Unsolved Recommended Qt version for embedded ARM processors...
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Hello awesome Qt gurus!
What is the recommended version of Qt for embedded these days? There have been so many changes to Qt tools & licences that I'm not sure where to start.
Currently I'm running Qt on a Freescale i.MX28 built from antiquated 'ltib'. I managed to cross-build qt-everywhere-opensource-src old version 4.6.0 but now need to setup my host PC for cross-debug.
While I don't need the latest & greatest version of Qt runtime I would really like to have the best cross-debugging experience possible between my host PC and the MX28.
Q1: Should I try to cross-compile the latest Qt or is it too difficult for this old chip?
Q2: Which version do you recommend for the MX28 for best cross-debugging?
Thank you so much for taking the time!!
Jean-Pierre
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I forgot to mention that I'm currently running ancient Ubuntu 9.04 LTS in VMWare. Unfortunately ltib will only compile on this ancient OS :-(
So to change my question above: which is the best / most modern version of Qt that you think I can cross-compile on Ubuntu 9.04?
Thanks for any hint! :)
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Hi and welcome to devnet,
I don't know the spec of the i.MX28 but if you can run 4.6 then you should also be able to run 4.8.7.
AFAIK, the current linux image builder of choice is yocto That should allow you to use a more recent Linux distribution.
Hope it helps
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Hi SGaist!
Thank you for the response! That sounds like excellent advice. Cross-compiling 4.8.7 should hopefully also work on Ubuntu 9.04 and give me more features / better IDE than 4.6.0 :)
To get setup to cross-compile Qt to embedded and to also setup the cross-debugging environment, do I need the Qt 4.8.7 SDK only or do I need two downloads?
(If you happen to know of good instructions that can guide a developer in setting all this up that would be wonderful! So many steps!)
Thanks again :-)
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One note: you can use latest QtCreator version with old Qt versions.
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Hi JPPoulin,
I also recommend the use of Yocto. I use Freescale i.MX6 on a COM module with Yocto and it works very nice :-) Before Yocto I tried ltib, but never succeeded in creating but one image... With Yocto it was much easier. Also, the Qt recipes in Yocto support even Qt. 5.5 in Jethro branch (https://github.com/meta-qt5/meta-qt5/tree/jethro/recipes-qt/qt5), which is the current Yocto branch, and even Qt 5.6 in the master branch.
Kind regards,
Markus
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@MarkusBraitner Hello Markus, thank you very much for this useful response.
I've been seriously considering Yocto on the MX28 for a while now and given that I find myself 'stuck' with Ubuntu 9.04 and 2.7 branch Qt, the jump to Yocto seems inevitable.
I'm glad to hear Yocto recipes support Qt 5.6 and is 'much easier'... exactly what I needed to hear!
Do you think the (favorable) Yocto experience on the MX28 would be any different than the (awesome) MX6?
Thank again :)
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Hello JPPoulin,
you're welcome!
I have no experience with i.MX28 so far, but here (https://community.freescale.com/thread/333966) somebody managed to successfully build a Yocto image for it.
Also, a machine configuration for the i.MX28 evaluation kit already exists (http://git.yoctoproject.org/cgit/cgit.cgi/meta-fsl-arm/tree/conf/machine/imx28evk.conf?h=master), so you can even start from there and adapt it to your actual hardware.
Since Yocto is a system builder, it should not make too much different when building for i.MX6 or i.MX28. But the performance when running the images, of course, will depend on your hardware (processor, RAM, ...).
Although Yocto seems easier to me than ltib, it still takes some time to get used to it and even more if you want to change things to fit your personal needs. So don't get disappointed if it still takes time for learning...
Greetings,
Markus
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Hello Markus,
Awesome! Thanks for pointing out these valuable resources... They indeed look like what I need in order to get the MX28 working with Yocto.
I'll give them a try and report if I get them to work!
Thanks again! :)
JP