| ADS' wide selection of StrongARM and XScale hardware and CE image options provide the ideal platform for almost any application, from low-power, high-performance PDAs and high-resolution Web appliances to headless factory automation devices. By leveraging your applications experience and our hardware and OS experience, you can get to market on schedule and on budget. |
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Embedded Windows FAQ Frequently Asked Questions about Developing for Windows CE on ADS Products The following is an index of the topics covered in this FAQ: Getting Started with Windows CE Q: Why should I use Windows CE? Windows CE lets you use a programming environment and tools that are familiar to millions of Windows programmers. It uses a large subset of the Windows NT API, so simple NT applications can be converted to CE with very few changes. CE is especially attractive for small to moderate production runs, as the up-front tool cost is lower. Q: Where can I find out more about Windows CE? A: Take a look at Microsoft's introduction to Windows CE. There you will find data sheets, product specifications and other information about the advantages of Windows CE. Q: What versions of CE do you support? A: Versions 2.11, 2.12 and 3.0. Q: Where can I get information about Windows CE 3.0? A: Check out the Windows CE features at Microsoft's CE site .
Q: What is the quickest way to begin application development on the ADS Graphics Client and Thin Client? To get going quickly, ADS recommends the following procedure: 1. Develop and compile an application on the host PC 2. Copy the application to an ATA card 3. Insert the ATA card in your Thin Client or Graphics Client. 4. Execute the application directly from the card. For application development and debugging, you will eventually want to take advantage of Microsoft ActiveSync to establish a serial or Ethernet connection for remote debugging. Q: I already have an application written in Visual C++ or Visual BASIC for Windows NT. How hard is it to convert it for use with Windows CE? A: If you have the CE tools, you can usually run your application on an ADS device the same day you receive it! It is simply a matter of installing the CE tools (below) and selecting the ARM platform as your compiler target. Since CE uses an extensive subset of the Windows NT API, your application is likely to be able to run the first time you recompile it for ARM. Q: What tools do I need to begin development on the ADS Thin Client or Graphics Client? A: To best make use of the capabilities of the ADS Thin Client and Graphics Client, you should have the following hardware and software installed. Items shown as "optional" are not required, but are highly recommended.
Q: Does ADS have an SDK (Software Development Kit) for the Thin Client and Graphics Client? A: The Jupiter SDK from Microsoft works well for application development on ADS products. ADS also has an SDK for CE 2.12. Q: Is remote debugging available for Windows CE? A: Yes. ADS offers serial and Ethernet debugging for the Thin Client and Graphics Client. Using Visual C++ and Visual BASIC, you can quickly transfer files and step through application code. The CE Toolkit also provides remote process viewer, registry editor, screen capture and heap walker utilities.
Q: We would like to interface to a different flat panel display. What do we need to do? A: Please consult the ADS sales group for our list of supported panels. ADS can quickly supply evaluation systems for all panels that are already supported. If a panel is not yet supported, you must send a panel to ADS for first-time configuration. Non-recurring configuration charges may apply. Q: What is Vee? A: Vee is a contrast adjustment for some LCD panels. Not all panels use Vee. It is a voltage often considerably higher than the logic on your system, and can be positive or negative polarity. Warning! Applying incorrect polarity or Vee overvoltage can permanently damage a panel. Q: How can I adjust Vee on my Graphics Client? A: Vee can be adjusted in two ways. If JP12 is set for manual adjustment of Vee, you can rotate potentiometer VR1. If JP12 is set for computer control of Vee, you can adjust Vee using the Smart IO driver. Documentation about the IO drivers is available from ADS.
Q: Where can I get 2mm ribbon cables for connecting to the Graphics Client Plus? A: Samtec builds cables that connect to the J2 and J7 sockets on the Graphics Client. Samtec has an excellent samples page at http://www.samtec.com/service/samples.asp. Just supply your shipping address and contact information. The
following two cables are 24 inches long with connectors on both
ends. Other lengths can be ordered. Q: I want to supply backup power to my Graphics Client. How can I do this? A: There are several ways to provide backup voltages to the Graphics Client. The way you do it depends on how you plan to use your system. Do you envision that the display of your device will be turned on all the time? Will your device go to sleep when not in use? Is the power supply to your board always going to be available, or do you expect that it can get cut off at any time? Can your software application recover from complete power failures? These are questions that we ask when assisting customers select a backup power source. If there is a chance that all external power will be disconnected from your device, there are several ways to protect your data: 1. Store all important data in non-volatile (flash) memory (or on an external server in a client/server application). When power is restored, your application can read from non-volatile memory and resume where it left off. 2. Connect a battery to the VPERM power input on J5.6; voltage can be between 5 and 12 volts. When power fails, the board will go to sleep but memory will be retained using the VPERM supply. Within one or two seconds of being awakened, Windows CE will resume operation where it left off. 3. Connect a 3V battery (+/- 0.1V) to J3. Operation when the power fails will be the same as described in case 2. When the Graphics Client is asleep and main power is not available, the board draws about 4mA of current. You must size your battery accordingly. ADS does not currently have any specifications for batteries or chargers to use with Graphics Client. Q: What PCMCIA voltages do the Thin Client and Graphics Client support? A: The PCMCIA slots conform to Type II specifications for 5V cards. They also have 12V power for legacy flash cards. In addition, the Graphics Client Plus supports 3.3V PCMCIA cards. Q: I ran a benchmark on two different configurations of your board and got different results. Why is this? What speed are you running the processor? A: The Graphics Client can be software-configured to run at speeds up to 220 MHz (the SA1110 on the Graphics Client Plus runs at up to 206 MHz). The benchmark differences are most likely due to the panel size, color depth and refresh rate of the panel you are using, since the StrongARM display uses the same memory bus as applications.
Q: How is the flash memory used by Windows CE? A: The CE bootloader divides flash memory into two 8 MB partitions. The first partition stores the CE image and isn't available to the user. Second partition appears in CE as the "FlashFX Disk" folder off the root of the CE file system. You can read and write to it using standard file system calls and navigate through it with Windows Explorer. If you place an application in the Startup folder of the flash disk, that application will execute when CE boots. Q: How many write/erase cycles can I perform on the flash disk? A: The flash is rated for 100,000 erase cycles per block. The "Flash FX Disk" file system rotates through all available flash memory when writing files, so all available flash is exercised. Flash blocks are 128 kb in size, and the file system cluster size is 1024 bytes. With this information, you can compute how long the flash memory will be expected to last. E.g.: An application wants to write a 14.5 kb block of data to the flash disk once every minute. If the application occupies 4 MB of the flash disk, how long can the flash be expected to work reliably? You would calculate as follows: The file will take up 15 kb of disk space, which means that you will be able to write about 8.5 such files in every block of flash. There are 32 blocks of flash available for the data (32 x 128k = 4 MB), so you can reliably perform about 27 million copies of the data (8.5 x 32 x 100,000). This would allow the data to be updated once every minute for over 50 years. Note: Make sure to take into account any reductions in flash memory that will occur from file growth on the flash disk. For longest service life of the flash memory, limit files from growing beyond a predetermined size. |
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