FriendlyCore (based on ubuntu-core with Qt)

1 Introduction

Ubuntu Core with Qt-Embedded is a light Linux system without X-windows. It uses the Qt-Embedded's GUI and is popular in industrial and enterprise applications.

Besides the regular Ubuntu core's features our Ubuntu-Core has the following additional features:

it supports our LCDs with both capacitive touch and resistive touch(S700, X710, HD702, S430, HD101 and S70)
it supports WiFi
it supports Ethernet
it supports Bluetooth and has been installed with bluez utilities
it supports audio playing

2 Download Image Files

You can download an image file for a board on the board's wiki page

3 Work with Ubuntu Core

3.1 Ubuntu-Core's User Accounts

If your board is connected to an HDMI monitor you need to use a USB mouse and keyboard.
If you need to do kernel development you need to connect a serial communication board to your board and access your board from a serial terminal.
UbuntuCore User Accounts:

Non-root User:

   User Name: pi
   Password: pi

Root:

   User Name: root
   Password: fa

The system is automatically logged in as "pi". You can do "sudo npi-config" to disable auto login.

Update packages

$ sudo apt-get update

3.2 Configure System with npi-config

The npi-config is a commandline utility which can be used to initialize system configurations such as user password, system language, time zone, Hostname, SSH switch , Auto login and etc. Type the following command to run this utility.

$ sudo npi-config

Here is how npi-config's GUI looks like:

3.3 Extend TF Card's Section

When Ubuntu is loaded the TF card's section will be automatically extended.You can check the section's size by running the following command:

$ df -h

3.4 WiFi

You can use the NetworkManager utility in Ubuntu to manager its network. You can run "nmcli" in the commandline utility to start it. Here are the commands to start a WiFi connection:

Check device list

sudo nmcli dev

Note: if the status of a device is "unmanaged" it means that device cannot be accessed by NetworkManager. To make is accessed you need to clear the settings under "/etc/network/interfaces" and reboot your system.

Start WiFi

sudo nmcli r wifi on

Scan Surrounding WiFi Sources

sudo nmcli dev wifi

Connect to a WiFi Source

sudo nmcli dev wifi connect "SSID" password "PASSWORD"

The "SSID" and "PASSWORD" need to be replaced with your actual SSID and password.If you have multiple WiFi devices you need to specify the one you want to connect to a WiFi source with iface
If a connection succeeds it will be automatically setup on next system reboot.

For more details about NetworkManager refer to this link: Use NetworkManager to configure network settings

3.5 Ethernet Connection

If a board is connected to a network via Ethernet before it is powered on it will automatically obtain an IP with DHCP activated after it is powered up. If you want to set up a static IP refer to: Use NetworkManager to configure network settings。

3.6 Bluetooth

If your board has an onboard bluetooth module you can search for surrounding bluetooth devices by running the following command:

hcitool scan

You can run "hciconfig" to check bluetooth's status.

3.7 Playing Audio

You can play an audio file by running the following command:

aplay -t raw -c 2 -f S16_LE -r 44100 /root/test.pcm

3.8 Run Qt Demo

Run the following command

$ sudo /opt/QtE-Demo/run.sh

Here is what you expect to observe. This is an open source Qt Demo:

3.9 Setup Program to AutoRun

You can setup a program to autorun on system boot with npi-config:

sudo npi-config

Go to Boot Options -> Autologin -> Qt/Embedded, select Enable and reboot.

3.10 Work with LCD

If you connect your board to an LCD with capacitive touch panel in general that LCD's calibration is not required. However if your LCD is one with resistive touch panel you will have to do calibration which is triggered by running "/usr/bin/setqt4env" on your first system booting.

If you want to re-calibrate your LCD with resistive touch panel you need to delete the calibration file by using the following command:

rm /etc/pointercal

After you reboot your system you will enter the calibration process.

4 Develop Qt Application

4.1 Install Qt-Embedded on Host PC

The Ubuntu Core file system has a complete Qt-Embedded binary package. You can directly copy it to your host PC and use it.Here are the steps:

Firstly make an installation SD card with Ubuntu Core with Qt-Embedded. After this SD card is made successfully there will be a root section for Ubuntu core. You need to mount this section to a directory e.g. "/media/root/rootfs" and run the following commands:

# sudo mkdir -p /usr/local/Trolltech

If this is a 32-bit file system copy the following directory:

# sudo cp -af /media/root/rootfs/usr/local/Trolltech/QtEmbedded-5.9.1-arm /usr/local/Trolltech/

If this is a 64-bit file system copy the following directory instead:

