[iPAQ] Getting Started - help ...

Hi all,

Ok, I've been trying to get started in this for a while, and am having
problems. This message is to try to help me (and others) get started
helping out with everything.

First, I am an experienced programmer with a wide range of projects
under my belt (I've done games professionally, and am now doing network
related software (Fibre Channel, if your interested)) and I've been on
the outskirts of Linux for about a year now (basically setting up a
system, playing with it, doing some web development with apache/php,
etc.). In school, I developed some Xwindows apps, But when it comes to
linux development, I know next to nothing. I think the biggest reason
is that there is just so much stuff, it's hard to know where to start.

I want to fix that, and I want to do it with the iPAQ. I am very exited
about this product and where it is headed, and I am itching to get into
the software development for it.

The main problem I have is that most of the time I have no idea what
people are talking about when they start talking about the development
of stuff. It's not the source code, I can figure that out, mainly it's
the tools and when/how/what they should be used for.

Some examples:

- the tool chain : this are the development tools, right? what kinds
of tools are in it, how are they used, etc.
- skiff : I think it might be a machine that can be used to compile
code located somewhere on the web, am I close?
- cvs ... source control, right? is there something more to it than
that?
- etc.

The second problem is just where to start ... I have an iPAQ, but I
haven't put linux on it yet. Basically for a lack of the necessary
serial cable (I have 10 thumbs) and also because I am somewhat concerned
about making myself an expensive paperweight (my name is not Murphy, but
it should be). But even after I have linux on it, then what? I know
there's a lot of stuff that needs to be done, and I have some stuff I'd
like to write, but the system needs a lot of low level work in order to
enable future development to be easier and more standard on the thing.

Anyway, this is starting to feel like a rant, which I don't mean it to.
If any of you out there would be willing to take some time to walk a
newbie linux developer through the ins and outs I would be extremely
grateful. If this kind of info allready exists somewhere, please point
me to it. As I learn I plan on documenting stuff if I can, and I will
try to make what I learn available to others (perhaps on the handhelds
site?).

Speaking of the site, maybe some of the stuff I have mentioned above
might be usefull on the site. Things like what projects are going on
currently, and what help they need, maybe a todo list of smaller things
that some programmer looking for work might be able to bang out, a place
for people just getting started in development, etc.

Thanks in advance for your help.
/Brian
Received on Wed Aug 16 10:31:40 2000