Hardware Reference
In-Depth Information
So many environments! The terms
host
and
guest
environments enter the picture when
you are using a virtual machine like VirtualBox. VirtualBox is used to
host
” another operating
system on top of the one you are using. For example, you might be running Mac OS X on
your laptop. In this example, the OS X environment
hosts
Ubuntu Linux within VirtualBox.
The Ubuntu Linux operating system is thus referred to as the
guest
operating system.
The term
build
(or
local
) environment refers to the Linux environment that is
executing the cross-compiler and tools. These Linux tools produce or manipulate code
for the
target
environment (your Raspberry Pi's ARM CPU).
Platform Limitations
Many people today are using 64-bit platforms similar to my own MacBook Pro, with an
Intel i7 processor. This may present a problem if you want to build a cross-compiler for
the Raspberry Pi, which is a 32-bit platform. Many people building a cross-compiler on a
64-bit platform have encountered software problems building for a 32-bit platform.
For this reason, if you are using a 64-bit platform, you'll probably want to choose
a VirtualBox solution. This will allow you to run a 32-bit operating system to host the
cross-compiler. On the other hand, if you are already running a 32-bit operating system,
creating a native cross-compiler for the Pi is a real possibility.
Without VirtualBox (Native)
If you are already using a Linux development environment like Debian or Ubuntu,
the term
host
is equivalent to the build (or local) environment. The host and guest
environments are likewise equivalent, though it is probably more correct to say there is
no guest operating system in this scenario. This simpler scenario leaves us with just two
environments:
Host/guest/build
: Native environment running the cross-
compiler tools
Target
: The destination execution environment (Raspberry Pi)
Using VirtualBox (Ubuntu/Linux)
If you do not have a suitable Linux environment, one can be hosted on the platform you
have. You can host Linux from Windows, Mac OS X, Solaris, or another distribution of
Linux. VirtualBox can be downloaded from the following:
