1. Introduction

This document describes the development of application for the Compaq iPAQ and other handhelds using QPE/OPIE from the authors point of view. It includes the installation of the iPAQ software itself, as well as the installation of the crosscompiler and the different qt-requirements. Some usefull addons are also included.

This document intends to give a help to all users, who want to develop applications for QPE. As the author is not the great Linux-crack, it maybe sometimes tedious to read this paper, but I hope to give some ideas to the reader if something goes wrong.

I know myself that it is really boring to search for information to a special aspect in the internet, especially if you are hot to start.

So the intention of this document is to collect all necessary information to be able to start with development. Additionaly, I try to give some tips concerning application development for embedded systems.

Although the documentation is not yet ready, there maybe already a lot of helpfull tips.

I will use "host" as a synonym for the Linux-machine, which is either connected to the handheld (cradle and / or network) and connected to the internet on the other side. Read the chapter preparations on the host first. The minimum requirements should be fullfilled to start with the chapter iPAQ installation.

!!!Hint!!!
QT3.0 and all related stuff is in this document, but not really tested / used. I thought about clearing this off, but decided to give it a chance for the next publication.

1.1 Download

You can download all files related with this documentation and also this documentation itself as tarballs from my homepage.

• http://www.uv-ac.de/ipaqhelp/all.tar.gz approx. 2000kByte.
  All related files.
• http://www.uv-ac.de/ipaqhelp/html.tar.gz approx. 55kByte.
  This documentation in HTML format.
• http://www.uv-ac.de/ipaqhelp/ps.tar.gz approx. 600kByte.
  This documentation in PostScript format.
• http://www.uv-ac.de/ipaqhelp/latex.tar.gz approx. 500kByte.
  This documentation in Latex (and dvi) format.
• http://www.uv-ac.de/ipaqhelp/pdf.tar.gz approx. 400kByte.
  This documentation in PDF format.
• http://www.uv-ac.de/ipaqhelp/sgml.tar.gz approx. 50kByte.
  This documentation in SGML format (the original text file for using sgml-tools).
• http://www.uv-ac.de/ipaqhelp/scripts.tar.gz approx. 15kByte.
  All related script files.
• http://www.uv-ac.de/ipaqhelp/adminpatch.tar.gz approx. 220kByte.
  The admin patch for kdevelop 2.0. This is not needed, if you have 2.1.
• http://www.uv-ac.de/ipaqhelp/zlib-lisa.tar.gz approx. 75kByte.
  The zlib extension (for SuSE and QTopia SDK).
• http://www.uv-ac.de/ipaqhelp/netup.tar.gz approx. 15kByte.
  An example ipkg for network setup of my ipaq.
• http://www.uv-ac.de/ipaqhelp/ipkbuild.tar.gz approx. 5kByte.
  The kdevelop ipkbuild extension (some scripts to allow automated ipkg creation using kdevelop).

1.2 References

The information of this document is mainly experience of myself during the startup. Additional informations come from

• Handhelds.org
  an overview over the actual development (not only for ipaq) gives handhelds.org. The familiar distribution 0.x and following is found at handheld.org as well ftp-link to familiar 0.x.
• Trolltech.com.
  Here you can get QT (for X11), as well as QT-Embedded as a free download. You will need both, if you want to develop an application running fon both operating systems. QPE is available as a demo here (X11-demo). The sources are found at sourceforge.net (see below). Additional you can get the QT-Designer (Layout-Tool), and the QT-linguist (translation help).
• Qtopia.
  Download the qte-2.3.3 and the free qtopia 1.5.0 version from this page. Select GPL qtopia to get an rpm archive.
• qpe sources.
  Here you can find the qpe-sources, as well as a X11-demo. The familiar ipkg version can be found at ipaq packages. This url is used to retrieve packages for the QPE-installation from.
• qpe sources.
  Here you can find the qpe-sources, as well as a X11-demo. The familiar ipkg version can be found at opie ipaq packages. This url is used to retrieve packages for the OPIE-installation from (the free clone of QPE).
• OPIE sources.
  They are available via CVS download. The CVS download and howto compile is described in an own chapter ( see OPIE Sources ). Ipaq binary packages can be found at opie ipaq packages. This url is used to retrieve packages for the OPIE-installation from (the free clone of QPE).

see also Used URLs.

