Qt5 on embedded systems without GPU/OpenGL

[Gary Bisson]

Hi,

I've been investigating the development of an app on a system with no GPU. The goal was to create a simple HMI, this post will relate the different issues I've encountered. The intent here is to make sure I didn't miss anything obvious and if not, what is the future of Qt5 on such systems, knowing that many people turn to very low power CPU such as the i.MX6UL and i.MX7 with no GPU.
First I've built my app leveraging the Quick2 API, prototyping was a pleasure, I had a first draft in no time until I realized Quick2 depends on OpenGL. Looking online, looks like two alternatives exist:

• http://doc.qt.io/QtQuick2DRenderer/
  -- Sounds like it could be the answer...
  -- ... but compilation process tedious, is there any plan to update this package so it can build without the "dummy" OpenGL libraries? It sounds more like a short term workaround than a solution.
• https://github.com/mgrunditz/qtdeclarative-2d
  -- Same here, promising but looks like an alpha solution for now

So at this point I was discouraged with Quick2 and decided to go back to a standard C++/QWidget app. Everything went smooth but I noticed a similar issue regarding web views. I wanted to use the new QtWebEngine but this latter depends on Quick2 which depends on OpenGL. The easy solution was to switch back to WebKit but since it has been announced that this latter won't be part of Qt5.6, is there a plan to have a QtWebEngine working on systems without GPU?

Thanks,
Gary

[SGaist]

Hi,

AFAIK, the QtQuick2DRender is the only easy way. As for the package status you should ask the Qt Company directly since it's a commercial licensed package.

As for QtWebEngine, I think it will partly depend on Chromium's ability to run without GPU. That would rather be a question for the interest mailing list. You'll find there Qt's developers/maintainers (this forum is more user oriented)

[Gary Bisson]

@SGaist
Hi Samuel,

Thanks for your answer! Sorry I thought this forum would also reach the maintainers but it makes sense that it is more user-oriented. I'll give the mailing list a shot.

Thanks,
Gary