I’m looking at writing software for the BBB that will run more or less stand alone, sort of like a kiosk. I was thinking of using GTK/Glade to design the gui then something else for programming. I’ve used all sorts of languages on the PC and I’m not at all timid about learning yet another (in reality they aren’t all that different from one another anyway). I don’t really want the whole X and desktop so directFB + GTK sounds like a good way to go. However, checking the repo shows directFB and GTK but no gtk-directfb (as referred to in the gtk-directfb page).
I know I can use X without having a desktop too…
So given the state of supported software packages, what would people think would be a good gui programming setup for the BBB? I do need to access GPIO (ADC for sensors, I2C for an RTC among other things).
THanks!
depends on what you’re using for a desktop. But something like the applicable Linaro toolchain and code::bkocks will work on Windows or Linux. Assuming you wanted a cross compile system. You could use eclipse + Linaro too I’d image.
As for compiling directly on the BBB it’s self, yeah I am not so sure. Both options mentioned above could work, but you’d need X + window manager, and would most likely want to setup an alternative rootfs ( at minimum ) to keep from wearing out mmc media.As for the rest, I am less sure. I have been reading some on creating appliances lately, but what I have read so far seems to indicate that PostgreSQL + RTA is the way to go but . . . this is something I am still learning myself. I know next to nothing about GTK/Glade etc.
The book I am currently reading is O’Reilley’s Linux appliance design if that is of any help to you.
I have done lots of php + postgres in the past but I won’t need anywhere near that kind of database power. sqlite may even be overpowered. Probably just use textfiles.
I would give a chance to QT . Or embedded android. Both are RAD tools.
Actually, I just figured out what Node.js actually is. If I can figure out how to get a web browser showing locally without titlebars and menus (basically a blank screen) then I could write the UI in javascript with a node.js backend and write one program for both local use (on the LCD) and remote use in a browser. Of course that means keeping X and possibly a desktop… Have to do a lot of research on this.