POS: PAX S920 + Qt

[nyckmaia]

Hi,

I would like to know if is possible to use some version of Qt to create the UI for the POS PAX S920.

Here is the full specs: PAX S920 Specs

It's an 32 bits ARM11, 64MB DDR RAM and 128MB NAND Flash.

I don't know if is it possible.
If yes, should this topic be inside the Qt for MCU or in Qt Mobile and Embedded?

Thanks

[JKSH]

@nyckmaia said in POS: PAX S920 + Qt:

With these new infos above, do you think that will be possible?

Since they have an SDK that uses g++, then it might be possible.

Will be compatible? The touch will work?

It might be possible, but the only way to know for sure is to try it.

I would like to replace the XUI Interface by a Qt UI (like Qt Quick, or QML).

How can I do that?

There will be many steps involved. The first step is to download Qt source code and try to use the SDK to compile the Qt libraries: https://download.qt.io/official_releases/qt/5.12/5.12.10/single/qt-everywhere-src-5.12.10.tar.xz (I linked to Qt 5.12 because the latest version no longer supports GCC 4.8)

I don't have experience with configuring the Qt source code to work on an embedded system's framebuffer though, so I'll let someone else answer questions on that topic.

Does the device run embedded Linux?

[SGaist]

Hi and welcome to devnet,

It depends on the software stack available for that POS. In any case, you should build a stripped down version of Qt to minimize its footprint.

[nyckmaia]

@SGaist thank you,

Well, I can't buy a Qt commercial license...so I think that I can't build a stripped down version of Qt. Right?

Or can I use the Open Source LGPLv3 version of Qt 6 to build a stripped version of it?

[SGaist]

Compiling a custom Qt version has nothing to do with the licence. The commercial license may provide additional tools to make it easier however you are free to disable all features not pertinent to your application when building Qt.

[JKSH]

@nyckmaia said in POS: PAX S920 + Qt:

I would like to know if is possible to use some version of Qt to create the UI for the POS PAX S920.

Does the device support custom UIs at all?

[nyckmaia]

@JKSH I don't know...

What I know is that this PAX S920 have framebuffer.

It helps?

[nyckmaia]

@SGaist Thank you...

Do you have a link/example about how to do a Qt 6 customization build? I mean, how can I choose the stripped components of my custom build?

[Pablo J. Rogina]

@nyckmaia said in POS: PAX S920 + Qt:

I can't build a stripped down version of Qt

You can build a stripped down version of Qt open source if you wish. Take a look at qtlite.com to get configuration options for "features that can be removed in build time with -no-feature-name options for configure scirpt. [sic] It helps to reduce total size of binaries."

As @JKSH asked, you may want to double check if the device actually provides UI capabilities. In addition, as @SGaist mentioned you also may want to double check that you have a toolchain (compiler, etc.) for such ARM platform.

In any case, and given the constrained nature of your device, you may also want to consider LGVL, an open-source graphics library to create embedded GUIs

[JKSH]

@nyckmaia said in POS: PAX S920 + Qt:

I don't know...

What I know is that this PAX S920 have framebuffer.

It helps?

That's not enough information, sorry.

Before you can create a custom UI, the device needs to have a software stack or an SDK (Software Development Kit) like @SGaist said. These are needed for the UI to interact with the keypad, magnetic strip reader, etc.

Please contact the manufacturer and ask if they provide an SDK.

[nyckmaia]

Thank you guys: @SGaist @JKSH @Pablo-J-Rogina

So, I have the PAX S920 SDK and ARM11 compiler...it compiles and works good.

By default, the SDK examples uses a GUI library called Prolin XUI Interface.
Here is a PDF manual of this UI library: https://usermanual.wiki/Document/XUI20Programming20Guide207.224573097/html

The default SDK is a old custom Eclipse IDE called: Prolin SDK 2.8.18.
It is used to create a PAX C Project (that works with C and C++)
The default SDK compiler is a arm-g++ 4.8 (that supports almost all C++11 features). I will try to replace it soon by a newer g++ version.

With this default SDK tools I can build and embed my app inside the PAX POS S920 and get all working well:

• GUI
• Touch
• Keypad

But I would like to replace the XUI Interface by a Qt UI (like Qt Quick, or QML).

How can I do that?

With these new infos above, do you think that will be possible? Will be compatible? The touch will work?

Thank you again,

[JKSH]

@nyckmaia said in POS: PAX S920 + Qt:

With these new infos above, do you think that will be possible?

Since they have an SDK that uses g++, then it might be possible.

Will be compatible? The touch will work?

It might be possible, but the only way to know for sure is to try it.

I would like to replace the XUI Interface by a Qt UI (like Qt Quick, or QML).

How can I do that?

There will be many steps involved. The first step is to download Qt source code and try to use the SDK to compile the Qt libraries: https://download.qt.io/official_releases/qt/5.12/5.12.10/single/qt-everywhere-src-5.12.10.tar.xz (I linked to Qt 5.12 because the latest version no longer supports GCC 4.8)

I don't have experience with configuring the Qt source code to work on an embedded system's framebuffer though, so I'll let someone else answer questions on that topic.

Does the device run embedded Linux?

[fem_dev]

@JKSH said in POS: PAX S920 + Qt:

Does the device run embedded Linux?

Yes, it runs a embedded Linux.

PAX S920

• 32-bit ARM 11
• 400 MHz
• 64 RAM
• 128 FLASH
• Linux

Does anyone know more about the UI + touch using Qt inside the PAX S920?

[SGaist]

@fem_dev said in POS: PAX S920 + Qt:

Does anyone know more about the UI + touch using Qt inside the PAX S920?

Likely not, that's not the kind of device that are used everyday for development.

You should context the device manufacturer to have more details about it.

Kernel versions
Touchscreen handling (tslib, evdev, etc.)

[nyckmaia]

Just to add new info about the embed device:

$ uname -a

Linux s920-68029784 3.0.56 #1 Mon May 15 18:17:44 CST 2017 armv6l GNU/Linux

[SGaist]

That's a pretty old kernel...