Building a Rich UI Based Dual Display Video Player with the Freescale i.MX53 using LinuxLink

Using open source Linux, Timesys LinuxLink tools and the Freescale i.MX53 Quick Start board, attendees of this hands-on, four-session Timesys University track will build a rich UI based dual display video player device to play back high-resolution 720 / 1080p video. The product requirements for this project include such technologies as LCD display, GStreamer graphics stacks, power management and more.

The product designed in this Timesys University track will be optimized for small footprint deployment on the target and fast boot time. All sessions are designed to provide hands-on experience throughout the entire development process, including assembly of the development environment and its use to develop a Linux based platform and a Qt based UI application.
 

This track consists of the following four 1-hour sessions:

Session 1: How to capture your initial Linux based product requirements and quickly build a custom BSP / SDK to jumpstart your development

During this session, attendees will assemble a full development environment and learn how to quickly create a BusyBox-based, small footprint, custom Linux platform. The session will address application developers’ needs by helping them jumpstart development with cross-compilation tools including GCC, glibc, libraries and utilities such as GDB — with or without any embedded Linux knowledge. System engineers will learn how to design and quickly create a custom Linux platform with selected APIs — without having to endure a lengthy development process.

What you will learn:

  • Freescale i.MX53 platform capabilities
  • Embedded Linux primer, including an overview of embedded systems
  • Embedded Linux concepts, including BSP, SDK, LinuxLink and Factory
  • How to set up a Linux cross-development environment
  • How to reflect product requirements in embedded Linux design
  • How to design a footprint-optimized Linux platform
  • How to deploy Linux on an embedded board (Freescale i.MX53 Quick Start board)

Hands-On Exercises:

  • Embedded Linux-based product design process
  • Building a custom BSP and SDK
  • Deploying Linux on the Freescale i.MX53QSB platform

View session (.MP4)    Download slides

Session 2: How to build a media player control panel using Qt Embedded for Linux

During this session, attendees will enhance their host development environment with desktop tools that help in the development of value-add software. The UI for the media player control application will be designed using Timesys’s TimeStorm IDE with Qt WYSIWYG features. The application will use custom Qt widgets for buttons and will display the CPU utilization.

What you will learn:

  • How to setup your host environment to cross develop applications for the Freescale i.MX53QSB
  • Qt Embedded for Linux as an example of a WYSIWYG UI design
  • How to develop an application with a modern IDE

Hands-On Exercises:

  • Setting up the application the development environment
  • Building a UI based application
  • Testing and debugging of the application

View session (.MP4)    Download slides

Session 3: How to leverage hardware accelerated video features to play back 720p / 1080p video

The application developed in Session 2 allows us to control the playback of a high definition video file on a second framebuffer. In the first half of this session, we will modify the system design to incorporate the necessary codecs for decoding video formats. We will cover the hardware acceleration features of the i.MX53 processor, and we will discuss the software stack in Linux that allows us to take advantage of the VPU.

The second part of this session will focus on connecting the control panel with the playback functionality. We will also explore the blending of both framebuffers on a single LCD display. We will use a number of tools including Timesys’s LinuxLink Desktop Edition for easy, in-house, embedded product development.

What you will learn:

  • How to modify a filesystem design to meet your custom project needs
  • How to rebuild the complete Linux platform from sources in a repeatable way
  • How to manage Linux kernel builds with custom patches
  • How to add a GStreamer based software stack to the Linux platform
  • How to play back 720p / 1080p on i.MX53 and leverage its VPU
  • How to combine outputs from two framebuffers on a single display

Hands-On Exercises:

  • Integration of codecs functionality
  • Enablement and configuration of GStreamer framework
  • Playback of 720p / 1080p video on an LCD

View session (.MP4)    Download slides

Session 4: How to optimize, test and integrate the complete 720p / 1080p media player solution for quick deployment

The last session of this track will focus on Linux platform integration and explain how to integrate the solution for quick deployment into an external microSD card. Attendees will learn how to optimize various software layers for footprint and boot time. In conclusion, this session will cover the final integration and formatting steps needed to achieve great user experience with the 720p / 1080p media player product. This includes the development of scripts used to auto launch different features of the product at boot time.

What you will learn:

  • How to combine all developed Linux components into a final product
  • How to optimize for deployment: footprint, boot time
  • How to modify a product for deployment on a microSD
  • How to integrate LinuxLink tools into your corporate systems (case study)

Hands-On Exercises:

  • Building microSD formatted Linux images for deployment
  • Boot time optimization techniques
  • Setting up a nightly build system with Desktop Factory tools

View session (.MP4)    Download slides

Timesys is a Technology partner of the Qt Company
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