Re: [school-discuss] simputers

[Phil Torrance III <amerdreamdocs@yahoo.com>]

--- Yishay Mor <yishaym@onetel.net.uk> wrote:
> There's a small groups here at the IOE that is very eager to look into
> the educational potential of Simputers. 
...
> Gordon J. Holtslander wrote:
> >Its intended to be used by people in third-world countries with little 
> >education.  They all use linux and a variety of open-source software.
...
> >It has two advantages for education; its inexpensive, ($240 to $480) and its
> >easy to use.  It does not require a keyboard, but uses a touch-sensitive 
>screen.  It could be thought of a very inexpensive tablet computer.
>
> And #3 - its all open source :-)

? 
 for me,
 opensrc is about having the freedom to make software act the way I want it to;
so, if a platform like mi$ win/ce allows me to do programming for the platform,
then I figure 
let the leeches control my operating system,
because if all the applications are opensource, and all of them are running on
a virtual (java-like) machine to provide the security that ce lacks,
then I may not have a greased gaming machine,
but I do have a useable educational tool !

 . dell's entry into the pocket pc market has forced the entire business to
lower prices into the simputer's price range,
 I.m just now learning how to program ce, 
 with m$'s free  e visual c++  sw developement kit;
and there is also a pair of working free&open compilers onboard the pocket pc
"( pocket gcc ), 
Pocket Gcc news group can be found here:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/pocketgcc/
 ( linux too, has a free&open cross-compiler for win ce, gnuwince, described at
the end )

HELLO WORLD!
if using m$ software just seems too much like tolerating terrorism, here is a 
cheap LINUX PDA !!!!

 http://www.handhelds.org/handhelds-faq/platforms.html
said that these systems give linux full control of the hardware:

PAQ  H{ 3600 3700, 3800,
 3100 }
amazon.com said: a new dealer "( handheldsolutions) is selling used models:

Compaq iPAQ 3635 Pocket PC Bundle (with Compact Flash Jacket) sells for $338.88

Compaq iPAQ 3650 Color Pocket PC [Electronics]	-->>>> $268.88 <<<<<--
Compaq iPAQ 3765 Color Pocket PC [Electronics]	$348.88 	

. only one was sold new:
 iPAQ H3800 $589.00

 "( The condition of the item you buy and its timely delivery are guaranteed
under 
the Amazon.com A-to-z Guarantee )


LINUX PROGRAMMING for ce 

 http://win-ce.voxware.com:28575/Development%20Tools/gnuwince.html : Windows CE
programming with GCC

The GNUWINCE package is a collection of tools supporting C, C++, and Java
programming for Windows CE. It consists of:

    * the GNU Compiler Collection, assembler, and linker
    * modifications to these generic tools to support functionality peculiar to
Windows CE;
    * the newlib Standard C library with extensive additions to provide a
fairly complete POSIX-like runtime environment.
    * remote login shell and ftp daemon.
    * conveniently packaged documentation for all of the above. 

The current release, GNUWINCE 1.0, was released on 2003-10-04.
Getting Started
The Windows CE runtime environment provided by Microsoft is woefully
incomplete. Many important features needed for creating sophisticated
applications are missing:

    * a complete (and completely functional) Standard C Library
    * a complete math library
    * current working directory
    * environment variables
    * process creation with command line arguments
    * stdio framework that permits normal terminal i/o to or from processes
    * standard Berkeley sockets API 

GNUWINCE provides all of these things and much more in a comprehensive
framework that makes developing Windows CE programs much easier - it obviates
the need to write WIN32-specific code by providing a "POSIX like" environment
that enables rapid application development. GNUWINCE allows most open-source
software to run on Windows CE with very little modification.
ush and the Shell Utilities
The ush shell and its associated utilities provide a simple remote login
facility that is entirely missing on "stock" Windows CE. ush, which stands for
"micro shell", is loosely based on the well-known bash shell and makes software
development on Windows CE much easier. GNUWINCE applications that you create
automatically have their standard input and output going to ush, so that it is
trivial to write simple command-line programs that accept input from and
produce output in the shell in the usual way. An example is shown below. A
repertoire of shell utilities (ps, kill, mkdir, ls, etc.) are provided to make
using the shell a comfortable experience for anyone already familiar with Linux
or UNIX.
Note that ush transfers its environment variable settings to any child
processes it creates and that therefore GNUWINCE child processes (e.g. your
application) automatically inherit environment variable settings made in the
shell. GNUWINCE also provides all processes with the current working directory,
and thus ush allows you to "cd" and "pwd" in the expected way .


	
		
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