Developer Resources
Board support packages
Foundry27 projects
Forums
Home
Developer Resources
Technical Articles

QNX Technical Articles

QNX® Software Development Platform for x86 Targets 6.5.0 Service Pack 1: Installation Note — QNX® Neutrino® Hosts

QNX® Software Development Platform for x86 Targets 6.5.0 Service Pack 1: Installation Note — QNX® Neutrino® Hosts

Date of this edition: June 18, 2012

Target OS: This development suite produces software that's compatible with x86 targets that are running QNX® Neutrino® 6.5.0 SP1.

Host OS: You can install this package in an empty partition on your system.

Note:
  • This is a special version of QNX SDP 6.5.0 SP1 that's for x86 targets only. If you want to develop for other targets, install the full QNX Software Development Platform 6.5.0. You can't upgrade the x86 development suite into the full version.
  • If you've already installed an evaluation version of QNX SDP 6.5.0, and you've purchased and received a commercial QNX license or you've received an evaluation extension license, please go to “Commercializing your evaluation software,” below.

Contents

Before you start

Before you install this software, please note the following:

  • You must have already installed QNX SDP 6.5.0.
  • It isn't possible to uninstall just QNX SDP 6.5.0 SP1; if you uninstall it, you'll completely uninstall QNX SDP 6.5.0.
  • On Linux and Windows hosts, QNX SDP includes the QNX Momentics Tool Suite, which you can use to develop applications to run on the QNX Neutrino RTOS on a separate target system.
  • QNX SDP for self-hosted QNX Neutrino systems includes the QNX Neutrino RTOS and the QNX Momentics Tool Suite.
  • QNX SDP includes everything you need to build for all supported target platforms (ARM, MIPS, PowerPC, SH-4, and x86). There are also special versions of QNX SDP for x86 targets only.
  • Don't install the x86-only version of 6.5.0 SP1 on the full version of 6.5.0, or the full version of SP1 on the x86-only version of 6.5.0, or else you'll end up with an inconsistent set of software.
  • We post CRC and MD5 checksums with the packages in the Download area on our website. If you download a CD or DVD image or an installer from our website, make sure that its checksum matches that given on the website. On Unix-style OSs (e.g. QNX Neutrino, Linux), you can use the cksum utility to calculate the CRC checksum. Microsoft doesn't support such utilities on Windows, but they're available from third parties.
  • QNX SDP 6.5.0 can coexist with QNX SDP 6.4.0, 6.4.1, and QNX Momentics 6.3, but if you want 6.5.0 to replace 6.4.1, 6.4.0, or 6.3, you must uninstall the older versions and any updates to them before installing 6.5.0.

    Coexistence with QNX Momentics 6.2.1 is supported only on Windows hosts (we didn't support Linux hosts in 6.2.1).

  • For information about new features and known issues in QNX SDP, see the release notes. The online documentation includes a copy, but for for the most up-to-date version, go to our website, www.qnx.com, log into your myQNX account, and then go to Downloads-->QNX Software Development Platform 6.5.x.
  • For information about using BSPs with QNX SDP 6.5.0, see the BSP Migration Guide in the BSPs and Drivers project on Foundry27.
  • For QNX Neutrino self-hosted development, it's possible to have more than one version of QNX SDP installed on your computer at the same time, by having them in separate partitions. If you want to retain an earlier released version of QNX SDP or QNX Momentics, install 6.5.0 in a new partition.

    When you boot, you're asked to choose the partition by its number. If you're then prompted to choose from multiple .diskroot files, choose the one that corresponds to the partition that you already chose.

  • In text mode, we support only the US keyboard layout.
  • If you install QNX Neutrino in a partition on a Windows machine and later use Windows software to create another partition, you'll lose your QNX Neutrino partition.
  • The Neutrino boot process can dynamically add block I/O (i.e. disk) drivers, letting you boot on systems with newer controllers. The mechanism is simple and not proprietary to QNX Software Systems, so third parties can offer enhanced block drivers without any intervention on our part. For more information, see “Updating disk drivers” in the Controlling How Neutrino Starts chapter of the QNX Neutrino User's Guide.

