Windows CE SPARK Program

[Jeff Louie]

I stumbled upon an amazing deal if you want to try your hand at Windows
CE
embedded programming using C#. It is called the SPARK program at:

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/embedded/products/spark/default.mspx

For $299 you can get from ICOP:

ICOP x86 256M flash drive driven fan less embedded PC with ethernet,
VGA, ps2
key/mouse support, serial X 2, usb X3, 512MB DDR2, null modem cable,
ethernet crossover cable and a compact flash slot.
Visual Studio 2005 Pro (personal use only) (was $799)
Windows CE Development Tools (was $995)

I would recommend that you follow the instructions in the ebox manual
about
deleting old software and follow the instructions in the quick start
guide for
updating VS2005 to SP1, installing the Windows CE tools including
optional x86
support, the CE SDK, auto core and ICOP BSP and then CE R2.

And remember to have fun,
Jeff

 

[Jeff Louie]

Well I finally figured out how to create a custom bootable removable
flash hard drive (compact flash or USB)on the eBox4300 running Windows
CE. It is not well documented or available on the web.

1) There is a 512MB limitation on the flash "hard drive" so of course
your 1 gig flash drive is not bootable.
2) Boot to DOS (choice 4 clean boot) and use XCOPY /s /e c: say to d: to
copy the DOS boot files to the removable flash drive.
3) Use EDIT in DOS to change the C: to say D: in the D: autoexec.bat
file.
4) Boot to the BIOS SETUP by press the delete key on power up and go to
Boot Hard Disk Drives (NOT Boot Device Priority) to select the removable
flash drive as boot disk one.
5) Over write the factory NK.bin file with your custom release version
of NK.bin. Rememeber this is a _removable_ flash drive.

Have fun. I would post these instruction on my website but I am "stuck"
on the beach for a while.

Regards,
Jeff

 

[Jeff Louie]

Problems setting up remote debugging from XP VS2005 to an eBox4300
running Windows CE 6.0:

You can deploy, execute and debug (catch exceptions) from c#
applications to an embeded 6.0 ce device over an intranet with a DCHP
server (most any wireless/wired router), but on my system I could not
set breakpoints remotely. Instead I received the message

"The breakpoint will not currently be hit. The specified
module has not been loaded". To fix this problem.

1) Besides the obvious fact that you need to be in debug build, I had to
download the net compact framework version 2.0 sp2 to my XP development
machine. When I connected and deployed the C# program to the ce device,
the cab file containing the net framework sp2 automatically deployed to
the target ce device. Afte that I was able to set breakpoints remotely.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=AEA55F2F-07B5-4
A8C-8A44-B4E1B196D5C0&displaylang=en
http://bytes.com/forum/thread525089.html

2) Also you may need to install the monthly updates.
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/embedded/aa731256.aspx

Regards,
Jeff