RTEMSGraphicsToolkit

The RTEMS Graphics Toolkit is a collection of graphics libraries to facilitate building graphics applications with RTEMS. See Joel's January 2010 Blog Post at ​http://rtemsramblings.blogspot.com/ for more information.

CVS Module: rtems-graphics-toolkit

The RTEMS Graphics Toolkit include

• libjpeg - (v7) ​http://www.ijg.org/
• libtiff - (v3.6.2) ​http://www.libtiff.org/
• libpng - (1.2.42) ​http://www.libpng.org/pub/png/libpng.html
• libfreetype - (2.3.11) ​http://freetype.sourceforge.net/index2.html
• libt1 - (5.1.2) ​http://www.t1lib.org/

Microwindows/Nano?-X may be built using the kit but you must download that separately from their GIT Repository

The following packages are included but not currently ported:

• mmap_kit - our own invention to provide things needed by svgalib before these are merged into RTEMS
• svgalib - (1.4.3) ​http://svgalib.org/
• fltk - (1.1.10) ​http://www.fltk.org/

We need nxlib from Microwindows to build fltk. This will require us creating a small kit of X11 .h files and fonts so nxlib will build and run. Then fltk should just build and work.

Acknowledgements

• Rosimildo DaSilva? did the initial port of Microwindows to RTEMS 4.5.
• Roxana Leontie updated Rosimildo's work to 4.10 and worked to get the patches merged into the main Microwindows source base.
• Aaron Grier? mentored Roxana in this effort.
• Joel Sherrill? provided advice and guidance. He also developed the initial build infrastructure for the RTEMS Graphics Toolkit and ported the supporting libraries.

Building The Kit

Use the script "do_it" in the top directory. It tries to build every currently support component for a specific BSP and install it with as little user intervention as possible. This is its help:

$ ./do_it -?
./do_it: illegal option -- ?
do_it [options]
  -A - build and install all libraries
  -j - build JPEG support (default=no)
  -p - build PNG support (default=no)
  -t - build TIFF support (default=no)
  -1 - build Adobe Type 1 font support (default=no)
  -T - build Truetype font support (default=no)
  -n - build Microwindows/Nano-X support (default=no)
  -f - build FLTK support (default=no)
  -c - clean after building (default=no)
  -v - verbose

NOTES:
  + Use of each option toggles the setting.  For example, \"-v -v -A -1\"
    results in verbose=no and all steps done except Type 1 fonts.
  + RTEMS_MAKEFILE_PATH must be set.
  + By default, nothing is built.

A sample invocation is shown below:

RTEMS_MAKEFILE_PATH=/home/joel/rtems-4.10-work/bsp-install/i386-rtems4.10/pc386/ ./do_it -A

Component Details

The RTEMS Graphics Toolkit has a variety of components in various states of usability on RTEMS. For each component, there is a section following with details on:

• Source: the version
• Origin: Where did it come from?
• Included in kit source: Is it in our CVS module or do you fetch it separately.
• Status: Status of RTEMS support.

JPEG Graphics Support

right?

Source: libjpeg v7 in Kit

Origin: ​http://www.ijg.org/

Included in kit source: Yes.

Status: Working. Built by do_it

The image on the right is a screen capture of the Microwindows nxview demo running on the ARM/Gumstix BSP on the Skyeye simulator displaying the RTEMS logo in JPEG format.

TIFF Graphics Support

Source: libtiff v3.6.2

Origin: ​http://www.libtiff.org/

Included in kit source: Yes.

Status: Working. Built by do_it

PNG Graphics Support

Source: libpng 1.2.42

Origin: ​http://www.libpng.org/pub/png/libpng.html

Included in kit source: Yes.

Status: Working. Built by do_it

Freetype Library

Source: libfreetype 2.3.11

Origin: ​http://freetype.sourceforge.net/index2.html

Included in kit source: Yes.

Status: Working. Built by do_it

Adobe Type 1 Font Support

Source: libt1 5.1.2

Origin: ​http://www.t1lib.org/

Included in kit source: Yes.

Status: Working. Built by do_it

Microwindows/Nano?-X

Source: microwin HEAD

Origin: ​http://www.microwin.org

Included in kit source: Not currently. Fetch from their git repository.

Status: Working. Built by do_it

The source may be fetched with the following command

git clone git://microwindows.org/microwin

RTEMS X11 Kit

Source: not yet

Origin: TBD

Included in kit source: Not currently. Will be when implemented.

Status: Needs to be built.

This will contain the X11 header files and fonts needed by nxlib and fltk. It is a prerequisite for supporting those.

NXLib

Source: nxlib HEAD

Origin: ​http://www.microwin.org

Included in kit source: Not currently. Fetch from their git repository.

Status: Not building. Needs "RTEMS X11 Kit"

The source may be fetched with the following command

git clone git://microwindows.org/nxlib

MMap Kit

Source: mmap_kit directory

Origin: RTEMS Project

Included in kit source: Yes.

Status: Needs work.

The purpose of this package is to provide implementations of sys/mman.h and other things required by svgalib. When working, these can be merged into RTEMS proper and this component deleted.

SVGA Library

Source: svgalib 1.4.3

Origin: ​http://svgalib.org/

Included in kit source: Yes.

Status: Needs work.

We have added a Makefile.rtems and instructions. It needs work and supporting methods and .h files which are being added to mmap_kit. The goal is to minimize modifications to this package.

We need this to have better video drivers. The pc386 video frame buffer driver is 16 color 640x480 VGA. It also looks like this can be built for other architectures.

FLTK

Source: fltk 1.1.10

Origin: ​http://www.fltk.org/

Included in kit source: Yes.

Status: Pending port of nxlib

This includes a GUI builder and widgets. This is the real baseline for building a GUI application.

Open Projects

If you are interested in any of these, ask on the list or one of the developers. These have been identified as desirable and the next logical things to do.

• svgalib port
• X11 kit - Rather than port X11 to RTEMS, it seems like it would be more feasible to package the necessary collection of X11 headers and fonts for RTEMS and NXLIB.
• NXLIB port -- (requires RTEMS X11 Kit) NXLIB is a binary replacement for the libX11 library to allow applications to be run under Nano-X instead of full-blown X11. It assumes that a native port of the X Window System is available for the target in question, which is often the case for Linux, but not for RTEMS.
• fltk port
• defining RTEMS pointing device driver interface
• Framebuffer and pointing device drivers for BSPs

Other graphical software which might be of interest to the RTEMS community but have not been evaluated for technical and licensing appropriateness are:

• Qt Embedded (​http://qt.nokia.com/products/) -- While the Qt/X11 port could likely be run under NXLIB, performance may be better with a native Nano-X port.

• TinyWidgets? (​http://www.tnw2000.org/) -- Last updated in 2007, but source is still available.

• wxWidgets for Microwindows (​http://www.wxwidgets.org/docs/embedded.htm#wxmwin) -- incomplete port, appears to need some work to make it threadsafe.

• directfb (​http://www.directfb.org/) -- Linux' DirectFB API provides additional graphics acceleration and limited windowing support. It may be possible to provide a similar API under RTEMS to allow porting of Linux DirectFB applications.