Linux Display silly question

Linux Display silly question

[Mukund JB.]

Hi all,
Hi all,

I am very new to the GUI thing. I don't know how it works. 
I just have base Linux kernel running on an EBD9312 ARM Embedded Board
with Linux Prompt working & no display.

Now, I want to provide GUI support to the existing Linux. Now I just
want to know are there any kernel modules that the kernel should have to
support the GUI?
The framebuffer driver is already active. I have NO X server on the
machine because of memory constraints.

I have gone through a lot of Maillists which say I need to some GUI
Library or tools like

	GtkFB - does NOT use X11
	Qt/Embedded - Direct Framebuffer access and so on.

I have a very basic doubt here. I mean how I can launch the GUI
Application when there is no UI (NO X server).
I think there will be an intermediate desktop like thing which I am
missing from where I can launch my application. Is there any thing like
that for an ARM embedded system.

Please help to understand this?

Regards,
Mukund jampala


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Re: Linux Display silly question

[Eric Bambach]

On Wednesday 23 March 2005 06:39 am, Mukund JB. wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> I am very new to the GUI thing. I don't know how it works.
> I just have base Linux kernel running on an EBD9312 ARM Embedded Board
> with Linux Prompt working & no display.
>
> Now, I want to provide GUI support to the existing Linux. Now I just
> want to know are there any kernel modules that the kernel should have to
> support the GUI?
> The framebuffer driver is already active. I have NO X server on the
> machine because of memory constraints.

Sounds reasonable, especially for an embedded system. If you have at least 16M 
you can make it work though. Just try a lightweight window manager like 
enlightenment instead of kde or gnome, then you will have ALOT less 
compatibility problems.

> I have gone through a lot of Maillists which say I need to some GUI
> Library or tools like
>
>  GtkFB - does NOT use X11
>  Qt/Embedded - Direct Framebuffer access and so on.
>
> I have a very basic doubt here. I mean how I can launch the GUI
> Application when there is no UI (NO X server).
> I think there will be an intermediate desktop like thing which I am
> missing from where I can launch my application. Is there any thing like
> that for an ARM embedded system.

This has been discussed on the list before, (running GUI or GUI-like apps w/o 
X-server) just not on the ARM embedded architecture. You dont need any kernel 
modules per-se everything you want to accomplish is in userspace. As long as 
framebuffer is working don't touch the kernel ;)

It sounds like you are coming from the windows world if you think you need to 
click an icon to make a GUI work. I haven't used those libraries per-se, but 
as long as you provide mouse and toolkit support you can launch firefox (for 
example if it supports Qt/Embedded) just by typing it in. As the prompt you 
will type
my-app

and if you install the proper support libraries it will use the framebuffer 
for rendering instead of the X server. This all depends on the application 
though. Since the majority of "GUI" apps are designed for X, then you may run 
into odd compatibility problems when not running them in X.

You are on the right track, keep reading those mailing lists, install the 
libraries, find a compatible program and run it! 
user@embedded #my-app

> Please help to understand this?
>
> Regards,
> Mukund jampala

-- 
----------------------------------------
--EB

> All is fine except that I can reliably "oops" it simply by trying to read
> from /proc/apm (e.g. cat /proc/apm).
> oops output and ksymoops-2.3.4 output is attached.
> Is there anything else I can contribute?

The latitude and longtitude of the bios writers current position, and
a ballistic missile.

                --Alan Cox LKML-December 08,2000 

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Re: Linux Display silly question

[Jeremy Abbott]

Mukund JB. wrote:

>Hi all,
>Hi all,
>
>I am very new to the GUI thing. I don't know how it works. 
>I just have base Linux kernel running on an EBD9312 ARM Embedded Board
>with Linux Prompt working & no display.
>
>Now, I want to provide GUI support to the existing Linux. Now I just
>want to know are there any kernel modules that the kernel should have to
>support the GUI?
>The framebuffer driver is already active. I have NO X server on the
>machine because of memory constraints.
>
>I have gone through a lot of Maillists which say I need to some GUI
>Library or tools like
>
>	GtkFB - does NOT use X11
>	Qt/Embedded - Direct Framebuffer access and so on.
>
>I have a very basic doubt here. I mean how I can launch the GUI
>Application when there is no UI (NO X server).
>I think there will be an intermediate desktop like thing which I am
>missing from where I can launch my application. Is there any thing like
>that for an ARM embedded system.
>
>Please help to understand this?
>
>Regards,
>Mukund jampala
>
>
>-
>To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-newbie" in
>the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org
>More majordomo info at  http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
>Please read the FAQ at http://www.linux-learn.org/faqs
>
>  
>
I dunno if this will help since I am not sure of the memory usage, but 
there is an alternative to X that is in its infant stages.

http://www.y-windows.org/

Jeremy Abbott
jkbullfrog@comcast.net

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Re: Linux Display silly Question

[Rhys Hardwick]

Mukund JB. wrote:

 > Hi all,
 > Hi all,
 >
 > I am very new to the GUI thing. I don't know how it works. I just 
have base Linux kernel running on an EBD9312 ARM Embedded Board
 > with Linux Prompt working & no display.
 >
 > Now, I want to provide GUI support to the existing Linux. Now I just
 > want to know are there any kernel modules that the kernel should have to
 > support the GUI?
 > The framebuffer driver is already active. I have NO X server on the
 > machine because of memory constraints.
 >
 > I have gone through a lot of Maillists which say I need to some GUI
 > Library or tools like
 >
 >     GtkFB - does NOT use X11
 >     Qt/Embedded - Direct Framebuffer access and so on.
 >
 > I have a very basic doubt here. I mean how I can launch the GUI
 > Application when there is no UI (NO X server).
 > I think there will be an intermediate desktop like thing which I am
 > missing from where I can launch my application. Is there any thing like
 > that for an ARM embedded system.

The intermediate application is usually the X server, such as xfree86 or 
xorg.  I suppose it will depend on the program you are running.  If it 
required gtk to run, then you will need gtk.  If it requires Qt you will 
need it.  These are designed be called from a x11 server though, so I am 
not sure you can get round this problem.

 > Please help to understand this?
 >
 > Regards,
 > Mukund jampala


-- 
  Rhys Hardwick

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