Compose Installation

NORTHSTARSHOW SYSTEMS

Compose Installation

Installing and activating Compose on a design machine

Distribution File

Compose is distributed as a single NSIS installer: COMPOSE_INSTALLER.exe, approximately 194 MB. The installer includes the bundled arduino-cli toolchain and renesas_uno board package, totalling around 580 MB on disk after extraction.

Procedure

• Copy COMPOSE_INSTALLER.exe to the target machine.
• Double-click to launch. Accept the SmartScreen prompt.
• Choose install location. Default: %LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\compose. Keep this default; paths containing spaces will break firmware compilation.
• Enable Desktop Shortcut and Start Menu Shortcut if desired.
• Click Install. Compose launches automatically when complete.

First Launch

A license activation screen appears with a 16-character device fingerprint. Submit this fingerprint to your Northstar reseller. They will return a license token starting with NSSS1.

Paste the token into the activation field and click Activate. Compose unlocks.

Bundled Toolchain

Compose installs arduino-cli 1.1.0 and the arduino:renesas_uno board package at the install location\resources\arduino-cli\. The File → Build Firmware command uses this bundled toolchain — no separate Arduino IDE installation is required.

CAUTION —Compose must be installed to a path that does not contain spaces. The bundled GCC toolchain has known issues resolving header paths with embedded spaces. The default install location (%LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\compose) avoids this; do not change it.

Uninstallation

Settings → Apps → Installed Apps → Compose → Uninstall. License + project files in your user profile are preserved unless you explicitly opt to delete them.

Related Documents

• NSSS-DOC-0001Quick Start Guide
• NSSS-DOC-0020Compose User Guide
• NSSS-DOC-0004System Requirements

Revision History