1.3 History

• V0.2.7a change ipkgadmin to ipkg_kdev (qtopia included)
• V0.2.7
  
• environment scripts changed (to new needs)
• opie and arm links changed due to implementation of opie use under qvfb
• chapter QVFB filled
• V0.2.6
  
  • bugfixes in kdevelop config for opie
  • chapter General rules for handheld development filled (now opie development)
• V0.2.5
  
  • familiar 0.6-pre1 approved
  • fitting opie with 0.6-pre1 (incl. qt 2.3.3)
• V0.2.4
  user lib creation added
• V0.2.3
  
  • familiar 0.5.3 approved
  • minor bugfixes
• V0.2.2
  
  • change to familiar 0.5.2
  • OPIE added
  • BusyBox added
• V0.2.1
  
  • kdevelop explanations improved
  • FAQs addes
  • Automated ipkg build (with kdevelop)
• V0.2.0a- downloads explained changed to -enable-qtopia instead of -enable-palmtop
• V0.2.0
  
  • new cognitions about using apache on your local host
  • ipaq installation updated to the familiar 0.5.1 package
  • Kernel CVS download
  • Trolltech SDK toolchain
  • JPEG hints
  • ipkg find engine
• V0.1.8 - kdevelop 2.1 added
  qtopia contest added title has changed (Zaurus included - only Qtopia paragraph)
• V0.1.7 - filled chapter "building your own ipkg"
  new chapter Example program development
• V0.1.6b - corrections and addition by michael.uplawski
  Environment scripts with english explanation QT2.3.2beta and QPE1.4.0 QVFB compilation / usage
• V0.1.6a - 21.10.2001 - added QT3.0 compilation
  
• V0.1.6 - 20.10.2001
  
  • chapter host preparation added
  • moved some contents from chapter installation on your iPAQ to this chapter
  • added nameserver,apache, firewall, ppp quick installation and ipaq connection.
  • added grab ipkg directories by using scripts
  • added description of the main ipkg commands
  • changed ipkg format from 0.4 to 0.9 version
  • added / changed to familiar 0.5 installation
• V0.1.5a - 03.10.2001 - some spelling corrections
  
• V0.1.5 - 30.09.2001
  
  • Added the netwinder crosscompiler and the SuSE crosscompiler installation.
  • Added the Kernel compilation and PCMCIA compilation description.
  • Added zlib to the download-section.
• V0.1.4 - 15.09.2001 - initialy published

1.4 Roadbook

Where to go tomorrow ?

• actualize the kdevelop part
• fill the chapter QPE-development tips with content
• perfect QT30 and related items, if QT30 is really in use

1.5 Example projects

All my own ipaq programs are created using this document. If worth to be shipped you can find them at

my homepage.

All ipkgs are located in

ipackage dir.

The following programs can be found there:

• qtravel.
  This is a travel expense tracker with special extansions regarding group traveling. The program has been used from myself several times now with satisfaction.
• qphoto.
  This is a digital photograph organizer. It organizes the photos read from a flashdisk out of the flash / pcmcia jacket into subdirs on the same flashdisk. The program presents the photos as thumbnails and in fullscreen mode.
  qphotodesk.
  This is a desktop programm to create photo/video shows optimized to use qphotos dir structure. It also is usable without qphoto.
• qwireless.
  This is a wireless lan analyser. It uses (and ships) iwlib, the library which is used to feed iwconfig. The program shows info and actual state of wireless connections.It allows to sample information in larger lans oriented to a virtual lan X-Y raster.
• qpcmcia.
  This is a pcmcia opts file editor and cardctl frontend. It uses (and ships) libuvqtutil, the library which contains the multiple used features of my programs. The editor allows to change several pcmcia opts files (e.g. add and remove network schemes), while the cardctl frontend supports reset and scheme (the scheme is selectable from the *.opts list).