System requirements

Minimum Recommended
Processor 2 GHz or more Intel Pentium 4 2 GHz or more Intel Pentium 4
RAM 512 MB 1 GB
Disk space 1.6 GB 1.8 GB
Monitor 1024×768 1280×1024
Caution: Some x86 systems can run in System Management Mode (SMM), where the BIOS installs special code that runs when a System Management Interrupt (SMI) occurs. SMI interrupts may be generated by the motherboard or peripheral hardware, and can't be masked by the operating system. When SMM is entered, normal operations — including the OS — are suspended, and the SMI handler runs at a high priority. Avoid using systems where SMM can't be disabled, because it can destroy QNX Neutrino's realtime performance. The OS can't do anything about the delays that SMM introduces, nor can the OS even detect that the system has entered SMM.

You can also install the QNX Neutrino RTOS as a virtual machine on VMware Workstation 6.5 or 7.0, VMWare Player 3.0, and Microsoft VirtualPC 2007. To ensure that VMware is supported for your host, search the compatibility guide located at http://www.vmware.com/resources/compatibility/search.php. If you find problems with any virtualization environment, please post your findings in one of the forums in our Foundry27 community website.

BIOS settings

We recommend you use the following BIOS settings:

  • Disable Plug and Play OS.
  • Set any parallel ports and onboard serial ports to specific addresses, if possible, instead of using an automatic setting.
  • Enable SATA if your system includes a SATA drive.
  • If you want to boot QNX Neutrino from the DVD or CD — either to try it without installing it, or for troubleshooting — make sure that the appropriate drive is the first boot device.
  • If your BIOS is has an option for booting from “Other USB devices,” enabling it could make the BIOS take a very long time to start.

Installing QNX SDP 6.5.0 SP1

To install QNX SDP 6.5.0 SP1, do the following:

  1. Log in as root.
  2. Log into your myQNX account on our website, and then go to the Download area.
  3. Download the SP1 package, qnxsdp-6.5.0SP1-x86-nnnnnnnnnnn-nto.sh, where nnnnnnnnnnn is the 11-digit build number. The package is a shell script.
  4. Run chmod to make the script executable. For example: 
    chmod a+x qnxsdp-6.5.0SP1-x86-20123030202-nto.sh
  5. Run the script at the system prompt. For example: 
    ./qnxsdp-6.5.0SP1-x86-20123030202-nto.sh
  6. Follow the instructions on your screen.

Errors while booting

If an error occurs while you're booting your system, the boot loader may display the error messages listed below, depending on the type of partition that you chose.

For a Power-Safe (fs-qnx6.so) filesystem, the boot loader may display the following messages:

Unsupported BIOS
The BIOS doesn't support INT13 LBA extensions.
Missing OS Image
The filesystem isn't an fs-qnx6 one, or the .boot directory is empty.
Invalid OS Image
The selected file isn't an x86 startup boot image.
Disk Read Error
A physical I/O error occurred while reading the disk.
Ram Error
A physical RAM error occurred while copying the boot image.

If an error occurs when you boot from a QNX 4 filesystem, the boot loader displays one of the following characters, and then the boot process halts:

S
No OS signature was found.
D or ?
An error occurred reading the disk.

For more information, see the Controlling How Neutrino Starts chapter of the QNX Neutrino User's Guide.

Activating QNX SDP

The QNX Momentics Tool Suite and certain related products require activation. If you don't activate the product within the specified timeframe, the product will cease to function until you activate it. No personal data is transferred during the activation process. If your license key indicates that you have a “named user” license, the activation requires that you provide an email address.

Activating automatically

If your development host is connected to the Internet, you can activate QNX SDP automatically.

