Before installing the Pandora Engine SDK you will need to obtain the distribution archive. Although free to use, the Pandora Engine is under a restricted distribution, so you will need to visit Rocklyte Systems' download page to retrieve it. You will also need the user archive as it contains the Pandora Engine binaries. You can avoid downloading the binaries if you already have Athene, which comes with the binaries pre-installed.
To install the SDK, decompress the archive and run the setup procedure for your particular platform (e.g. for Linux, 'cd' to the main directory and type 'make'). This will copy the files to the correct location and prepare the SDK for use. After the install has completed, try compiling one of the supplied example programs to test the installation. If it doesn't work, check the setup of your C compiler as you may need to make some adjustments for it to recognise the SDK installation (for instance, you may need to tell it where the Pandora include files are stored).
So you've installed the Pandora Engine SDK - but what do you get as a result of doing so? Let's take a look at the root directory structure, which contains these reserved directories:
include/ | The include directory contains the C/C++ header files that are necessary for compiling Pandora based programs. On occasion, you may need to view these files to further your understanding of how the various parts of the Pandora SDK work. Other than that, you should not alter these files, although you may add new include files if you are developing a project that requires the addition of publicly accessible include files. | |
manual/ | The manual directory contains all documentation for the Pandora SDK, including the document that you are reading now. | |
templates/ | The templates directory contains source code for creating new classes and modules from scratch. |
As part of the installation process you will also have installed the Pandora Engine binaries, either by installing Athene or by installing the Pandora user archive. For consistency reasons, if you install the Pandora user archive the binaries will be still be copied to a root directory named "athene/". This prevents conflicts occurring if the user later wishes to install the full Athene archive. The directories containing the Pandora binaries are:
programs/ | This directory contains the Pandora Service Manager, an executable that starts the Pandora Engine. Other useful programs can be found here, although third party applications can be stored anywhere on the system. | |
system/ | Modules, fonts, classes and configuration files are all stored in this directory, under specially assigned sub-directories. The vast majority of binary files required for the Pandora Engine to operate successfully are stored here. |
Now that you've been introduced to the Pandora Engine, we can move onto the next stage of learning how to use it as a development tool. Before continuing, make sure that you can actually compile the source code included with the Pandora archive. If you experience any difficulty in getting it to work, feel free to consult the online forms at rocklyte.com for advice.
Next: Program Types