Developing an Operating System (Windows CE 5.0)

Platform Builder for Microsoft® Windows® CE 5.0 comes with all development tools necessary for you to design, create, build, test, and debug a Microsoft Windows CE–based OS design. The integrated development environment (IDE) provides a single integrated workspace in which you can work on both OS designs and projects.

After you have implemented a board support package (BSP) and a boot loader for your target device, you are ready to develop your operating system. You can use Platform Builder to choose a design template, create an OS design, build the run-time image, and download the image to your target device.

In This Section

  • How to Create a Windows CE OS Design
    Describes how to develop a Windows CE–based OS design for a unique target device.
  • How to Use the IDE to Create, Customize, and Build a Run-Time Image
    Describes how to use the Platform Builder IDE to create, customize, and build a run-time image that you can download to a target device.
  • Run-Time Image Development Process
    Describes the run-time image development process for Windows CE and provides an image map that shows the steps in the process.
  • Build System
    Describes the build system and lists the phases that the build system progresses through during the build process.
  • Creating an OS Design with the New Platform Wizard
    Describes how to use the New Platform Wizard in Platform Builder to create an OS design for a Windows CE-based device. Includes instructions on choosing a preconfigured BSP, base design template, and OS Catalog items.
  • Modifying an OS Design
    Describes the different options you can use to refine and debug the run-time image built from the OS design you selected. This includes instructions on adding or removing Catalog items, adding projects, BSPs, and device drivers, and creating an OEM adaptation layer (OAL). Includes instructions on creating a boot loader, and configuring and building a software development kit (SDK).
  • Building and Downloading a Run-Time Image
    Describes how, after you create and customize an OS design in Platform Builder, you build a run-time image and download it to a target device that is attached to your development workstation. Includes detailed information about the build process of the run-time image, including a description of the build phases and the build error debugging process.
  • Debugging and Testing an OS
    Provides detailed information about debugging a run-time image.
  • SDK Development
    Provides an overview of SDK development for a Windows CE-based OS design. Describes how to create an SDK for a custom OS design. Includes information about SDK installation, product properties, and the development language selection for an SDK. Provides an overview of the connectivity options for the SDK to communicate with a target device.

Note   Windows CE uses Unicode exclusively at the system level for character and string manipulation. For more information, see Programming with Unicode and NLS.

  • Core OS Services
    Provides an overview of core OS services. These services contain information about the Windows CE kernel and other features common to all Windows CE OS designs. The core OS services enable low-level tasks such as process, thread, and memory management.
  • Windows CE Architecture
    Describes the architecture of the Windows CE operating system.

Last updated on Thursday, February 02, 2006

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