Re: Some broad questions

Hi Paul and Chris and all other gentlemen that were involved in this post,

Thankyou for your help, its nice to see that you guys are dedicated in
following up on the posts you answer... You guys are great, I wish I would
know about embeded systems like you guys do!

As far as the SDK subject, when I asked my vendor about SDK, he didn't even
know what I was talking about, and yet according to what Paul mentioned in
previous post:

"So, you can't effectively generate an SDK for someone else's platform; you
have to be the *guy* who built the OS for the hardware. "

The *guy* do you refer to the vendor of the reference board?

Anyhow, I think I get the global idea on this stuff, however, sincerely
guys... where do I go from here?

A 5 day course costs approximately 3200.00$ Canadian, the softwares, VS and
Platform builder are 2000.00$. I still have some gray zones on this stuff.

As far as the couses are concerned, what waranties me that after 5 days of
courses, I will know how to build a CE image with platform builder? (*Atleast
thats what BSquare claims.) I know that BSquare is a reputable company,
however, there must be another way to get hands on expereince with this stuff
especially for someone starting off in embeded systems. Microsoft should
atleast offer some sort of an evealuation starter kit (hardware/software) to
start beginers off at an economical price. And then if the *beginner* follows
through and is confident enough that what he has learnt in the evaluation kit
is satisfactory for his or her project, well then he or she can buy the full
versions. Money here is not my problem, however, throwing money away for
something that might not work out, is wastefull.

I appreciate the warning of the learning curve that is required to learn
embeded systems. However, I never expected to accomplish this quickly. I have
time!

I don't even plan on making any money on this project, its just to get a
system up and running for a specific task that a warehouse needs. So
specific, that it wouldn't even apply to any other place. So it is a one shot
deal. However, I like this stuff, don't ask me why, I just do, money or no
money! so given the right circumstances I would like to continue to learn.

All in all, I thankyou all for your advice, you guys have been very kind to
put up with my lenghty post!

--
Best regards
Robert


"Paul G. Tobey [eMVP]" wrote:

I can build a configuration of the Windows CE OS with *no* display support,
none, no window manager, if you try to call GetMessage() in your
application, you won't be able to link it, etc. The SDK enforces, by what
it includes in the header files and libraries, what APIs you can call. It's
not like XP where basically everything is in every computer. Each CE device
might have some, most, or all of it. You *must* generate an SDK from
Platform Builder and not just a random SDK, but one that is based on the
operating system configuration you've set up (the SDK builder won't let you
generate an SDK until that configuration has been built into an actual OS).
So, you can't effectively generate an SDK for someone else's platform; you
have to be the guy who built the OS for the hardware.

The SDK is the piece that tells Visual Studio or eVC what APIs you can call,
gives VS the library files to link your code with, and tells VS what
processor type your device runs (remember that CE supports several).

Paul T.

"Robby" <Robby@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:43D453A6-A4E3-4E72-87E7-9497ABBFDEE7@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Hi Robert,

Thankyou for your post.

I give up!

I don't know what you mean by:

"NO! You can only use whatever subset of Win32 is supported by the
platform you are targeting. And that subset will be enforced by the
SDK."

My vendor says that he doesn't know anything about the software side, but
according to him, I can program in VC++ as long as it can run on CE,
however
he is a hardware specialist! So he can be off! And again... I can be off !
:)

However, Mike Hall's video, close to the end of his video, he *clearly*
states that the missing link to the puzzel between Platform builder and
the
Visual C++ progam that he had created is generating the platform SDK. This
was accomplished very easily by clicking 'create new SDK' within te
platform
builder!

Is there some other condition which would not allow me to do this?

Let me know about this, I would e-mail you, how ever I don't think this is
appropriate.

Get Back.... And thankyou for your time.

--
Best regards
Robert


"r_z_aret@xxxxxxxxxxxx" wrote:

On Tue, 28 Mar 2006 18:33:01 -0800, Robby
<Robby@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:


clip


Yes, "the SDKs are available from MS for device types that are
standardized
by MS ex: Pocket PC and SmartPhone. For anything else, MS has no idea
what's
in the OS on the device, so you have to get the SDK from the device
vendor."
So its like an extra layer on top of WCE. A kit that allows you to
develop
software in the say, Pocket PC enviroement. (I guess)

Close enough.



What does WCE stand for anyway, is it, Windows Core Embeded?

WCE stands for Windows CE. Microsoft is very clear that CE stands for
nothing. Various people have come up with meanings; some are less
flattering to Microsoft than others.

clip


I can then use VC++ in Visual Studio as shown in Mike
Hall's microsoft tutorial videos. I wouldn't even have to learn the
subset of
VC++ which is eVC++ in this case!!! Just the use of VC++ with native
WIN32

NO! You can only use whatever subset of Win32 is supported by the
platform you are targeting. And that subset will be enforced by the
SDK.


-----------------------------------------
To reply to me, remove the underscores (_) from my email address (and
please indicate which newsgroup and message).

Robert E. Zaret, eMVP
PenFact, Inc.
20 Park Plaza, Suite 478
Boston, MA 02116
www.penfact.com




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