Setting up developer tools for Pilot under Unix

What do you need?

• The compiler (gcc), loader, (ld), debugger (gdb), etc., that support cross-compiling to Motorola 68K machine code, which is what the Pilot runs.
• A resource editor for the Pilot, for designing your application's GUI.
• A Pilot emulator, so that you can test your applications without continuously crashing your real Pilot.
• The documentation for getting you started, in case you have not previously developed for the Pilot.

The compiler, resource editor and related tools

1. Go to ftp://ryeham.ee.ryerson.ca/pub/PalmOS/ and get the following:
   • prc-tools-0.5.0.tar.gz

2. Go to ftp://prep.ai.mit.edu/pub/gnu/ (or other suitable GNU mirror) and grab the following:
   • binutils-2.7.tar.gz
   • gcc-2.7.2.2.tar.gz
   • gdb-4.16.tar.gz

3. Untar all of the above files under the same directory, so you should end up with directories called prc-tools-0.5.0, binutils-2.7, gcc-2.7.2.2 and gdb-4.16 in the same level.

4. cd to prc-tools-0.5.0.

5. Edit the Makefile and make the following changes:
   • Change the HOST variable to the correct type for your machine. Or better yet, apply this patch, which deletes all references to the HOST variable, and lets configure figure out by itself what machine you are running on.
   • Change the PREFIX variable to where you want to install things. Under this directory, bin, lib, etc. will be created. I would recommend using a place for Pilot-specific stuff, such as /usr/local/pilot.
   • If you wish, change CC and CFLAGS to suit your taste or needs.

6. Do

   make patch

   This will apply some patches to the gcc, gdb and binutils directories, that are needed to support Pilot.

7. Do

   make gnutools

   This will compile and install the contents of the gcc, gdb and binutils directories. So you have to do this with the appropriate privileges for the files to be installed (it is not a good idea to compile things as root, but oh well...)

8. Do

   make

   This will build the stuff in prc-tools, and leave you with a bunch of tools for manipulating resources, building .prc files, etc.

9. Do

   make install

   This will install everything where you specified.

10. Read the README file in prc-tools. It contains these same instructions, plus some additional information that you may find useful.

The emulator

1. If you do not have libXpm installed, go and get it. I will not cover that process here.

2. Go to ftp://ryeham.ee.ryerson.ca/pub/PalmOS/ and get the following:
   • xcopilot-v0.4.tar.gz

3. Go to http://www.isaac.cs.berkeley.edu/pilot/ and grab the latest version of xcopilot-0.4-iang.

4. Untar xcopilot-v0.4, and apply the patch.

5. Edit Makefile, mc68k/Makefile and mx/Makefile, and do the following changes (not all are applicable to all files):
   • Edit BINDIR and LIBDIR to where you want to put things. In LIBDIR, only the icons for the program are put.
   • Edit CC to whatever you find appropriate, but I wouldn't recommend changing it from gcc.
   • Change CFLAGS, IFLAGS and LFLAGS to adequate values so that the compiler and loader find the appropriate include files and libraries.

6. Do

   make xcopilot

   And the magic should be done. Now do

   make install

   And the binary and icon files will be put where you indicated.

7. To run it, you have to first get a copy of your Pilot's ROM. To do this, put it in the cradle, and run the pi-getrom program from pilot-link. The syntax is:

   pi-getrom <port>

   It should crank away for a while, and you end up with a file called pilot.rom.x.y, where x.y is the ROM version of your Pilot.

8. Put the ROM file in some suitable place (I use ~/.xcopilot/, and set the XCOPILOTDIR environment variable to point to that place. In the same directory, create pilot.rom as a link to the file you just created.

9. You should be all set. Try running xcopilot and you should get a running Pilot on your screen.

10. Latest news tell me that pilot-link 0.8.6 has a program called pi-getram for fetching a copy of your Pilot's RAM. Then you can have an identical copy of your Pilot in your desktop!