# sudo cp -af /media/root/rootfs/usr/local/Trolltech/QtEmbedded-5.9.1-arch64 /usr/local/Trolltech/

4.2 Install Cross Compiler on Host PC

There are two compilers: one for a 32-bit OS and the other for a 64-bit OS.
You can check if your OS is a 64-bit one by running the following commands:

$ sudo uname --m
aarch64

Or you can tell that by the name of the directory for "Qt-Embedded":
QtEmbedded-5.9.1-arm: a 32-bit compiler with gcc 4.9.3 (arm-cortexa9-linux-gnueabihf-4.9.3.tar.xz);
QtEmbedded-5.9.1-arch64: a 64-bit compiler with gcc 6.4 (aarch64-cortexa53-linux-gnu-6.4.tar.xz);

4.2.1 32-bit Compiler(for S5P4418/S5P6818/Allwinner H3)

Download and extract compiler package:

git clone https://github.com/friendlyarm/prebuilts.git
sudo mkdir -p /opt/FriendlyARM/toolchain
sudo tar xf prebuilts/gcc-x64/arm-cortexa9-linux-gnueabihf-4.9.3.tar.xz -C /opt/FriendlyARM/toolchain/

Add compiler's directory to the "PATH" variable and append the following lines in the "~/.bashrc" file:

export PATH=/opt/FriendlyARM/toolchain/4.9.3/bin:$PATH
export GCC_COLORS=auto

Run the "~/.bashrc" script and the setting will be effective immediately. Note: there is a space after ".":

. ~/.bashrc

After the compiler is installed and setup you can verify it by running the following commands:

arm-linux-gcc -v
Using built-in specs.
COLLECT_GCC=arm-linux-gcc
COLLECT_LTO_WRAPPER=/opt/FriendlyARM/toolchain/4.9.3/libexec/gcc/arm-cortexa9-linux-gnueabihf/4.9.3/lto-wrapper
Target: arm-cortexa9-linux-gnueabihf
Configured with: /work/toolchain/build/src/gcc-4.9.3/configure --build=x86_64-build_pc-linux-gnu
--host=x86_64-build_pc-linux-gnu --target=arm-cortexa9-linux-gnueabihf --prefix=/opt/FriendlyARM/toolchain/4.9.3
--with-sysroot=/opt/FriendlyARM/toolchain/4.9.3/arm-cortexa9-linux-gnueabihf/sys-root --enable-languages=c,c++
--with-arch=armv7-a --with-tune=cortex-a9 --with-fpu=vfpv3 --with-float=hard
...
Thread model: posix
gcc version 4.9.3 (ctng-1.21.0-229g-FA)

4.2.2 64位交叉编译器(Amlogic S905/S5P6818/Allwinner H5平台)

首先下载并解压编译器:

git clone https://github.com/friendlyarm/prebuilts.git
sudo mkdir -p /opt/FriendlyARM/toolchain
sudo tar xf prebuilts/gcc-x64/aarch64-cortexa53-linux-gnu-6.4.tar.xz -C /opt/FriendlyARM/toolchain/

然后将编译器的路径加入到PATH中，用vi编辑vi ~/.bashrc，在末尾加入以下内容：

export PATH=/opt/FriendlyARM/toolchain/6.4-aarch64/bin:$PATH
export GCC_COLORS=auto

