Getting started with OS5

[M@C]

Well.. bad timing with the cliesource DB gone but..

I have some ideas for OS5 software that I'd like to write. I've already got a day job as a developer so this is much more of a hobbie thing. What version of CodeWarrior do I need for OS5, and how can I get it at the most reasonable 'hobby' prices. $400 seems a bit steep unless you are planning on using it for comercial development.

Thanks

M@

[Eric S]

There are other options. PRC-Tools is free, and I understand that the Win-based version isn't as hard to set up anymore (never used it, I've always done my development under FreeBSD). The downside to this is that there isn't an IDE with it. Not a big issue, just means that you have to spend a little time learning to use makefiles. You'll gain flexibility in the end.

There's also DeveloperStudio, by Falch.net (www.falch.net), which is an IDE front-end for PRC-Tools. In fact, John Marshall is both an employee of Falch.net and the primary developer of PRC-Tools. Of course, the IDE is $129 for the personal edition.

[Hailodon]

I agree...codewarrior....outrageuosly expensive @ $400 a pop.

PC-tools...have them but yet to use as significantly complex to set up........

On a another note, does anyone know where I can get a the ROM for the clie?? as the emulator does not connect thru USB?

[Eric S]

It's very important not to just download ROMs for POSE, even if you can.

The correct way to get POSE ROMs is to sign up for the OEM's (in this case Sony) developer's program, then request access to the DEBUG ROMs.

The debug ROMs will issue warnings whenever a program does something that is technically illegal, but works on the actual device. Using this, we found a few bugs in CryptoPad that would have caused CryptoPad to have fatal errors under PalmOS5, even though we were testing with ver 3.5 DEBUG ROMs, and the bugs never surfaced on any pre-PalmOS5 PDA that I'm aware of.

[Hailodon]

Eric,

Thanks for that! Everything I need

........except codewarrior!!!......why can't they just lower there price for the average oak, it would take years ($10 a pop for a dodgy app) to recoupe the cost ........who knows??

[Eric S]

One thing to remember is that codwarrior wasn't a compiler made for PalmOS. It was originally a Mac compiler, and due to the similarities between the code/resources, was THE compiler available at first, and for the longest time, wasn't restricted to creating just Palm apps (I think this has changed, but I'm not certain). I'm not sure, but I think the early PalmOS firmwares were written in it. To this day it's still the only commercial C compiler available for PalmOS. Being in that position can lead to a certain attitude.

If I trusted my fellow man, I'd suggest a licensing scheme that was $100 for the compiler and 25% of the gross take on shareware fees, but that would involve trusting the shareware developers to be honest in how much they took in. Heck, I can't trust some of them to write code that doesn't violate the rules of the SDK, and that doesn't take any ethics :)

[phatfarm]

i personally hate the interface for codewarrior (i remember in college they made everyone use codewarrior over vc++)... it is sooo counterintuitive.

but anyways, codewarrior 9 for palmos can write native os5 apps. IMHO the resource editor is a POS tho...

good luck