Setting up Development Environment

This section covers the details of setting up your development environment. You can set it up yourself or get a pre-configured virtual machine, from MRS Electronic.

Note

The document solely focuses on the development on Linux host. However, it can be setup on Windows host as well. For more details, contact MRS Electronic. There are multiple virtualization techniques, but the document focuses on setting up an Ubuntu development environment using VirtualBox.

Download the latest version of VirtualBox according to your device’s architecture.

Pre-Configured Machine

If you are using a pre-configured virtual machine from MRS, you can simply install it and jump to the Setting Up NeuralPlex section. The virtual machine is already setup for the development and cross-compiling.

Manual Configuration

To configure your machine manually, the following requirements must be fulfilled:

System Requirements

Component	Requirement
Operating System	Modern Linux distribution (Ubuntu 2024.04, Fedora, Debian, CentOS)
Processor	Quad-Core
Memory	8GB of RAM
Disk Space	50 GB of free disk space

Software Requirements

Software	Ubuntu 2024.04
Build Essential Tools	build-essential
Qt 6.5.0 Dependencies	libxcb1 libxcb1-dev libxcb-keysyms1-dev libxcb-image0 libxcb-image0-dev
Development Libraries	libgl1-mesa-dev libglu1-mesa-dev libxrender-dev libfontconfig1-dev
Other Useful Tools	pkg-config git cmake

Tip

Depending on your deployment strategy, you can either purchase Qt Commercial or begin development using the Open-source version of Qt, which is free. Consult your lawyers regarding the suitable version for your application.

Note

To attain the steps to set up a cross-compile toolchain for Qt to allow the deployment of application to the Display, contact MRS Electronic.

Required Permissions

You require admin privileges to perform the steps of installation.

Installation Steps

The steps of installation are as follows:

1. Install the latest version of Ubuntu.
2. Setup Qt development environment by downloading the latest version of Qt. At the time of writing this document, the NeuralPlex has Qt 6.5.x installed. Navigate to this link to find the steps to install Qt6 in Ubuntu.
3. Run the installer to begin the installation process.
4. Open Qt Creator
5. In Qt Creator, go to Edit -> Preferences
6. Select the Devices item
7. Click “Add” -> “Remote Linux Device” and give it the name NeuralPlex.
   • In the Host Name field, enter 192.168.5.100
   • In the Username field, enter root
   • Make sure the USB cable (gray connector) is connected from the NeuralPlex to the development machine. Your development machine should have a usb0 interface and have a static IP address of 192.168.5.101, netmask of 255.255.255.0, and gateway set to 192.168.5.100.
   • Click “Test” and confirm that your development machine is able to connect to the NeuralPlex
8. Select the Kits item
9. Click on the Debuggers tab
10. Click “Add” and give it the name GDB (imx8). The debugger path is: /opt/fsl-imx-wayland/6.1-mickledore/sysroots/x86_64-pokysdk-linux/usr/bin/aarch64-poky-linux/aarch64-poky-linux-gdb
11. Click on the Compilers tab
12. Add a GCC compiler and give it the name GCC (imx8). The compiler path is: /opt/fsl-imx-wayland/6.1-mickledore/sysroots/x86_64-pokysdk-linux/usr/bin/aarch64-poky-linux/aarch64-poky-linux-gcc
13. Click on the Qt Versions tab
14. Click “Add” and give it the name Qt %{Qt:Version} (imx8). The qmake path is: /opt/fsl-imx-wayland/6.1-mickledore/sysroots/x86_64-pokysdk-linux/usr/bin/qmake
15. Click on the Kits tab
16. Click “Add” and then in the name field, enter the name: imx8.
    • In the Compiler C/C++ dropdown, select GCC (imx8)
    • In the Debugger dropdown, select GDB (imx8)
    • In the Qt version dropdown, select Qt 6.5.0 (imx8)
17. Click “Apply”. You can now cross compile your software and run it on the display