How to make a Cross-toolchain to compile from Win7+Eclipse+MinGW+wxWidgets to Beaglebone Black with Debian?

Question

I've got some experience in programming for Windows environment but I need to develop a "Kiosk" (I've heard that this is the right name) on a BeagleBone Black. I'm totally new to Linux and also new to the tools I'm going to use. Until the last couple of months, I developed with VB6 and C++Builder only.

Right now I have Eclipse, MinGW and wxWidgets working on my Windowns 7 64-bits PC, and the BeagleBone Black booting a Debian 7.8 with LXDE.

I need to setup a tool-chain to compile for the BeagleBone Black. I tried really hard and have read at least hundred pages, but still I've not figured it out.

From This Site I've learnt that it's possible to compile for Linux from Windows, which could be the perfect solution. If not possible, I already have a Virtual Machine running Ubuntu (but I can change it if needed) ready for Eclipse and other stuff installation.

I'm still lost about what tool-chain to use/build with. This site seems to have already built a tool-chain, but there's no indication to where to go from there. I understand that I should now compile the wxWidgets with this tools, but I'm unsure and also I don't want to mess-up my current working setup in Windows 'cause I missed a switch or a path.

I see how this question was asked more than one time, but I didn't find one that is up-to-date so I'm asking it again.

How to make a tool-chain to compile a GUI application, from Windows using Eclipse, MinGW and wxWidget for a BeagleBone Black running Debian and LXDE?

Answer 1

1. You need a compiler that runs on Windows and produces binaries for the target platform (Debian arm).
2. You need a SDK (headers, libs) for the target platform.

The MinGW-64w wiki describes how to build MinGW cross-compiler and build environment.

You can also look at SO: C++ cross-compiler from Windows to Linux.

Another technique is Canadian Cross, like Google makes its Android NDK for Windows host. At first you should setup Linux build machine. Then build GCC and binutils that will run on Windows machine and will produce binaries for Debian arm. Then copy built toolchain to Windows Cygwin or MSYS environment.