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TFT touchscreen under X

Posted: Wed Apr 02, 2008 6:45 pm
by Jfn
I intend to operate anything that is domotica related through a web-based setup. This means a TFT-touchscreen will be mounted to the wall, showing a web-browser 24x7, with large buttons. Kind of like how the Philips Pronto remote-control works.

As my domotica-server is running Linux (Intel GLY2 1GB mem) I was thinking of hooking-up the TFT screen to the domotica PC. But to run a browser like Firefox or Opera I need X-windows (Which at the moment is not installed).

Whenever I start the domotica PC (does not happen often though), it should boot immediately to a browser and open a certain website. It should not ask me for any username or password.

The question is, is this possible? And if so, how much CPU / memory does it consume? The domotica PC is running lots of other stuff and I do not want X to interfere with normal operations.

Is the GLY2 fast enough to run X at a reasonable speed?

The alternative is a new (Linux/Windows) based-PC just to operate the TFT, but looking at energy-consumption I would prefer to operate it from the GLY2 as that system is always running and does consume very little energy (about 30W or less).



Als het niet gerepareerd kan worden dan is het niet kapot!

TFT touchscreen under X

Posted: Wed Apr 02, 2008 8:13 pm
by Snelvuur
it is possible to let it boot xwindows and then start up a browser. but i think there are also other tools out there that can run firefox without the need for xwindows. Since this problem has haunted more then 1 person. If you cant find anything, let me know and i wil se what i can find too.

// Erik (binkey.nl)

TFT touchscreen under X

Posted: Tue Apr 08, 2008 10:35 am
by Niknik
That sounds interesting Erik, care to give some more details about how we would do that?
(I tried googling for it, but couldn't find anything about "Firefox without X server" - and I'm not a linux expert :)

TFT touchscreen under X

Posted: Tue Apr 08, 2008 11:37 am
by Snelvuur
You can use minimal installation:

http://users.pandora.be/mydotcom/howto/ ... s/xwin.htm

see http://www.semicomplete.com/blog/geeker ... refox.html for an example on how to control firefox via the commandline when its started. Then you can let it redirect to your homeautomation page straight away.


// Erik (binkey.nl)

TFT touchscreen under X

Posted: Tue Apr 08, 2008 11:52 am
by Niknik
Thanks Erik - extremely helpful links.

TFT touchscreen under X

Posted: Tue Apr 08, 2008 1:13 pm
by Jfn
I found something that seems to works. I still need X, but not a window manager.

The following seems to work (In VMware):

Code: Select all

#!/bin/bash
#
export DISPLAY=1.2.3.4:0
nohup X 1>/dev/null 2>/dev/null &
nohup /usr/bin/iceweasel 1>/dev/null 2>/dev/null &
Very basic, but during system start up it boots up a browser (iceweasel in this case). By using certain style-sheet commands in the webpage that opens by default, it should be possible to let the browser open full-screen (F11) and remove the side-scrollbar when it is not needed.

I never really done something with X (I am a commandline user), so I am glad that the setup above is working.



Als het niet gerepareerd kan worden dan is het niet kapot!

TFT touchscreen under X

Posted: Tue Apr 08, 2008 1:21 pm
by Snelvuur
same here though, command line user.. if i want a gui i'll use windows..

// Erik (binkey.nl)