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  • Author Author: Jan Cumps
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BeagleBone - Cross Compile c++ on Windows

Jan Cumps

How to cross-build BeagleBone c++ sources to Linux executables.

 

image

The process isn't difficult, but there are some traps that I'll review here.

 

Software Requirements

  • ARM DS-5 development environment
  • Linaro GCC ToolChain
  • 7-Zip or another extractor that can create symbolic links
  • Temporary admin rights on your Windows computer.

(assuming you have WinSCP, PuTTY and the drivers for your BeagleBoard running)

 

 

Install DS-5

The community edition is ARM's free Eclipse-based IDE. Download and install.

After the download, you don't have a toolchain yet.

image

It's not hard to find GNU ARM compilers for bare metal. But getting a linux cross-compiler took some internet crawling.

 

Install Linaro cross-compiler Windows -> Linux ARM

Download a suitable archive.

For DS-5, I select a mingw32 hosted one with arm-linux-gnueabihf signature (big endian hard float).

image

 

The Debian image I have loaded is the latest at the moment I write this blog:

BeagleBoard.org Debian Image 2016-05-13

Linux beaglebone 4.4.9-ti-r25 #1 SMP Thu May 5 23:08:13 UTC 2016 armv7l GNU/Linux

 

It has the following gcc on board:

g++ (Debian 4.9.2-10) 4.9.2

 

The version of the toolchain that gave me the best compatibility with the Debian image is

gcc-linaro-4.9-2015.05-1-rc1-i686-mingw32_arm-linux-gnueabihf.

It can be downloaded from here: http://snapshots.linaro.org/components/toolchain/binaries/4.9-2015.05-1-rc1/arm-linux-gnueabihf/gcc-linaro-4.9-2015.05-1…

Although the remainder of the blog always shows me using gcc 5.3.1, I switched down to 4.9.3 on Windows because my BB linux install didn't have all the libraries, and for this blog I wanted to stay as close to what's on the BB as possible.

 

Once downloaded, extract the tar from the tar.xz using 7-Zip (it's as easy as right-clicking on the .xz file and selecting "extract here").

 

read this!

for the next action, take care that you start 7-Zip as administrator.

Failing to do so will give you a corrupt toolchain install.

Without admin rights, 7-Zip can't create the symbolic links (just try it and check the log).

The result is that when you build your projects later, the linker will fail to find standard libraries.

You'll get cryptic messages like this.

libstdc++.so: file format not recognized;

 

Start 7-Zip as Administrator.

image

Open the .tar archive that you've generated in the previous step.

Press the Extract button. Navigate for the location where the toolchain can be saved.

 

That's it. The compiler, assembler, linker and other goodies are now installed.

 

Configure the Toolchain in DS-5

Start DS-5, and navigate to Window - Preferences menu.

Search DS-5 - Toolchains

image

Press the Add button, and navigate to the folder where you've just installed your chain.

(for me: D:\users\jancu\Documents\elektronica\arm\linaro\gcc-linaro-5.3-2016.02-i686-mingw32_arm-linux-gnueabihf)

Apply your changes, and restart DS-5 when asked.

 

Create a Project

This is what we've been waiting for all the time. Get our first project up.

Select File - New - C++ project

image

 

Select the Hello World C++ Project, and click the toolchain that you've just installed.

Press Next, and be inventive in the next screen.

Press Finish. Your project is created.

 

Right click on your project and build it.

image

 

If you followed these steps, you'll get good news:

image

 

Deploy and Run

Upload the binary file to your BB's home folder (do a binary transfer please) with WinSCP.

You can find thefile in the debug subfolder of your project.

(on my pc: D:\users\jancu\Documents\DS-5 Workspace\bbb_gnu_linux_cpp\Debug)

 

Log on to your BB via PuTTY. You should land in your home folder.

make the binary executable by launching this command:

chmod +x bbb_gnu_linux_helloworld

 

execute it by running:

./bbb_gnu_linux_helloworld

 

If all is right, you should see the output on your terminal.

 

 

image

Thanks for playing!

 

 

 

BeagleBone - First Little Checks
BeagleBone - Cross Compile c++ on Windows
BeagleBone - Show XWindow Graphic Apps on Windows Desktop
BeagleBone: Build and Debug a Linux C++ Program with Code Composer Studio
BeagleBone: Develop and Debug with Derek Molloy's GPIO Lib and Code Composer Studio
Parents

  • I've added a video with the steps. Had to uninstall all software to shoot it.

    I had to do too many trials and errors to be able to video this exercise live.

     

    (For each step you see in the blog above, I have taken 5 or 6 wrong decisions)

  • in reply to Jan Cumps

    Great Job Jan! In my opinion the video is perfect. I saw some tutorials that really are live, but for a lot of reasons not last the delays in the computer steps are very annoying. Better come scene changes to focus the attention on the most important aspects. What kind of screencast did you used to record the scree shooting ?

     

    Enrico

  • in reply to balearicdynamics

    The live video is taken with an iPAD 3

     

    Screen capture with CAMStudio,

    Fixed Region 1280 * 720 , to have wide screen, but code readable

    Cinepak-codex

    Record Audio from Microphone

     

    iPad and CAMStudio snippets edited in Windows Movie Maker

     

    All easy tools. I also try to edit as little as I can.

    I film in the right order. (without script, as you probably can spot image )

    In Movie Maker, I cut begins and ends, cut out goof-ups, and speed up long waiting scenes (unzip, install).

    Then I generate mp4 in highest quality, and upload to YouTube.

     

    For this one, I started filming at 17:30. Video was edited, rendered and ready for upload at 19:30.

    This included making diner and eating...

Comment
  • in reply to balearicdynamics

    The live video is taken with an iPAD 3

     

    Screen capture with CAMStudio,

    Fixed Region 1280 * 720 , to have wide screen, but code readable

    Cinepak-codex

    Record Audio from Microphone

     

    iPad and CAMStudio snippets edited in Windows Movie Maker

     

    All easy tools. I also try to edit as little as I can.

    I film in the right order. (without script, as you probably can spot image )

    In Movie Maker, I cut begins and ends, cut out goof-ups, and speed up long waiting scenes (unzip, install).

    Then I generate mp4 in highest quality, and upload to YouTube.

     

    For this one, I started filming at 17:30. Video was edited, rendered and ready for upload at 19:30.

    This included making diner and eating...

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