Microcross X-Tools license help?

[NotReallyMe]

It seems that Microcross, Warner Robins, GA a supplier of Visual X-Tools
and gnu x-tools has gone away. Web site has been down since last year.

I have used their tools on a few projects over the years and need to do
some maintenance. The machine it was register to is gone and I am
hoping to move it to a new box.

Does anyone know anything about the license technology they used?

I know it was tied to the hostid of the machine but not much else.

Scott

[lang...@fonz.dk]

if the hostid is just a mac address on a network card or the hard
drives
serial number you could just change them on the new machine to match
the
original license


-Lasse

[jt_eaton]

Do you still have the original install disk? If so then try a clean
install
on a new system.

It looks like they took the gnu arm tool chain and reworked it to support
a freescale processor. That's why I shy away from $$$ tools if opensource
is available. The "lifetime" purchase is their lifetime, not yours.

Sad to see anyone go out of business but it would be nice if when a
company
folds that they could release all their code to opensource so that all
their
old customers aren't screwed.


John Eaton




---------------------------------------
Posted through http://www.EmbeddedRelated.com

[NotReallyMe]

I considered that but there are other licenses involved that would fail
if the hostid changed.

Scott

[NotReallyMe]

I downloaded a copy of gcc-4.2.0 to build. I believe the only
difference is that the Microcross version checks for a license. Other
than that I suspect it's plain ole GCC for PPC Elf.

Scott

[Tauno Voipio]

It is a bit old. If you're going to build one afresh, go to
the GNU pages and get the newest one (4.8.0).

You need also the binary utilities, GNU binutils, which contain
amongst other necessities, the assembler and linker.

Also, you need some C runtime library. I'm using newlib for it.
The compiler build needs some support libraries, which are
mentioned in the compiler package.

For instructions, Google for GCC Cross Compiler.

--

-Tauno

[Theo Markettos]

NotReallyMe <n...@vallidatedsoftware.com> wrote:
> I considered that but there are other licenses involved that would fail
> if the hostid changed.

If this is Linux you can change the MAC address on a per-process basis:
http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~peterb/linux/fakeif/

Theo

[David Brown]

You could also look at CodeSourcery (now part of Mentor). They provide
ready-build gcc toolchains. Compared to Microcross, you get several
advantages:

They are one of the main groups developing and maintaining gcc, so you
get it from the gcc experts. You also get the latest patches and device
support before it makes it into mainline gcc (but you can be confident
that it /will/ make it into mainline - as the gcc maintainers for the
PPC port, they will accept their own patches!).

They are part of Mentor Graphics, and are unlikely to go out of business
in the near future.

You get top-quality support - the free support is excellent, and I
expect the paid support contracts to be even better.

You pay a small price to get the toolchain integrated with debugger and
extra libraries. You can pay more for more support, libraries, and
other features - your choice;

You can get the free toolchain-only package from them - it is not locked
to any nodes, and has full source available. This gives you future
proofing.


(I haven't used Codesource for the PPC - for various reasons I've had to
use CodeWarrior. But I've used them for ARM and Coldfire.)

[Jon Kirwan]

I've used the free version from CodeSourcery, as well. They
officially update it every 6 months. This is less often than
they do for products where they receive a fee. But still
often enough for reasonable use. Support for free versions is
essentially lowest priority, but again better than nothing.

Very nice that they are out there doing this.

Jon

[David Brown]

Free version support is now mainly through forums at Mentor, though the
old mailing lists still exist and the CodeSourcery folks follow them.
As with all such free support, much of it comes from other users - but
the CodeSourcery people follow them and help out too. Clearly they have
to make a living, and give priority to those that pay for support - but
you definitely get the feeling that the CodeSoucery people care about
what they are doing.

And because you know that these people are major contributors to gcc
(and related tools), buying their commercial packages gives you a warm
fuzzy feeling that you don't get with other commercial gcc packagers.
(I am not saying that folk like Code Red, Microchip, etc., do not give
back to gcc - I'm sure they do, but not nearly to the extent of Code
Sourcery.)

[NotReallyMe]

Thanks for all the suggestions. I downloaded a copy of 4.2 and will
build that.
Because this is for a safety-critical project, the same version of the
compiler must be used.

Scott