Microchip Graphics Suite (MGS) Linux® User Guide
Tooled to Ease Graphical User Interface (GUI) Development
Microchip Graphics Suite (MGS) Linux (also known as Ensemble Graphics Toolkit (EGT)) offers these key benefits to simplify the development of your Linux-based GUI:
- Enables Modern Design Flow
- Features modern C++14 design and simplicity, based on mature Linux graphical libraries such as Cairo for 2D vector graphics and utilizing DRM/KMS and X11 backends
- Imports SVG or HTML5/CSS3 content from your favorite graphical design tools
- Rapid Iterations
- Supports graphical development and simulation on a PC or directly on the target processor, allowing the software developer and the graphics designer to develop and review the GUI quickly and iteratively
- Multimedia Support
- Supports video playback, raster images, and vector graphics on all MPUs through mature open-source programs such as GStreamer and FFmpeg
- Supports standard video and image formats and, when available, on-chip acceleration, which can be used to optimize performance
- Widgets and Animations
- Provides a rich and extensible default widget set for customizing the look and feel of embedded touchscreens
- Offers themeable widget drawing, colors, and fonts with built-in support for basic animations and effects
- Integrates easily with real physics libraries such as Box2D
- MGS Linux Composer Plug-In for MGS Composer
- Create a user interface without writing code, then export an XML file describing the User Interface (UI) to be imported by the EGT application to create the user interface automatically.
Getting Started
For a quick technical introduction to the EGT project, including licensing, features, and comparisons to other graphical frameworks, review the EGT Technical Overview White Paper.
There is a variety of documentation, sample applications, and code examples available in the EGT Repository to help you get started quickly.
The EGT programmer’s manual may be used as an API reference or for a deep dive into EGT architecture, configuration, and debugging.
You can also visit the Linux4SAM website for additional information about using EGT with our SAM MPUs or go to our EGT Forum to get answers to your questions from the user community. Refer to the “Getting Started” section of the EGT Programmer’s Manual for complete instructions.
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