Hello Sam,
I know you asked me about how BSP's are migrated from CE 5.0 and installed without the benefit of a tool to create the MSI file (as in CE 5.0). From what I can tell, the PBCXML file in the catalog directory is the key. See the docs included with CE 6.0 located here:
ms-help://MS.VSCC.v80/MS.VSIPCC.v80/MS.WindowsCE.v60.en/CE_IDE/html/d717e588-ca6d-4f7b-a302-0a9b2c9b92c5.htm
This describes a tool called the Catalog Editor which can open a .CEC file and convert it to a PBCXML file. This file is automatically scanned for in the Platform tree when creating a new platform project. If it is found then a new BSP magically appears in the list of those available when designing the OS image. I tested this by renaming the .\CATALOG\ICOP_Vortex86_60A.pbcxml file to .\CATALOG\ICOP_Vortex86_60A.pbcxml.testing and the BSP no longer appeared in the list.
This means that installing a new BSP is simply a matter of copying it to the .\PLATFORM tree, which can be accomplished by creating a standard Setup project in VS 2005.
Also, there is a BSP cloning tool located in “Tools | Platform Builder for CE 6.0 | Clone BSP”. This copies the BSP tree and the PBCXML file. A tag is defined for GUID’s, but they are now optional and are not included in the cloning process.
One very helpful feature of the CEC file editor which is automatically opened in VS 2006, are the tool tips which appear as you mouse-over a particular tag. A detailed explanation of the tag appears, providing information that is not available in the online docs.
That’s all for now,
Jim