Missing Flash Boot to Qt Device

[baqwas]

Hello,

I'm stepping through the course, Getting Started with Boot to Qt, but I seemed to have missed something during the installation using the file:

./qt-unified-linux-x64-4.5.2-online.run

Presently, I have Qt Creater 12.0.1 running under Ubuntu 23.10.

From the menu bar, I selected Tools but the drop down menu does not have the required item, Flash Boot to Qt Device, as shown in the video accompanying the tutorial.

I had to manually install the following two modules before Qt Creator would display the landing page:

sudo apt install xcb libxcb-cursor0

How should I proceed to complete the hands-on training in the course? Thanks.

Regards.

[JKSH]

@baqwas said in Missing Flash Boot to Qt Device:

Please correct me if my understanding is incorrect. Since I cannot afford to pay for a commercial license and I am not affiliated with any educational institution, I cannot leverage Boot2Qt. Is this understanding correct?

Yes, that's correct. Boot2Qt is a commercial product, designed to make it quick and easy to start using Qt on an embedded Linux device (It makes sense for companies to pay for a license to reduce time-to-market)

I'm just a newbie trying to learn Qt through self-paced learning.

...

P.S.
I installed Qt on RPi5 under RPi OS (Bullseye). That is what sparked my interest in going one step beyond CMake by learning more about Qt with an alternative to Android Studio which I cannot deploy on RPi5 (as yet).

What do you think of learning Qt on desktop Linux? You would be writing basically the same Qt code, regardless of whether your app will run on Ubuntu or on Raspberry Pi. Desktop has the following advantages:

• It is easier to get started, compared to embedded Linux
• You can use the open-source license

P.S. Android Studio is for use with Android phones/tablets, not Raspberry Pis [EDIT: I just found out that people do install Android on RPis --JKSH]

[JKSH]

Hi @baqwas, Boot2Qt is available to users who have a "Qt for Device Creation" license. Do you have this?

[baqwas]

@JKSH

Thanks for the quick response.

Presumably, I don't have the correct license. I'm just a newbie trying to learn Qt through self-paced learning. I have no employer. I am an individual developer, incapable of providing any app that can be termed useful to anyone else at any cost.

What license(s) am I eligible for? Trial period licenses will be problematic in the sense that the period will expire long before I complete my training.

I ran the Qt Maintenance a few hours ago but, as you understand very well, it didn't resolve my issue.

Am I out of luck? Please advise. Thanks.

Regards.

P.S.
I installed Qt on RPi5 under RPi OS (Bullseye). That is what sparked my interest in going one step beyond CMake by learning more about Qt with an alternative to Android Studio which I cannot deploy on RPi5 (as yet).

[baqwas]

@JKSH

Hello again! I just read https://doc.qt.io/qt-6/licensing.html on Qt Licensing.

Please correct me if my understanding is incorrect. Since I cannot afford to pay for a commercial license and I am not affiliated with any educational institution, I cannot leverage Boot2Qt. Is this understanding correct? Thanks.

Regards.

[JKSH]

@baqwas said in Missing Flash Boot to Qt Device:

Please correct me if my understanding is incorrect. Since I cannot afford to pay for a commercial license and I am not affiliated with any educational institution, I cannot leverage Boot2Qt. Is this understanding correct?

Yes, that's correct. Boot2Qt is a commercial product, designed to make it quick and easy to start using Qt on an embedded Linux device (It makes sense for companies to pay for a license to reduce time-to-market)

I'm just a newbie trying to learn Qt through self-paced learning.

...

P.S.
I installed Qt on RPi5 under RPi OS (Bullseye). That is what sparked my interest in going one step beyond CMake by learning more about Qt with an alternative to Android Studio which I cannot deploy on RPi5 (as yet).

What do you think of learning Qt on desktop Linux? You would be writing basically the same Qt code, regardless of whether your app will run on Ubuntu or on Raspberry Pi. Desktop has the following advantages:

• It is easier to get started, compared to embedded Linux
• You can use the open-source license

P.S. Android Studio is for use with Android phones/tablets, not Raspberry Pis [EDIT: I just found out that people do install Android on RPis --JKSH]

[baqwas]

@JKSH

Thanks for the confirmation!

Understand your comments. I have been using RPi since 2014. Don't want to brag about how many RPis operate in my farm. I've been doing Android Studio elementary exercises for some time now but wanted to broaden my UI experience beyond Flutter.

Regards.

[JKSH]

@baqwas You're welcome.

I have no doubt that you have bragging rights for your RPi-driven farm :-)

If you're very keen to get Qt on your RPi, there are articles that describe how to do it:

• This one builds Qt on the RPi itself (which is very feasible on a beefy RPi5): https://www.tal.org/tutorials/building-qt-65-raspberry-pi-raspberry-pi-os
• This one cross-compiles Qt on an Ubuntu host for the RPi: https://wiki.qt.io/Cross-Compile_Qt_6_for_Raspberry_Pi

However, there are many many steps involved, and it can be tedious for newbies. I strongly believe you will have a much more enjoyable experience if you start by learning how to write Qt apps directly on desktop Linux.