Hello,

I have a real (not emulator) opnmoko PDA/cell phone. The main distro for it uses armv4tl.
Is there a need to add extra support for OM, or will FPC (what version) will support it ? If there is a support, are there any known issues with it ?

If there is work needed to be done, can you please point me to what is needed to be done ?

Thanks,
Ido

Hello Ido,

Could you please try compiling and running the program here and let me know if it works out?
http://www.turbocontrol.com/helloworld.htm

2009/3/21 ik :

do you know if it uses eabi or oabi? last time i tried eabi, it worked with -O-. you might also have to build the compiler and rtl for softfloat.

henry

Henry,

I've started developing some embedded ARM products (for city tornado warning sirens) using FreePascal. Thankfully FPC 2.2.2 ARM-Linux works just fine on the board I'm using.

But I'd like to understand more about the different options that FPC supports, and maybe add more examples at this page: http://www.turbocontrol.com/helloworld.htm

oabi & hard float - default FPC 2.2.2 ARM-Linux?
oabi & soft float
eabi & hard float
eabi & soft float

Are those the main options?

FreePascal is only precompiled for the first configuration?

Thanks in advance for any advice. I sure do need to study up on this more so links or info would be appreciated.

2009/3/21 Paul Breneman :

yes, i think so.

oabi & soft float

i've used this and it works well.

eabi & hard float eabi & soft float

i think if you compile fpc for armel, then it does softfloat, but i'm not sure. i'm not sure if fpc can take advantage of vfp co-processors, either. i'm still planning to get some of our software working for arm eabi when i manage to engineer another brain to assist me.

Are those the main options?

in addition to this there is also the big endian variant. i seem to remember that fpc worked for armeb with softfloat, but i couldn't get it to work with my board. most arm is now little endian, it seems.

FreePascal is only precompiled for the first configuration?

i think so. even debian lenny uses eabi now, so this will probably change.

Thanks in advance for any advice.  I sure do need to study up on this more so links or info would be appreciated.

i'm really not an expert, but if florian is around he can give you answers to any specific questions/problems regarding fpc with arm, so just ask!

henry

Hello All,

Sorry for the late response.
I will try the fpc port of Turbo Control soon.

The file command gives me the following information: /bin/busybox: ELF 32-bit LSB executable, ARM, version 1 (SYSV), dynamically linked (uses shared libs), stripped

I do not have experience with non x86 architecture. Can anyone tell from that what is the type of ABI for arm ?

Thanks,

Ido

2009/3/21 ik :

you should be able to tell from the readelf -h output, and if you try this with your cross compiler:

arm-linux-gcc -dM /dev/null | grep -i arm

for more info, read: http://wiki.debian.org/ArmEabiPort

henry

Hello Paul,

I've tested your Hello World example and it returns to me the following error message:

./ppcarm hello.pas
Illegal instruction

The two OM distro I tested using EABI

Ido

Ido,

On 14 Dec 2008 on the fpc-devel maillist Florian Klaempfl wrote:

**************
Yes. I uploaded a starting eabi compiler to
http://www.florianklaempfl.de/ppcarm

Please use only with -O-
*************

Maybe you could try replacing the ppcarm in my helloworld example with that (and also use -O-)?

Paul

BTW, see this thread too

Marc