:: cs148 \ brickOS QuickStart::

cs148 brickOS QuickStart

This guide is designed to getting you up and running with brickOS on a Windows 98/NT/2000/XP machine as quickly as possible. Few concepts or important topics are explained here. For a more in-depth explanation, see the HOWTO

Files needed:

h8300-hitachi-hms.zip - h8/300 gcc-cross-compiler binaries
brickOS_cs148_1.2.zip - cs148 version of brickOS, version 1.2

note: use the default directory / directories named in all cases (the Makefile expects certain pathnames). It is expected that you have a program capable of decompressing .ZIP files

note: Part of these instructions have been taken from the brickOS Windows installation guide by Paolo Masetti.

preliminary setup:

connect your IR tower to a serial port (COM1, unless you want to change all the script settings)
make sure your IR tower has a battery in it
reset the firmware of your RCX

Installation:

1. Install cygwin - Install cygwin 1.3.x or newer version from their website here.

You can install it on-line running the setup program directly from this url: Install Cygwin now.
You can download all the files for a later install, or install directly from Internet. Choose which ever works for you.
Install cygwin into which ever directory you want.
Make sure you install these modules. This is a minimal list that works (but probably some modules could be removed).
- ash
- autoconf
- automake
- bash
- binutils
- cpio
- cygwin
- diff
- file
- fileutils
- findutils
- flex
- gcc
- grep
- less
- login
- make
- mingw-runtime
- patch
- sed
- sh-utils
- tar
- textutils
- time
- vim
- w32api

2. Unzip the pre-built h8300-gcc-cross-compiler into C:\cygwin\usr\local It is crucial that you get the path correct, otherwise nothing will compile correctly. If asked to overwrite any files/folders, click yes.

After you unzip this file, you should have a directory C:\cygwin\usr\local\h8300-hms

3. Unzip brickOS_cs148_1.2.zip into C:\ This will create a directory C:\brickOS It is crucial that you get the path correct, otherwise it will break the makefile.

4. Compile and run brickOS.

Start up cygwin. You should see a bash prompt that looks something like this:
bkng@LEGO ~ $
Type the following commands:
cd c:\brickOS make realclean make depend make cd util make strip
If all is well at this point, you have installed and successfully compiled brickOS. What remains is to download and run some test programs. Find your RCX brick. Reset its firmware, turn the RCX on, and point the IR port towards the IR tower. Issue the following commands:
cd ../projects make brick
Now try downloading a test program into your RCX.
make install
Press the run button on your RCX. If all is well, the phrase "Hello World" should flash at you.
Look at the Makefile in C:\brickOS\projects\Makefile to see how you would edit it to compile and install your own programs onto the RCX.

glossary

`brickOS`	An Operating System for the Lego Mindstorms RCX brick. We have made modifications for the class, so our version is different from the official version
`Cygwin`	a program that simulates a UNIX-like environment on Windows machines. Makes life at home just like the Sun Lab
`H8/300`	the assembly language that the RCX uses. To create programs for the H8/300 instruction set, you need the h8300-hitachi-hms gcc-cross compiler. A cross compiler is just a compiler that compiles code for a machine other than the one you're running the compiler on
`make`	a utility that helps you compile programs. You will be using this a lot, but not expected to know what you're doing with it.

Resetting the firmware of an RCX brick

Power the brick on.
Press the Prgrm button and the On-Off button at the same time.

cs148 brickOS QuickStart

Other operating systems currently unsupported