Re: [uClinux-dev] uCLinux new kid - Don't laugh at me!

From: Tom Walsh (tom@cyberiansoftware.com)
Date: Wed Jan 31 2001 - 12:50:47 EST


mike pod wrote:
> 
> Hi All,
> 
> First of all, I am a hardware guy stepping over the line.
> I am embarking on a project to run uCLinux on a Motorola Coldfire(5272) Eval board.
> I found the sources and binaries on the Moretonbay website.
> 
> 1) Is there any way to build uCLinux on a DOS based system?
> 
> 2) is there any dos based utilities to convert the binaries to S-records?
> 

Why?  Don't you have an old 486 box sitting around doing nothing? 
Better yet, a pentium-1 (anything)HZ would do very nicely.  IMHO, if you
are going to get your feet wet, why not dive in as you will be dealing
with similar issues with both systems (development platform vs. embedded
platform)?

One very SOLID reason to forgo the dos attempt is that dos / windoze do
not support NTFS filesystems.  My development setup is this for an M68K
design of mine:  I have an ethernet on my card that is tied into my
private network.  When the embedded system boots up, it mounts an NTFS
volume from the workstation (effectively the workstation volume becomes
part of the embedded systems' file tree).  Then I develop (edit, cross
compile) the application on the more powerful Athlon 800mhz
workstation.  I telnet into the embedded system from the workstation and
launch the application.  The embedded system then reaches across the
ethernet, loads the binary and executes it!  Try doing this with DOS,
you cannot do it.

Think about it, do you want to undergo a little pain up front and learn
something about linux, then enjoy the benefits of rapid development
later?  --OR--  Do you want to be comfortable and suffer a prolonged
development cycle later?  To me, this is a no-brainer!

There is more than enough help out there for the newbie to get a linux
box running for the first time.  Also, there are a lot more tools geared
towards program development that is available on Linux than on Windoze /
dos.


Regards,

TomW

-- 
Tom Walsh - WN3L - Embedded Systems Consultant
'www.openhardware.net', 'www.cyberiansoftware.com'
"Windows? No thanks, I have work to do..."
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