Linux Desktop Installation

Installing a Linux1 development host consists of up to three procedures:

Footnotes:

1

For clarity and expediency, we show how to setup Linux Mint 20 XFCE using the Synaptic Package Manager. This is the distro used to build the Reach Technology G3 Developer VM and is similar to Ubuntu, but with a whole lot less problems.

Although the package names will probably be different, a similar process can be applied to a RPM based system.

Yocto SDK Installation

Note

This assumes that your Linux desktop system has a normal set of build tools installed and tested. These will be necessary if you want to develop as much of the application as practical on the host to improve productivity.

Todo

add link to SDK download tables

  • Download the Reach Technology G3 Developer SDK that matches your G3 module CPU and embedded image from the web site. The SDK is distributed as a tarball.

  • Unpack the tarball.

  • In the new sdk sub-directory, execute the script that has a .sh extension. Accept the defaults; this will install the SDK under /opt/reach/sdk. You probably need to execute the script as root.

  • Remove the sdk sub-directory as it’s no longer needed.

Qt Installation

Important

This task is not required if you are not developing a Qt based end product application.

Note

This assumes that your Linux desktop system has the required set of Linux development libraries to install the Qt libraries. See the Qt web site for further information.

Warning

If you use a binary Qt build, either from your desktop Linux distro packages or from the official Qt download site, be sure that:

  • The version of Qt libraries that you use on the development host is equal to or greater than the version on the G3 module.

  • You don’t use features that may be available in the desktop build that may not be in the G3 module Qt build.

Todo

(Todd) This is the mother of all PITAs - screenshots definitely required…

  • Download and install Qt

For the stout of heart, you can download binary packages from the Qt website and install those. Reach Technology does not recommend this approach as the Qt libraries may have been built with different versions of system and optional libraries. They may also include features that are not present in the G3 module Qt build.

If you’re feeling truly adventurous, you can download the sources from the Qt website and compile it from scratch. Reach Technology can provide a wrapper script that will help you in matching the configured features in the on target libraries.

Qt Creator Installation

Important

This task is not required if you are not developing a Qt based end product application. Reach Technology does not recommend Qt Creator for development for general C/C++ code or projects using other GUI technologies. There are far better and less buggy IDEs available.

Note

This assumes that your Linux desktop system has the required set of Qt libraries (along with their dependencies) to install Qt Creator. See the Qt web site for further information.

Warning

If you use a binary Qt build, either from your desktop Linux distro packages or from the official Qt download site, be sure that:

  • The version of Qt libraries that you use on the development host is equal to or greater than the version on the G3 module.

  • You don’t use features that may be available in the desktop build that may not be in the G3 module Qt build.

Todo

(Todd) This is the second mother of all PITAs - screenshots definitely required…

Basic installation is now complete. Please proceed to here for detailed post-installation configuration instructions.