[taichichuan]

Yes, you can use the host shell to compile the robot code. This sets up a set of environment variables that allow the compiler to execute from the command line. This allows you to use a run of the mill editor like VIM/GVIM, emacs, Visual Slickedit or whatever you feel comfortable with to create the program. Then, using a traditional makefile, build the code from the command line.

Realize that the workbench tool creates Makefiles to achieve code builds under the hood. The tool simply hides all of that from you.

In addition, you can open a connection to the target via something like the network console function. You can even deploy code via any FTP client like Filezilla. Poking around the file system on the target is a must if you want to use the CAN bus because you need to copy some additional code over to the cRIO.

The tricky part is using GDB to debug code outside of the workbench GUI. Again, it's possible. But, debugging from a command line application is non-trivial. I'd stay with the GUI for the debugging of the code.

HTH,

Mike