Graphics User Interface question

[David Goadby]

I now have some of my core Python code running on the A13 and it is time to make it into a real user application. I want to use a simple graphics interface with buttons, dialogue boxes etc and an on screen keyboard and a tabbed panel interface if possible. The touch screen will be emulating a mouse I assume.

I need to run one main application which the user interacts with; all other apps run in the background or are daemons. I don't want or need the overhead of a desktop. If the main user interface exits then I want to be in a standard text-mode shell.

Here are my questions:

1) Can I have a graphics screen without installing a full desktop system such as XFCE-4?

2) I found a window manager called Matchbox. It looks useful, has low resources and even has an on-screen keyboard but it seems to have no more support or development. Has anyone ever got Matchbox to work?

3) I tried to use PyGame as the basis of my UI but nothing worked until I installed X11 and now everything hangs up after going into graphics mode. Can I output graphics without X11 or is that always going to be required?

This is new territory for me. I can write proper GUI apps for KDE desktops and I can write custom LCD based GUI's using native PIC code with no underlying O/S. Here I need to build/install something(s) to get my graphics screen capability. Can anyone point me in the right direction or maybe describe how the graphics on the A13 works.

[lordlothar]

If i have understood correctly, you want to develop some kind of GUI app, without using X11? If so, then search for QT + framebuffer or GTK+ + DirectFB. That's what i am using at the moment, but i have not tested it yet on olinuxino, but it should work.

[David Goadby]

Yes that's what I want to do. I think QT will involve a commercial licence for units that I sell so I'm hoping that GTK+ FB wil yield some results.

I have managed to get some of the Window Managers to work but it's an overhead I don't need and also an extra layer of risk (aka bugs).

I would like a bit more information if possible on what you have achieved on your current platform and any pitfalls. If you would prefer then email me direct.

[lordlothar]

I am still developing QT apps on my host, I haven't tried yet to compile them for olinuxino. As soon I make any progress, I am thinking of starting a relevant how-to thread.

[David Goadby]

Re: Graphics User Interface question

I have been doing a lot of experimenting since your last post. A lot of FB code is already available including fbset, libdirectfb and libdirectfb-dev, -bin, -extra and .dbg. The FB code is old though. I found some incomplete build instructions for GTK+-FB but haven't had time to try it yet.

The solution I need is GTK+-FB (https://freecode.com/projects/gtk-directfb - last update 2003!) but no A13 version seems to exist. Trawling the net didn't yield any stock solutions either.

A lot of the parts of the FB system seem to be no longer maintained so I think that we are on our own somewhat. If someone could create an A13 GTK+-FB library package then I'm sure a lot of A13 users would use it. Maybe I will try to create one over the Xmas holidays.

Time is pressing here so I am going to see just how viable X11 really is. My code is not a massive overhead so X11 may be bearable; but I do have a 24/7 requirement so I need resilience and a no-fuss auto-start and that is the area I have to test to death!

I'm not giving up on FB so I will keep an eye on your progress too.