Configure your PC for Symbian development

I had a lot of request from readers and some customers about proper instructions for configuring their workstation for Symbian development. So here is a small guide to configure your workstation properly...

Hardware

The first thing you need is a PC / Monitor / mouse and Keyboard.
Almost any machine on market today can be used for development, however some would save you a bit of time:

• don't pay too much attention to the CPU (just avoid if you can the entry level Celeron and Sempron)

• ...but take as much RAM memory as you can. 1GB seems a minimal requirement if you consider doing serious development (as far as I am concerned, we use 1.5 to 2GB on our machines)

• ...a big fast hardisk (Speed is important to reduce compilation times and emulator start time, space is a requirement to handle all your SDKs. As an example, you will need 1GB for the S60 3rd FP1 SDK, 700 MB for the UIQ3 SDK, 500MB for Carbide.c++, etc...).

• and a decent screen. I won't like to work with a monitor less than 19". Bigger is better as Carbide requires quite a lot of space on your screen. If possible, go for a dual screen configuration...this is really helpful when debugging.

• also avoid Windows Vista for now... the ARM toolchain is not yet compatible with it. Despite all documentation and hack found so far, I couldn't successfully compile for ARM target under Vista. So prefer a good (?) old Windows XP Professional if you don't want any trouble.

If everything is ok on the hardware / operating side, you are almost ready to start... one last thing to check: make sure you have enough space on your C: drive. This is not an absolute requirement, but if you don't want to bother mounting virtual drive and editing configuration files again and again, you will need to install everything, the IDE, the SDK(s), your project(s) on C:... so a minimum of 2GB free space is required before starting installation (and this is a minimum!).

The toolchain

Now let's go for a bit of downloading (btw, yes, you will probably need an Internet connection...). So download and install:

• ActivePerl v5.6.1. The latest 5.8 nor 5.10 versions won't probably work...

• The Carbide.c++ IDE from Forum Nokia. The Express version (which is free) is enough if you are a student or just intend to learn Symbian OS development. The Developer version (or better) is required if you plan to do some commercial development.

To avoid any problem, be sure to install everything on C: in their default location.

The SDKs

UIQ Development

1. Download the UIQ SDK from UIQ Developer web site (registration required).

2. Install the SDK in its default directory and on the same drive as Carbide.c++

3. At the end of the installation, you will be prompted to install the CSL Arm Toolchain if it is not already installed on your machine. Make sure you install it or you won't be able to compile for the phone target.

4. Once the installation is finished, update your PATH variable so that the arm compiler is available from the command line (add C:\Program Files\CSL Arm Toolchain\bin to your System Path).

5. Reboot your machine

S60 Development

Download the S60 SDK from Forum Nokia (registration required). Install the SDK in its default directory and on the same drive as Carbide.c++ At the end of the installation, you will be prompted to install the CSL Arm Toolchain if it is not already installed on your machine. Make sure you install it or you won't be able to compile for the phone target. Reboot your machine [/]