Now that the first Qt Commercial SDK is out, you can also enjoy the improvements we have been doing for embedded Linux development. The Qt Commercial SDK now contains everything you need to start Qt development on popular embedded development boards: BeagleBoard-xM or PandaBoard. We have included a cross-compiler toolchain, prebuilt Qt libraries and full rootfs images for the two embedded devices that are ready to run Qt applications. And even if you have some different HW, you will still benefit from the embedded Linux target we have done for Qt Commercial Creator. Read on to find out the details.
After the summer we started playing with Ångström distribution and OpenEmbedded build framework to see if we could create something to make the start of Qt development on embedded devices easier. After testing some boards, we decided to go forward with the Beagle and Panda boards, and a plan was set. Now, the SDK provides an option to install a cross-compiler toolchain created with the OpenEmbedded framework and based on the Ångström distribution. With the new SDK and Qt Commercial Creator 2.4.0, the toolchain is ready to build Your Qt application for embedded Linux running on the ARM platform.
To get the applications running on a device, you can use one of the ready-made images for either the BeagleBoard-xM or PandaBoard. As said, these are Ångström based rootfs packages, with small additions for smoother integration with Qt Commercial Creator. Drop the images in a memory card, and you're ready to deploy applications to a target device. Images already contain Qt Commercial 4.8.0, configured to use QWS on top of the Linux framebuffer. Images are configured with Ångström feeds, so you are able to extend them easily, if needed.
We have also created an example image with just the needed packages to get the board booted with embedded Linux and Qt demos running. The complete image now clocks at 27MB, including embedded Linux and Qt 4.8 libraries. It is possible to get this smaller by including just those Qt libraries that are needed by your application. We are working on making it easier to make Qt itself a smaller size according to the functionality needed in the application.
With the new Qt Commercial Creator 2.4.0, Qt for embedded Linux development is easier than ever before with new embedded Linux target we have created. Qt Commercial Creator 2.4.0 provided in the Qt Commercial SDK already has Qt for embedded Linux 4.8.0 and ARM toolchains installed and properly set. When you start developing for embedded Linux all you need to do is to select the embedded Linux target when creating a new project or by adding it to your existing projects.
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What does this brand new embedded Linux target bring along?
- Correctly recognize Qt for Embedded Linux versions
- Integrates Qt Virtual Framebuffer (QVFb) functionality directly to Qt Commercial Creator IDE (no more need to manage it separately)
- Integrates running, debugging and analyzing QWS applications on the Linux host platform
- All QVFb configuration options can be set per project, so there is no need to for extra work to separately manage QVFb configurations outside of your projects. Same applies for providing configuration parameters for the QWS application as by per project.
Debugging and analyzing support for QWS applications by either with C++ and QML languages are supported on a local Linux host and also for remote embedded Linux devices. Overall this newly added functionality aims to make developing for embedded Linux easier with Qt Commercial.
We encourage you to try out the SDK, and send us feedback. We want to improve the SDK, and make it as smooth as possible. For immediate questions, please use the contact form or use the Qt Commercial Customer portal. We will soon launch a user survey to collect your feedback on the first SDK and how would you like us to further develop it.
Try the Qt Commercial SDK for FREE
If you are not a Qt Commercial customer, you can try the Qt Commercial SDK with our 30-day free evaluation. Download here.