Trolltech has announced the release of the beta version of Qt/Embedded, a GUI application framework directly targeted at embedded systems. It is based on Trolltech's well known Qt technology offers developers of embedded applications the same power, flexibility, and cross-platform portability as the popular desktop versions, Qt/Windows and Qt/X11. The beta version of Qt/Embedded will be shown at the Embedded Linux Expo & Conference (ELEC) in San Jose, USA, June 22 and at the LinuxTag show in Stuttgart, Germany, June 29 – July 2.

“With this beta release, Qt/Embedded is exceeding even our own expectations, outperforming all other offerings. Key to this success is quality of the underlying Qt technology and the dedication of our developers. Only minor tuning tasks remain, so expect the production version within weeks.” says Warwick Allison, development manager of Qt/Embedded.

The current version of Qt/Embedded supports any Linux with a linearly addressable framebuffer device running in 8-bit, 16-bit, or 32-bit pixel modes, with a proven architecture for adding support for other modes and hardware acceleration. It does not require the X Window System, which traditionally has provided the low-level GUI functionality on Linux systems. This means that a Qt/Embedded based system will have substantially lower memory requirements. Qt/Embedded in its current minimal configuration requires only 770Kb of ROM (x86). This number is expected to be further reduced in the production version.

Qt/Embedded has already generated large sales interest. Leading companies from a wide range of industries have been attracted to the new product which will significantly reduce time-to-market and increase hardware utilization. In addition, the low memory requirements can reduce the per-device hardware production costs.

Qt/Embedded provides functionality not found in the X Window System, such as anti-aliased text rendering and alpha-blending of images. Qt/Embedded features an API that is identical to the existing Qt/X11 and Qt/Windows products. This means that the Qt/Embedded solution will provide single-source-code portability between the desktop (UNIX or Windows) and the embedded devices. Applications may be developed on ordinary desktop computers, and later deployed on the embedded systems. Qt/Embedded gives instant portability of existing Qt-based software to embedded Linux systems.

The Qt/Embedded product description is located here. The Qt/Embedded FAQ is located here.

About Trolltech

Trolltech enables its customers to develop efficient, maintainable, commercial-grade software by providing software components. Trolltech's flagship product Qt is a cross-platform C++ application framework which enables rapid building of state-of-the-art GUI applications. Qt is fully object-oriented, easily extensible, and supports true component programming. It is supported on a wide range of platforms, including Windows 95/98/NT/2000, Linux, Solaris, HP-UX, IRIX, and AIX. Since its commercial introduction in 1996, Qt has formed the basis of a large number of successful commercial applications worldwide. Qt is also the basis of the KDE Linux desktop environment. Trolltech AS headquarters is in Oslo, Norway.

 
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