OS
The compiler was tested on a variety of Win32 platforms, however Win9x
platforms can misbehave when using the "RtlSystem" call in F1RTL. We
recommend Windows XP or later.
Display
It is recommended to run the IDE on systems supporting more than 256 colors,
using resolution 1024x768 or better.
CPU
As there is a high probability you will end up running programs that are very CPU intensive, installing
a GMP library that matches your CPU is essential. The GMP libraries should be upwards compatible
(i.e. you can use GMP compiled for Pentium 2 on Pentium 4 etc.) but the performance may not be optimal.
The Setup programs detects several popular CPUs manufactured by Intel and AMD, however there are several other
CPU vendors which the Setup does not recognize and will most likely mislabel. In this case it is the
responsibility of the end user to manually select the best CPU match. Beware that selecting an incorrect
library may generate invalid instructions. If everything fails, as the last resort, try installing
the "generic" GMP library. If you can build and successfully run the sample
Test Samples.f1 (as described in Getting Started) you have installed the correct GMP library.
Automatic Generation of Setup Files.
This release (F1release41rD) will install
NSIS (Nullsoft Scriptable Install System)
as part of the toolchain, in particular NSIS version 2.35. The installed version of
the NSIS compiler is scaled down from the full size to keep the distribution of F1release41D
as small as possible.
After creating a standalone executable, the user can now create a
setup file which will
allow to redistribute/install his/her own executable on other PCs. In most cases, all
that is required is a single click. The F1 IDE created default setup file creates a single
redistributable file, which will allow a user to install/uninstall the executable, optionally
creating desktop and/or menu shortcuts. The setup program will also install the best fitting
GMP library on the target machine based on the detected CPU.
The IDE generated setup script file is a text file, and can be manually edited if the
default setup features are found inadequate. The script file is subsequently compiled by
the NSIS compiler to create the redistributable setup file.
Improved Runtime Exception Handler
If an F1 created program encounters a general protection fault (GPF) during the execution, a dialog
allowing submitting a bug report will pop-up.
In the "About" box there is a bug
report button. This is the preferred method of bug reporting, as it reports all
installed Formula One components, OS and CPU type. To report bugs manually, use the e-mail address
bugs@f1compiler.com .
If you have any other problems, feedback or a nifty program you would like to submit to
our sample code web page, submit them at support@f1compiler.com.