What is Windriver?

[WizenedEE]

Hello,

My team is looking into using C++ next year, but I was confused as to what the purpose of Windriver is. Couldn't we just download WPILib, then use a text editor and batch files/makefiles to compile and upload the code? I'd rather avoid having to install a 2.4 gigabyte, windows-only, propitiatory IDE when vim is available.

[connor.worley]

It's eclipse based. You could probably circumvent it.

[Greg McKaskle]

Wind River is the company name, and their website name.
Wind River Workbench is one of their products, an integrated development environment for the VxWorks operating system that the cRIO runs.

Workbench is an integrated collection of pretty standard tools, customized for embedded development. Many of the elements can be ignored or substituted if you are already familiar with the tools and wish to change things up.

I encourage you to visit their website to read more about the OS and other tools they offer.

Greg Mckaskle

[WizenedEE]

So it seems like that, when actually programming, we can just use a text editor and gcc to make sure it compiles. Then we can have the workbench on the computer that's connected to the robot for the easy uploading and fancy debugging. Does that sound right?

[Greg McKaskle]

You can certainly use other text editors. Using another compiler may be tricky - getting the correct header file paths and lib paths. Invoking the Wind River gcc from a command line or other scripted tool should be pretty straightforward.

Greg McKaskle

[wireties]

Your favorite text editor and regular makefiles will work fine. That is how we do it. Greg is right about the compiler. You could generate a cross-compiler that would work but you need all the vxWorks and WPI headers and libraries. So just use the compiler they give you.


HTH

[jhersh]

You can also use this distribution if you wish...

http://zone.ni.com/devzone/cda/tut/p/id/5694
http://digital.ni.com/public.nsf/all...2575CC0076A230

The FRC controllers run VxWorks 6.3.

-Joe

[Mk.32]

So for C++ in FRC WindRivier is probably the best and easiest way to code on the robot? Also is their away to download the software, instead of installing from the CD>
Are their plugins for eclipse?

[byteit101]

Originally Posted by Mk.32

So for C++ in FRC WindRivier is probably the best and easiest way to code on the robot? Also is their away to download the software, instead of installing from the CD>
Are their plugins for eclipse?

The CD essentially just contains eclipse plugins with a nice installer. So if you find the file, you can install it manually into eclipse.
You can also use any FTP client you want (ftp into 10.xx.yy.2/system/ if I remember correctly, there should be a file called FRC_UserProgram.out, replacing or deleting it downloads or undeploys your code)