Re: USB pocket drives and Java Questions

Jim:

There is some dated On-Board Compiling information on my site
http://JeffreyRFox.addr.com pertaining to Java, C, and C++.

I presently use the Jikes compiler, the classes.zip from Sun's JDK 1.8, and
the Vim editor with Java syntax highlighting. This combination allows me to
switch to Sun's javac compiler (which is buried in classes.zip along with
'jar' and other tools) if Jikes doesn't like something. See the description
of the Kopi java compiler on my site for a discussion of all three (Kopi,
Jikes, javac) compilers and how to use them. I also have both Jeode and the
CVM java virtual machines installed on my Z so that I can test with both.
The Kopi compiler from my site is a small but complete system when used with
one of the Z's built-in editors. It works well, but is a bit slow compiling
larger projects, as is javac. I have used it extensively in the past, and
used 'make' from the ZGCC package to deal with multifile projects.

There is pretty much clear sailing with respect to license issues with Java
with one minor caveat -- you need the buyer to have a compatible jvm
installed, and that is going to be a big issue looking across the Zaurus
line, and further, across all PDAs. You can't really bundle a jvm since even
the free ones prohibit distribution in parts. For the Pocket PCs, for
example, Jeode may be sitting on a CD or not there at all. CVM is freely
available for the Pocket PCs as well, but I'll bet few owners know it, or
would care. Perhaps the EWE jvm is the best choice if you want to distribute
the whole thing -- it seems to work well on the Z, has a light-weight Swing
replacement, and is open source and small. I believe there is a version for
the Palms, too.

Jeff

P. S. My claim to the Z (5000D with 256mb CF and 64 mb SD) with the most
onboard development tools: Fortran (g77), two complete ZGCCs (assembler, C,
and C++) 2.95.1 and 2.95.2), Qt SDK with moc and tmake, opie-sh, minscript,
perl, python (with PyQt and PyGame), lua, tinyScheme, C# (mono), 7 Forths
(fiji, this4th, pforth, gnu forth, minotaur, yforth, delta4th), Kopi, Jikes,
javac,  CVM, RCS, and, well, more. That's of course not counting the built
in Jeode, Javascript, bash, and ash. Can the mainstream PDAs do that?

> Also... could someone post a detailed walk-thru on programming with
> Java ON the Zaurus?  What tools do you need?  Is there a good (free/not
> free) Integrated Development Environment (IDE) or editor that works
> best? Any compilers that need to be loaded? Any issues with
> programming in Java related to licensing and so forth?