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Running Linux on an iPAQBy Martyn Honeyford2005-04-13 
Develop for it
Now that you know how to obtain and install existing software for your new OS, you may be interested in what options exist for running your bespoke software or simply existing OS software that has not yet been ported by the existing developers. The first thing you will need, rather obviously, is a compiler and associated tool chain (assembler, linker, etc.) There are two main options to consider here: • Self-hosted compiler: here the compiler is installed and executes on the device itself. This is a perfectly viable setup; in fact, gcc is available via ipkg. For most people, however, unless you really have a need to perform development on the move (and, let's face it, with the limited input devices, it's going to be pretty painful), it's probably overkill. The compilation is likely to be much slower than a cross-compilation setup (unless your desktop machine is really slow) and will use up a lot of disk space on the device for the compiler, headers, libraries, etc. The more likely setup for most users, therefore, is: • Cross-compiling setup: here the compiler and tool chain are installed on a separate desktop machine -- often Linux-based, but other options are possible, including Windows (via Cygwin), Mac OS X, and others. The compiler executes on the development machine but is configured as a cross compiler; hence, rather than producing executables that will execute on the desktop machine, it outputs ARM binaries that can be run on the handheld. The compiler most people use is gcc, which can be a little daunting to set up (particularly as a cross-compiler) if you have never done this before. Fortunately, there is plenty of help available online. For simplicity, you can install and use a pre-made cross-compiler (see Resources for a link) or, if you need to build your own (if, for instance, you need a later version), then there are scripts available (such as crosstool; see Resources) that can help you build a cross-compiling gcc just by answering a few simple questions. Tutorial Pages: » Put a Penguin in Your Pocket » Why Run Linux Instead of Pocket PC? » Choose Your Hardware » Download the Distribution » Install Linux » Get Connected » Develop for it » Reinstalling PocketPC » Conclusion » Resources First published by IBM DeveloperWorks
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