PC/GEOS

This repository is the offical place to hold all the source codes around the PC/GEOS graphical user interface and its sophisticated applications. It is the source to build SDK and release version of PC/GEOS. It is the place to collaborate on further developments.

The base of this repository is the source code used to build Breadbox Ensemble 4.13 reduced by some modules identified as critical in regard to the license choosen for the repository.

While now the WATCOM is used to compile the C parts, the full SDK is available for Windows and Linux.

How to build?

Prerequisites

The SDK requires "sed" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sed) and "perl" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perl) to be installed. Both are pre-installed in most Linux-distributions. Windows-users should install "sed" by adding the usr/bin of the official git distribution (https://git-scm.com) to the path (or Cygwin), and should use the perl-variant "Strawberry Perl" (http://strawberryperl.com/).

On Linux if you want to use swat for debugging with good system integration is is required to install xdotools package. It ensures swat receives the keyboard focus once needed.

Install WATCOM and set environment

• Unzip WATCOM tools from the latest release-tar-gz for instance to C:\WATCOM-V2

• add WATCOM env variable: WATCOM=c:\WATCOM-V2

• set BASEBOX=basebox to use the advanced emulator backend from pcgeos-basebox if it is on the executable path, alternatively you may provide the full path to the executable as well

• set ROOT_DIR to the root of the checkout

• set LOCAL_ROOT to a local working directory (can be empty at first, but should be under pcgeos, so you can use it for development of your own apps as well)

• add C:\WATCOM-V2\binnt to your system path variable

• add bin of the checkout of this repo to path variable

• add sed and perl to path variable - note the order to avoid loading the wrong Perl version. Example:

    set WATCOM=c:\WATCOM-V2
    set ROOT_DIR=C:\Geos\pcgeos
    set LOCAL_ROOT=c:\Geos\pcgeos\Local
    set BASEBOX=basebox
    PATH %WATCOM%\binnt;%ROOT_DIR%\bin;C:\Geos\pcgeos-basebox\binnt;%PATH%;c:\Program Files\Git\usr\bin
  

Document is work in progress.... stay tuned!

Building PC/GEOS SDK

Build pmake tool:

• cd pcgeos/Tools/pmake/pmake
• wmake install

Build all the other SDK Tools:

• cd pcgeos/Installed/Tools
• pmake install

Build all PC/GEOS (target) components:

• cd pcgeos/Installed
• pmake

Build the target environment:

• cd pcgeos/Tools/build/product/bbxensem/Scripts
• perl -I. buildbbx.pl
  • the answers to the questions from the above perl-script are:
    • nt (for the platform)
    • y (for the EC version)
    • n (for the DBCS)
    • y (for the geodes)
    • n (for the VM files)
    • and then you'll have to enter the path to a "gbuild"-folder in your LOCAL_ROOT-folder.
  • BTW: It's expected that the current version of the perl-script creates several "Could not find file name in any of the source trees."-messages.

Launch the target environment in dosbox:

• make sure dosbox is added to your path variable, or pcgeos-basebox is installed and configured using BASEBOX environmental variable
• cd pcgeos
• bin/target
  • the "swat" debugger stops immediately after the first stage of the boot process
  • enter quit at the "=>" prompt to detach the debugger and launch PC/GEOS stand-alone
    • or: enter c to launch with the debugger running in the background (slower)

Customize target environment

If you want to customize the target environment settings only for yourself, you should not change the file %ROOT_DIR%/bin/basbox.conf.

• Create a file called basebox_user.conf in %LOCAL_ROOT% folder.
• Enter the new settings here. These settings overwrite those from basebox.conf. Example:
  • [cpu]
  • cycles=55000

How to develop?

PC/GEOS comes with extensive technical documentation that describes tools, programming languages and API calls from the perspective of an SDK user. This documentation can be found in the TechDocs folder and is available in Markdown format. Here are some entry points to the main volumes:

• Introduction
  • Tutorial - the initial chapters describing the development environment are somewhat outdated, and still refer to the original two-machine setup for debugging, but this nevertheless gives a good idea of overall development process.
  • Concepts
  • Tools
• C development
  • GOC keywords and API calls
  • Objects Reference
  • Quick Reference
• Assembly development
  • ESP Assembly Language
  • Assembly Reference
  • Driver Development Kit

We are on https://bluewaysw.slack.com/ for more efficient collaboration. Please register at https://blog.bluewaysw.de for MyGEOS and use the Slack section and receive access to our developer community. Welcome!