HOWTO Pages

Introduction

This page is a list of the various "HOWTOs" we've made here. Scan the topic headings and sub-headings to find a question of interest and then follow the link to the proper HOWTO page.

Hardware HOWTOs

I Have A GumStix Verdex and a ConsoleLCD-VX board. How do I make something with it?

Visit the HOWTO Get a ConsoleLCD-VX System Working page. It will tell you all the parts you should have from GumStix, and how to assemble them.

Development System HOWTOs

I Have A (X)Ubuntu 7.10 Linux System. How do I set it up as a development workstation?

Visit the HOWTO Setup GumStix Buildroot on an existing (X)Ubuntu System. This will tell you the packages you need to install to insure a "painless" software development process for your GumStix based myPhone. Note: for the lazy, we have a script that does most of the hard work for you.

After compiling the buildroot, you'll probably want to transfer the code you just cross-compiled to your GumStix-based myPhone. The HOWTO Reflash the GumStix Verdex explains how to do this.

I Have A MS-Windows System. How do I set it up as a development workstation?

One aspect of Embedded development that is sub-optimal is that you sometimes have to install a number of arcane packages (okay... okay... so GCC 4.1.1 is _not_ arcane) and configure your host system in somewhat weird ways. For instance, one thing I noticed about GumStix development on Ubuntu is that you have to link /bin/sh to /bin/bash (the default is for it to be linked to /bin/dash). Last year at eTel Benoit Schilling mentioned that the QT guys distribute a VMWare image with all the tools properly configured to do QT development so you can try it out without making permanent changes to your development system.

Visit the HOWTO Setup GumStix Buildroot on a Windows System using VMWare. It describes which packages to download from the VMWare website and how to download a pre-configured Xubuntu 7.10 VMWare image. Afterwards you'll probably want to configure Eclipse by visiting the HOWTO Configure Eclipse to Work with Jowles page.

I Want to use Eclipse to Cross Compile and Deploy software on my GumStix based myPhone. How do I do it?

The HOWTO Configure Eclipse to Work with Jowles page tells you how to install and configure the Eclipse CDT package along with the Remote System Explorer, Subversion and GNU Autotools extensions.

Bah. Eclipse is for the Weak. I want to compile with the command line

The HOWTO Compile Linux with the GumStix Buildroot describes the simple steps required to build Linux, etc. using GumStix's buildroot environment.

I Compiled a New System for my Gumstix based myPhone. How do I install it?

Go to the HOWTO Reflash the GumStix Verdex page.

Software HOWTOs

I Want to write some software that speaks directly to the frame buffer. How do I do this?

Visit the HOWTO Interface with the GumStix Frame Buffer page.

I Want to write some software that uses DirectFB. How do I do this?

Visit the HOWTO Use DirectFB on the GumStix based myPhone page.