How to reduce the building time?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Ann
  • Start date Start date
A

Ann

hi,whenever I plan to build an image for a hardware, I will:

1.Install XP Professional on the hardware;
2.Export device.pmq;
3.....

The Installation of XP Professional costs much time.Is there any method to
reduce the time?
 
hi,whenever I plan to build an image for a hardware, I will:
1.Install XP Professional on the hardware;
2.Export device.pmq;
3.....

The Installation of XP Professional costs much time.Is there any method to
reduce the time?
Click to expand...

Fist CD of XPE is bootable. You can run TAP from it.

What kind of hardware you are using?

I have stopped using TAP long time ago. Over time you learn what drivers are
needed for every part of system. Except few drivers of signatures everything
else stays the same in most cases.
And TAP will bring you everything (thins that are not even hardware), and
this can be more painful than useful.
It is possible to make components that will for example cover whole series
of different devices from same manufacturer. Not exactly the way MS intended
it to work, but this can be time savior.

Best regards,
Slobodan
 
If one has the time to learn all of the components. But for anyone new, it
is better to install XP Pro and then run TAP to pickup the things that are
not hardware. Typically these are the middle layers like CODECs and
PlugNPlay support functions that TAP running on WinPE cannot pick-up. Once
you have the PMQ file, create a component and include the selector prototype
so you can easily pick and choose the components you want in your
configuration. This method gives you the big baseline for items that you
know run on the target. I cover this in my companies Advanced XPe training
class and show the pit-falls of what can happen if you use TA and TAP/WinPE.

Regards,

Sean Liming
www.a7eng.com
Author: Windows NT Embedded Step-By-Step and XP Embedded Advanced.
 
If one has the time to learn all of the components. But for anyone new, it
is better to install XP Pro and then run TAP to pickup the things that are
not hardware. Typically these are the middle layers like CODECs and
PlugNPlay support functions that TAP running on WinPE cannot pick-up. Once
you have the PMQ file, create a component and include the selector prototype
so you can easily pick and choose the components you want in your
configuration. This method gives you the big baseline for items that you
know run on the target. I cover this in my companies Advanced XPe training
class and show the pit-falls of what can happen if you use TA and TAP/WinPE.

Regards,

Sean Liming
www.a7eng.com
Author: Windows NT Embedded Step-By-Step and XP Embedded Advanced.
 
If one has the time to learn all of the components. But for anyone new, it
is better to install XP Pro and then run TAP to pickup the things that are
not hardware. Typically these are the middle layers like CODECs and
PlugNPlay support functions that TAP running on WinPE cannot pick-up. Once
you have the PMQ file, create a component and include the selector prototype
so you can easily pick and choose the components you want in your
configuration. This method gives you the big baseline for items that you
know run on the target. I cover this in my companies Advanced XPe training
class and show the pit-falls of what can happen if you use TA and TAP/WinPE.

Regards,

Sean Liming
www.a7eng.com
Author: Windows NT Embedded Step-By-Step and XP Embedded Advanced.
 
I'd like to add two points:

1.The hardware I used doesn't support CD.How can I run TAP directly by other
means?

2.Sean, Could you please give me some idea of the difference between TAP an
TA? I ran these two tools on same hardware. but the PMQ of TAP is 53
devices, while the PMQ of TA is 25 devices.

Thanks,

Ann
 
Ann,

1. Can't run a CD. So there is no way to get XP Pro or WinPE running on the
target? What kind of hardware is this (PC104, SBC,...)? Who is the
manufacturer? The only alternative is to use TA with MS-DOS. This is still
okay, but depending on what you doing, more of the low level components will
be needed.

2. In the basic form Target Analyzer is like a PCI sniffer. TA will find
all of the PCI devices and interrogate the BIOS. TA can find the USB host
controller, but it cannot determine what types of devices are connected to
the USB port. Same is true for Firewire, SCSI, etc.

TAP will gather the same information as TA, and more. Since TAP runs in
Windows environment so it can search the registry to find PnP devices that
have been loaded in the system. TAP will find the USB host port and all
devices connected to the port. TAP will also find middleware level software
like CODECs for audio.

Your TAP results below include the 25 devices from TA. Once you have the
information from TAP, you can create a component. TAP output provides a list
of the devices that you know runs on the target, and allows you to take
control of the image size.

Regards,

Sean Liming
www.a7eng.com
Author: Windows NT Embedded Step-By-Step and XP Embedded Advanced.

BTW - You might want to consider taking a class on XPe. It might save you
time in the long run. My company offers the Microsoft Official curriculum
and an Advanced class. Together, both courses get you up and running with a
good understanding of XPe tools and features.
 
I'd like to add two points:

1.The hardware I used doesn't support CD.How can I run TAP directly by
other means?

2.Sean, Could you please give me some idea of the difference between
TAP an TA? I ran these two tools on same hardware. but the PMQ of TAP
is 53 devices, while the PMQ of TA is 25 devices.
Click to expand...

TAP queries the registry for already enumerated and discovered devices -
we're getting the actual devices that are currently running on the
system.

TA uses the BIOS to query the machine for the devices it sees. Because
of this, we don't see any IDE, SCSI, PCI, or USB busses, nor their
devices. All we'll see are devices the BIOS can see, which is usually
limited to keyboard, mouse, and video - no motherboard support devices,
no boot devices, no NIC's, no nothing else.

TA is a stopgap - you still need to add a lot of devices before you'll
have a bootable system.
 
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