Microwindows on uClinux

[Altera_Forum]

Hi all, 

 I have two questions I hope you can help me with.  The first is, im trying to port an existing microwindows application onto uClinux... ive successfuly compiled it using the nios II toolchain but when I run it it just spurts out rubbish on the screen. Its hard to explian properly but it doesn't do as its supposed to do!!!   The second thing is in the uClinux application settings I tried to select nxlib under microwindows but it won't build properly. There are no errors given it just won't build. Does anyone have any experience on this?   Thanx  

[Altera_Forum]

Your error descriptions are really unusable :).  

 I did install nano-x and nanomw and did a simple application using it and it does work as expected.   Did you install the system completely according to the NIOSWIki and upgraded to the newest version using git ?  Are you able to run a nanomw test application like nxview that comes with the system ?   -Michael

[Altera_Forum]

I can get the demos working fine (tried tetris and clock)... just not my own application which was originally written for another version of linux (ive updated makefiles etc and rebuilt using nios toolchain) 

 I'm using the SLS distrubution that is linked on the Altera website. I tried the distribution on the nioswiki but I couldn't get the framebuffer to work.   Unfortunatly its very hard to describe whats happening. It just prints garbage on the screen when I try to execute my application. I can just make out bad command amongs the gibberish.   

[Altera_Forum]

SLS distribution ? Are you using the NEEK hardware ? If so, you might want to try my "binary Neek" distribution in the NIOSWiki. Same is based on a newer uCLinux version, and it comes with a simple working graphical application that I wrote. Of course the source code is available.  

 -Michael

[Altera_Forum]

Hi, 

 Where is this binary neek? (Yes I am using NEEK). The SLS dist can be found here: http://www.slscorp.com/pages/bspdownload.php (http://www.slscorp.com/pages/bspdownload.php)  Their dist does seem quite unstable...SD drivers won't work and nxlib creates a build error...   I wouldn't have used it but i can't get lcd display going on the dist on nioswiki 

[Altera_Forum]

If you want to get support here, you need to switch to the current uClinux distribution as described in the NIOSWikl ( http://www.nioswiki.com/operatingsystems/uclinux (http://www.nioswiki.com/operatingsystems/uclinux) , using theses instructions: http://www.nioswiki.com/installnios2linux (http://www.nioswiki.com/installnios2linux) - including the notorious git stuff), You'll find my "binary NEEK distribution" here: http://www.nioswiki.com/operatingsystems/u...x/tryoutuclinux (http://www.nioswiki.com/operatingsystems/uclinux/tryoutuclinux) . 

 -Michael  P.S.: It's a shame that due to the server crash and the forum rewind to 2007, all information on all this in thousands of forum messages is lost. :( .

[Altera_Forum]

OK i'll try the nioswiki dist again...maybe my program will run on that!!!  

 Thanx

[Altera_Forum]

With my NEEK distribution the sd card does work reliable, but slow, as the card's SPI interface is used and not the dedicated four bit SD-Card interface. There is no free IP-Cor for the four bit interface, as you only are allowed to distribute that if you are a paying member of the SD-Card Organization (which obviously holds for SLS, who will sell you such an IP-core and uCLinux driver, if you want to and I am positive that they will support their sold products decently). 

 Moreover the NEEK seems to lack hardware to detect SD-Card removal and insertion and thus you manually need to reset the driver and unmount/mount the file system. I do provide scrips for this with the NEEK binary distribution.  -Michael

[Altera_Forum]

OK ive now used the dist from nioswiki and the framebuffer is fine (i think i hadnt used the latest version before maybe?). The problem I think now is what .ptf and sof to use. Im using the one for the application selector... but thats not giving me ethernet support at the moment. Do you know where i can find a .ptf and .sof that will give me framebuffer, sd and networking support?  

 The instructions on the nioswiki doesnt mention what one to use or where to get it from...  Thanx

[Altera_Forum]

I've been using a ptf and sof for the NEEK from the Wiki. as you can see in the "binary NEEK distribution" it uses the "oeth" Ehernet ipCpore. 

 -Michael

[Altera_Forum]

Hi, I have tried both "SLS Corp" and "Try Out uClinux" on NEEK, and "Try Out uClinux" can detect the SD card. Cool. 

However, I need the serial port to send out data somewhere. Can "Try Out uClinux" display the screen on the LCD and use the PS2 keyboard just like SLS Corp?   Or, another way, I use the SLS corp uClinux, but my computer can't detect the ftp server (Note: I can see the NEEK web server though). I just need to copy some files to the NEEK and gcc it so that the NEEK sends out some data through serial port.   I'm a FPGA guy and only learned Linux in school 10 years ago. Thanks thanks.

[Altera_Forum]

Both distribution are just for demoing what can be done. You can't really "use" them, as they are built using very outdated stuff. and are not supported by anybody. No help, upgrades or modifications will be available.  

 For decent tests you need to build your own distribution using the current version of the "distribution builder" from the git (as described in the Wiki).   -Michael