Q. What is a Windows CE "Image" or "Build"?
The CE image is a monolithic file that contains the CE kernel, drivers and file system, along with the code to launch the operating system. The file is named NK.BIN (or NKLOAD.BIN for older ADS systems).
A CE build is a CE image built for a particular ADS product with particular OS components.
Build Components
Each build includes the kernel along with OS libraries and drivers. ADS supplies builds to meet a variety of application needs. Topic 1339 lists common components in CE builds.
See the CE.BIB files for detailed information about what each build contains.
Image Size
When ADS systems boot, the bootloader copies the CE image from onboard flash into RAM. The loader needs to know how big the image is to determine the copy destination, and the kernel needs to know how big the image is to reserve that memory for OS use.
The "size" listed for a build is the amount of flash and RAM needed for a particular build. This size is set at the time that the build is created, and is recorded at the top of the CE.BIB file. For example, the following line from CE.BIB indicates an image that will take 20 MiB of DRAM: NK 800B8000 01400000 RAMIMAGE ; DRAM 20MB
You may want a build with more features/components, which increases the size of the image. The tradeoff is less working DRAM for your application and a smaller partition in flash for the flash disk.
Further Reading
Edited by akidder 6-Sep-2005: Update link re: build numbering.
Edited by akidder 29-Mar-2005: Strike out build numbering details and refer to updated topic.
Edited by akidder 24-Aug-2005: Add Further Reading section
Edited by akidder 11-May-2006: Add notes about build size. Remove build selector. Add topics to Further Reading section.
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What is a Windows CE "Image" or "Build"?
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Posted - 27 Jan 2004 : 13:19:01