Activating manually

if your machine isn't connected to the Internet, you must activate your software manually from a machine that is, by doing the following:

  1. In the QNX SDP Activation dialog, click Activate Manually.

    The Manual Activation dialog appears with an activate-prompt key. This dialog has a button that you can use to save the activate-prompt key in a file, /etc/qnx/license/activate_prompt_key.txt. Using this file eliminates the need to retype the key, which can be error-prone.

  2. Transfer the activate-prompt key to the machine that's connected to the Internet.
  3. Go to our website, www.qnx.com, log into your myQNX account, and choose Manual Product Activation.
  4. Enter the activate-prompt key into the form that appears, and then click Generate Response Key. This will return an activate-response key.
  5. Copy the activate-response key and paste it in a file.
  6. Transfer the file into /etc/qnx/license/activate_response_key.txt on your QNX SDP development host.
  7. If you closed the QNX SDP Activation dialog, open it again by selecting Configure-->Activate License from the Launch menu, or by entering the following at a terminal prompt: 
    /etc/qnx/bin/qnxactivate -a
  8. Choose Activate Manually, and use the Load Response from File button to load the activate-response key, and then click Activate.

If you choose not to activate at the time of installation, you can activate later by selecting Configure-->Activate License from the Launch menu, or by entering the following at a terminal prompt: 

/etc/qnx/bin/qnxactivate -a

Commercializing your evaluation software

If you installed an evaluation copy of QNX SDP 6.5.0, and you've now received a commercial QNX license, do the following to add your commercial license:

  1. Choose Configure-->Add License from the Launch menu.
  2. Enter the license key.
  3. After entering the license key, you'll be presented with the appropriate license agreement. You'll need to accept it in order to successfully add a license.

Uninstalling QNX SDP 6.5.0 and SP1

Note:
  • It isn't possible to uninstall just QNX SDP 6.5.0 SP1.
  • You should uninstall QNX products in the reverse order in which you installed them. To determine this order, use a command like this:

    ls -lt `find base_directory -name "*uninstall*.sh"`

    where base_directory is where you installed the QNX Software Development Platform.

To completely uninstall QNX SDP, simply erase or delete the partition you installed it in.

Determining your base directory

To determine the base directory for QNX SDP, open a command shell and use the qconfig command. For example: 

$ qconfig
QNX Installations

  Installation Name: QNX Software Development Platform 6.5.0
            Version: 6.5.0
     Base Directory: /usr/qnx650/
           QNX_HOST: /usr/qnx650/host/qnx6/x86/
         QNX_TARGET: /usr/qnx650/target/qnx6/

The base directory in this example is /usr/qnx650/, but it could be different on your machine, depending on where you installed QNX SDP.

Getting started with the documentation

After you've installed QNX SDP, you'll find an extensive set of HTML documentation:

  • On Linux and Windows development hosts, you can read it in the Integrated Development Environment's help system. On Linux, use the qde command to start the IDE; on Windows, use the desktop icon.
  • On self-hosted QNX Neutrino systems, you can read it in the Photon helpviewer, or you can use a web browser to display:

    ${QNX_TARGET}/usr/help/product/momentics/bookset.html

The “roadmap” page contains links to the various HTML booksets that accompany the OS. We recommend that you start with Welcome to the QNX Software Development Platform for an overview of QNX SDP. Next, see 10 Steps to Developing a QNX Program: Quickstart Guide for a short tutorial that will help you get started, and then refer to the other documents (System Architecture, QNX Neutrino Programmer's Guide, Library Reference, Utilities Reference, and so on).

You can install and work with multiple versions of QNX Neutrino. Whether you're using the command line or the IDE, you can choose which version of the OS to build programs for. For more information, see the IDE User's Guide or the QNX Neutrino Programmer's Guide.

Technical support

To obtain technical support for any QNX product, visit the Support area on our website (www.qnx.com). You'll find a wide range of support options, including community forums.

For questions about installing and using QNX SDP, see the QNX Momentics Getting Started forum on our Foundry27 site, http://community.qnx.com. There are other forums for specific topics, including the QNX Neutrino RTOS, development tools, networking, Board Support Packages, and so on.