执行一下~/.bashrc脚本让设置立即在当前shell窗口中生效，注意"."后面有个空格：

. ~/.bashrc

安装完成后，你可以快速的验证是否安装成功：

# aarch64-linux-gcc -v
Using built-in specs.
COLLECT_GCC=aarch64-linux-gcc
COLLECT_LTO_WRAPPER=/opt/FriendlyARM/toolchain/6.4-aarch64/libexec/gcc/aarch64-cortexa53-linux-gnu/6.4.0/lto-wrapper
Target: aarch64-cortexa53-linux-gnu
Configured with: /work/toolchain/build/aarch64-cortexa53-linux-gnu/build/src/gcc/configure --build=x86_64-build_pc-linux-gnu --host=x86_64-build_pc-linux-gnu --target=aarch64-cortexa53-linux-gnu --prefix=/opt/FriendlyARM/toolchain/6.4-aarch64 --with-sysroot=/opt/FriendlyARM/toolchain/6.4-aarch64/aarch64-cortexa53-linux-gnu/sysroot --enable-languages=c,c++ --enable-fix-cortex-a53-835769 --enable-fix-cortex-a53-843419 --with-cpu=cortex-a53 --with-pkgversion=ctng-1.23.0-150g-FA --with-bugurl=http://www.friendlyarm.com/ --enable-objc-gc --enable-__cxa_atexit --disable-libmudflap --disable-libgomp --disable-libssp --disable-libquadmath --disable-libquadmath-support --disable-libsanitizer --disable-libmpx --with-gmp=/work/toolchain/build/aarch64-cortexa53-linux-gnu/buildtools --with-mpfr=/work/toolchain/build/aarch64-cortexa53-linux-gnu/buildtools --with-mpc=/work/toolchain/build/aarch64-cortexa53-linux-gnu/buildtools --with-isl=/work/toolchain/build/aarch64-cortexa53-linux-gnu/buildtools --enable-lto --with-host-libstdcxx='-static-libgcc -Wl,-Bstatic,-lstdc++,-Bdynamic -lm' --enable-threads=posix --enable-target-optspace --disable-libstdcxx-pch --enable-clocale=gnu --enable-libstdcxx-debug --enable-libstdcxx-time=yes --enable-gnu-indirect-function --enable-gnu-unique-object --enable-linker-build-id --with-linker-hash-style=gnu --enable-plugin --enable-gold --with-libintl-prefix=/work/toolchain/build/aarch64-cortexa53-linux-gnu/buildtools --disable-multilib --with-local-prefix=/opt/FriendlyARM/toolchain/6.4-aarch64/aarch64-cortexa53-linux-gnu/sysroot --enable-long-long --enable-checking=release
Thread model: posix
gcc version 6.4.0 (ctng-1.23.0-150g-FA)

4.3 Your "Hello world"

Create a "helloqt" directory and a main.cpp file on your host PC:

cd ~
mkdir helloqt
vi main.cpp

Here is a main.cpp sample:

#include <QApplication>
#include <QPushButton>
int main(int argc, char **argv)
{
        QApplication app (argc, argv);
        QPushButton button ("Hello world !");
        button.show();
        return app.exec();
}

Exit vi and run the following commands to compile the program:

cd ~/helloqt
/usr/local/Trolltech/QtEmbedded-4.8.6-arm/bin/qmake -project 
/usr/local/Trolltech/QtEmbedded-4.8.6-arm/bin/qmake
make

If compilation is successful you will get a helloqt bin file. Copy the bin file to your board and run it from a terminal:

. setqt4env
helloqt -qws&

4.4 Set Your Qt Program to Autorun

You can set your Qt program to autorun. Let's take the helloqt4 as an example. We assume it is under "/root". You need to open the "/etc/rc.local" file and delete the following two lines:

cd /usr/local/Trolltech/QtEmbedded-4.8.6-arm/demos/embedded/fluidlauncher
./fluidlauncher -qws&

You need to keep ". /usr/bin/setqt4env" and append "/root/helloqt -qws &".

4.5 Open Source Qt Program

The GUI you will see after you boot our UbuntuCore is developed by FriendlyARM. We replaced its original Qt Demo with this GUI. This GUI is open source and its source code is under "/opt". After this program starts it will list various system information including CPU's temperature, RAM and etc. It also includes some basic Qt utilities: qmake, uic and etc which make it much easier for users to compile and generate Qt executables.

5 Q & A

When I compile my Qt program I get a message complaining that linking to libraries such as libts and libz failed

Your arm-linux-gcc 4.9.3 may not include these library files. You need to try downloading the compiler again.

Where should I get UbuntuCore's source code

We used the bin file released by UbuntuCore's official site. You can get its source code from http://packages.ubuntu.com/.

FriendlyCore (based on ubuntu-core with Qt)

Contents

1 Introduction

2 Download Image Files

3 Work with Ubuntu Core

3.1 Ubuntu-Core's User Accounts

3.2 Configure System with npi-config

3.3 Extend TF Card's Section

3.4 WiFi

3.5 Ethernet Connection

3.6 Bluetooth

3.7 Playing Audio

3.8 Run Qt Demo

3.9 Setup Program to AutoRun

3.10 Work with LCD

4 Develop Qt Application

4.1 Install Qt-Embedded on Host PC

4.2 Install Cross Compiler on Host PC

4.2.1 32-bit Compiler(for S5P4418/S5P6818/Allwinner H3)

4.2.2 64位交叉编译器(Amlogic S905/S5P6818/Allwinner H5平台)

4.3 Your "Hello world"

4.4 Set Your Qt Program to Autorun

4.5 Open Source Qt Program

5 Q & A

6 Update Log

6.1 July-20-2016

6.2 July-20-2017

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