thing I'd like to mention is that you can set up your project Makefile so that it uses ssh to execute the 'make' command - this way you can be on your Linux PC (where the editor lives), and simply type 'make' in the mounted Pandora-tree, and still get the same results as if you typed 'make' on the Pandora command line itself ..

Thanks torpor, that's a good idea. I'm so newbie I still need to read up on makefiles et al, I've been super lazy to date and relied on the C++ IDE. I first messed around with linux about 12 years ago (Mandrake I think!) when devices did not run and the whole experience was a real pain! Started dual booting ubuntu last year and now use it instead of windoze about 9 times out of 10. Shouldn't take too long to get up to speed, I've written a script to mount stuff for Virtualbox.

 

[zRichi]

Trying to get SDL up and running but getting stuck when going into Kdevelop. I had a look at code blocks but I think I prefer the look of Kdevelop.
I can't see where to point to SDL.

Any help would be appreciated.

 

[DoubleDash]

Trying to get SDL up and running but getting stuck when going into Kdevelop. I had a look at code blocks but I think I prefer the look of Kdevelop.
I can't see where to point to SDL.

Any help would be appreciated.

For what it's worth all I can say is that I followed the "bollocks" route opkg installs kindly provided by torpor.

Cross-Compiling Is Bollocks!

Admittedly I am using codeblocks. My SDL app transferred from ubuntu pretty much compiled without any change, except for removing a link reference to -SDLMain.