Downloading and Installation

These instructions describe how to download and install eCos version 2.0. This version was released on 20th May, 2003 and has remained frozen since then. If you wish to use a more recent version of eCos please consider using Anonymous CVS to get the latest and greatest, however less well tested version of eCos. Installing the host support tools as described here is recommended when using anonymous CVS.

Host support

The eCos net distribution is available in both Linux and Windows versions. The Linux version is tested under recent versions of the Red Hat, SuSE and Debian distributions for x86 and should work under most Linux variants. The Windows version has been tested under Microsoft Windows NT4.0 + SP6a, Windows 2000 Professional and Windows XP. Please note that eCos is no longer tested under Windows 95/98/ME. Building and using the eCos GNU cross toolchains under Windows 95/98/ME has been found to be unreliable. We recommend that users avoid building the development tools on these systems if possible.

Downloading and installation instructions

Cygwin

Developers wishing to install eCos on a Windows host must first install a recent version of the Cygwin UNIX emulation system. Full instructions on installing Cygwin for use with eCos are available. The following instructions assume that Cygwin has already been installed (where necessary) and that the reader is familiar with invoking a bash shell.

Note: If you have problems with the configuration tool, it may be necessary to use the eCosCentric unsupported snapshot which can be found on their DevZone page

Toolchain

The eCos 2.0 release features an installation tool which simplifies the downloading and installation of the eCos sources, host tools and documentation. The installation tool can optionally download one or more pre-built GNU cross toolchains (contributed by eCosCentric Limited) for use in conjunction with eCos. At present, toolchains for the following target architectures are available for download in pre-built form:

Developers targetting one of the other architectures must build a toolchain themselves at present. Full instructions for downloading source code and building a toolchain are available.

eCos

We recommend that eCos is installed to /opt/ecos where it will be accessible by all users. This may require installation by a user with suitable privileges. First, download the eCos installation tool by using the following command at a bash prompt:

wget --passive-ftp ftp://ecos.sourceware.org/pub/ecos/ecos-install.tcl

The installation tool may then be invoked as follows:

sh ecos-install.tcl

The installation tool will first present a list of mirror sites from which the software may be downloaded. For best results, please select a mirror site in your own geographical region. The tool will then prompt for an installation location. We recommend installation to /opt/ecos where the software will be accessible by all users. Finally, the tool will present a list of pre-built GNU toolchains available for download. Select each toolchain you wish to download by entering the corresponding number. When all required toolchains have been selected, enter q. Downloading and installation of the software will then commence.

Windows users should note that POSIX-style paths are relative to the root of their Cygwin installation (typically c:\cygwin) by default. For example, /opt/ecos might be located at c:\cygwin\opt\ecos in the Windows Explorer.

Users may wish to create a shortcut to the eCos Configuration Tool on their desktop. Typically, this may be achieved by dragging the configtool or configtool.exe executable file from the file manager provided by your operating system onto the desktop. This file is located in the ecos-2.0/tools/bin directory under the location at which eCos was installed.

Documentation

Full documentation is available online. It is included within the eCos net distribution in HTML format only. The documentation may also be downloaded separately in multiple archive formats:

• eCos 2.0 documentation (eCosDoc20.zip - 1.9MB)
• eCos 2.0 documentation (ecos-2.0-doc.tar.bz2 - 908kB)

New users are encouraged to follow the programming tutorial in the appropriate Getting Started with eCos document which guides the reader through the stages involved in building and running an eCos application.

Previous releases

Previous public releases of eCos remain available for downloading. Users of eCos 1.3.1 may refer to the eCos 1.3.1 installation instructions for Linux and Windows.