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I want to work in HMI domain and have started learning it.

In first stage I want to develop Qt GUI based touchscreen application for ARM9 board. Can anyone please suggest how to go for it and any budget ARM9 Dev board with integrated touchscreen LCD for this purpose? I want to use opensource platform as much as possible.

I know I can do it with more ease on an ARM board which support some OS like (say) embedded linux or may be Rasberry Pi with java or Qt based GUI. But I do not want to use OS rather want to develop just a simple touch screen GUI application to (say) turn a LED on the ARM board (without running any OS).

My next step of learning will be using touch screen GUI, Rasberry Pi with raspbian, where I have already found numerous resources Online.

Thanks

NG_
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Gaurav K
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  • Qt requires basic OS to work on. So if you want to use Qt you will need linux embeded anyway. – Kamil Klimek Mar 14 '13 at 08:49
  • @Kamil So any other GUI development option that does not need any OS support ? – Gaurav K Mar 14 '13 at 08:56
  • You need to write your own os then. You need something that will manage display, manage touch events, network and anything that you need. ARM9 is just CPU architecture like x86_64. – Kamil Klimek Mar 14 '13 at 09:33

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It may be better to just get a low end tablet or why not even a phone, much cheaper than a dev board with additional touchscreen. Plus Android is open. It may be a good idea to get an Ubuntu touch compatible device. The Pi, while cheap, is also very underpowered. A cheap tablet or phone will be more applicable, especially since official Android support in Qt is looming on the horizon. So why spend more money on a lower spec'd device with very narrow application range? Not to mention the wide range of sensors you get with a market device - cameras, compass, gyroscope, GPS, accelerometer - those could come in handy in a HMI scenario. Last but not least, graphics drivers are usually better in production devices than prototype boards.

dtech
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  • I want to explore Microcontroller specific GUI option as I need to work on ARM9 for other projects that can control motor, take sensor readings analyze and display it. – Gaurav K Mar 14 '13 at 08:56
  • @GauravK - you can get an additional USB micro-controller to plug into your Android for like 10-15$. It will still be easier and cheaper than a development board you have to find drivers for, install Linux, build Qt and potentially fail to and get no help because barely anyone uses this development board with Qt and there is no community. – dtech Mar 14 '13 at 09:04
  • Just out curiosity want to know, the touch screen application (say in a high end refrigerator) - do they use an OS for that purpose? I do not think so .. I read somewhere about GE Refrigerator touch screen panel using ARM9. I want to learn developing something like that – Gaurav K Mar 14 '13 at 09:14
  • @GauravK - yes they do, most probably it is embedded Linux. Without an OS you don't have graphics, you don't have windows manager, thus you don't have GUI. The typical widely used micro controllers are very weak in performance and don't have any graphics at all, or if any then very, very basic, that is why the ARM core is needed to provide graphics as well as an OS to manipulate the controller. – dtech Mar 14 '13 at 09:20
  • Then I suppose I can use rasberry Pi to build my GUI touch screen application, which can send command to my main controller ( which controls motor speed) through serial communication over its usb port ? – Gaurav K Mar 14 '13 at 10:40