Trying to get SDK and Eclipse working on YDL 6.1

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Trying to get SDK and Eclipse working on YDL 6.1

Postby JonPan » 29 Jan 2009, 08:52

I have recently bought the PS3 very interested in exploring the SDK through Eclipse. Big claims that YDL 6.1 comes with it included and Eclipse and it seems riddled with issues.

Has anyone ever got a PS3 running YDL 6.1 with Eclipse and the SDK?

It all pretends to work but after apparently successful install(s) Eclipse does not offer the Cell SDK as a project type, Eclipse does not respond to the Find and Install command which in theory would let me add it if it has indeed been installed.

Thanks


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Re: Trying to get SDK and Eclipse working on YDL 6.1

Postby ppietro » 29 Jan 2009, 10:40

JonPan wrote:I have recently bought the PS3 very interested in exploring the SDK through Eclipse. Big claims that YDL 6.1 comes with it included and Eclipse and it seems riddled with issues.

Has anyone ever got a PS3 running YDL 6.1 with Eclipse and the SDK?


I use Eclipse on the PS3 a lot - but I'm a Java developer. So - I'm sorry - but I haven't tried what you're suggesting. It's been my experience that Eclipse on the PS3 is primarily set up for Java development and standard C/C++ development.

JonPan wrote:It all pretends to work but after apparently successful install(s) Eclipse does not offer the Cell SDK as a project type, Eclipse does not respond to the Find and Install command which in theory would let me add it if it has indeed been installed.


The Cell SDK as installed in YDL seems more command-line oriented . Also - I don't know for sure - but they might not be including all of the pieces of the SDK. I have seen user reports in this forum suggesting that it's incomplete - these forum posters resolved their issues by installing the regular Cell SDK. (From IBM's website, IIRC)

Cheers,
Paul
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Re: Trying to get SDK and Eclipse working on YDL 6.1

Postby JonPan » 30 Jan 2009, 05:47

Paul

Thanks for the reply. I have installed the SDK downloaded from the IBM site, where I get stuck I think is that Eclipse does not respond to the Find and Install command under the Help menu. Do you have this feature?

Did you use the stock install of java JRE etc from the YDL 6.1? I saw a response to this function missing that said they installed java from the Sun ste and Eclipse started behaving, I looked for it but couldn't find a ppc version. If you have everything working could you send me links to the versions of Eclipse and Java that you are using.

I really appreciate your help with this.

Thanks

Jon
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Re: Trying to get SDK and Eclipse working on YDL 6.1

Postby ppietro » 30 Jan 2009, 07:21

JonPan wrote:Thanks for the reply. I have installed the SDK downloaded from the IBM site, where I get stuck I think is that Eclipse does not respond to the Find and Install command under the Help menu. Do you have this feature?


Sorry - that's not something I'd use. I did try it and the menu appeared - I didn't go any further though.

Did you use the stock install of java JRE etc from the YDL 6.1?


Nope - I use IBM's Java. Generally 5.0, but I've had to install 6.0 recently as an "Installed JRE" to get some test code to compile.

I saw a response to this function missing that said they installed java from the Sun site and Eclipse started behaving, I looked for it but couldn't find a ppc version. If you have everything working could you send me links to the versions of Eclipse and Java that you are using


Unfortunately, there is no Sun Java for PowerPC processors - like the PPE core in the Cell uses. You have to use IBM's Java instead - which is Sun licensed.

There are instructions on how to download and install it here:
viewtopic.php?t=2935

Again - I use IBM Java 5.0 for Eclipse unless I need specific Java 6.0 functions. The 5.0 JVM appears to have a smaller memory footprint - which is important for the PS3's limited RAM.

You can have both installed at the same time, anyway - so I'd download them both. (5.0 & 6.0)

There is a weird trick you can do that might help you. It's a little complex, but I'll explain it to you, and depending on your Unix/Linux skill, that might be enough to get you started.

IBM's Java runs Eclipse about twice as fast as YDL's default open-source GCJ. However - there's a catch. It doesn't seem to like the build Eclipse that gets installed with YDL 6.1 - it likes the identical version from YDL 6.0.

So - what you want to do is go to a YDL 6.0 repository - like:
http://ftp.yellowdoglinux.com/pub/yello ... base/RPMS/

and, using RPM, uninstall the 6.1 version and install the 6.0 version of these files:
eclipse-ecj-3.2.2-14.ydl.1
eclipse-rcp-3.2.2-14.ydl.1
eclipse-cdt-3.1.2-3
eclipse-jdt-3.2.2-14.ydl.1
eclipse-platform-3.2.2-14.ydl.1


You may need to use the --nodeps argument for RPM to force these older versions to load. However - the binary code should be the same - the "new" version of Eclipse is just a version bump for YDL 6.1 and a compilation against newer - but backwards compatible libraries.

Run your new "old" eclipse once, then exit normally. This sets up some settings files, etc.

Now - force your IBM Java to be the default Java on your system by creating a symbolic link to the java binary in /usr/local/bin. This forces it to be "looked for" in the PATH environment variable ahead of the GCJ Java in /usr/bin.

From a terminal window, as root user, this would be:
ln -s /opt/ibm/java2-ppc-50/jre/bin/java /usr/local/bin
for IBM Java 5.0

Now - run Eclipse again. You should see a noticeable improvement in speed and possibly your function might work. Cool huh?

If it doesn't work - remove the symbolic link, and re-install the newer version of Eclipse. No harm no foul.

Let me know if you have questions about this - it's advanced Linux install tricks, to be sure.

Cheers,
Paul
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Re: Trying to get SDK and Eclipse working on YDL 6.1

Postby ppietro » 30 Jan 2009, 07:22

Also - if you haven't already, you should enable the ps3vram in YDL 6.1 as swap file space. It's a godsend for Java and Eclipse!!!!

See here:
http://us.fixstars.com/support/solution ... am-as-swap

Cheers,
Paul
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Re: Trying to get SDK and Eclipse working on YDL 6.1

Postby JonPan » 07 Feb 2009, 17:22

Sorry for the slow reply, I was out of town.

I followed your suggestions above and have got the SDK running at least as far as running the cell Hello World. Thanks for the help

Jon
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Re: Trying to get SDK and Eclipse working on YDL 6.1

Postby billb » 17 Feb 2009, 15:55

I saw this on the Fixstars site:

http://us.fixstars.com/products/ibm/cell-sdk.shtml
The IBM Cell SDK is installed by default!
Fixstars is licensed by IBM to install the open portion of the IBM Cell SDK with every copy of Yellow Dog Linux. If you purchase the DVD, download via YDL.net or the public mirrors, the SDK runtime will be installed and ready to go.


I'm not certain which part of the IBM Cell SDK is "open" but this explains why portions of it are not installed.
PS3 60GB [CECHA01], FW 3.15, YDL 6.2, Samsung T260HD @ 1920x1200
Powermac G4 1.25 GHz x2, 2 GB RAM, YDL 6.2
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