Re: Need to regroup on a cross compiler!

[Brendan J Simon <Brendan dot Simon at ctam dot com dot au>]

I think the answers to most of your questions are in the CrossGCC FAQ.
Checkout http://www.objsw.com/


>       1) What operating system should I select for my target?  All we really
> need to do is load an image on bootup and then go.
>       So can I build an a.out image if I select target=i486-aout?  Or do I
> need to can a linux kernel in flash and then load an elf
>       image at run-time?

You don't have to use an operating system.  You can program the code directly
into flash.  That's what I do on one of our embedded products.  You can use
objcopy to generate a hex file to download.  You need to have some way of
programming the flash though.  We use a bootloader with a simple monitor that can
receive a hex file and then program the flash.

There are many operating systems to choose from.  The most common opensource ones
are RTEMS, eCos and linux.  Note that you need different C libraries for these
operating systems.  RTEMS uses newlib, eCos uses its own and linux uses glibc.


>       2) What documentation exists describing how to build a cross compiler
> .     run time library files, such as those from Newlib.

The CrossGCC FAQ and mailing list archives.
Also the gcc web site at http://gcc.gnu.org/


>       3) What else don't I know that should be intuitively obvious to the
> GNU tools embedded developer audience?

I'm not sure.


Brendan Simon


------
Want more information?  See the CrossGCC FAQ, http://www.objsw.com/CrossGCC/
Want to unsubscribe? Send a note to crossgcc-unsubscribe@sourceware.cygnus.com