Howto Install MiniGUI 3.0 on Linux PC

Posted by admin on August 9, 2012

Before installation

Please download the following tarballs from the download area of this site:

libminigui-gpl-3.0.12.tar.gz: the source of MiniGUI core library.
minigui-res-be-3.0.12.tar.gz: the resource used by MiniGUI, including basic fonts, icons, bitmaps, cursors, and imetables.
mg-samples-3.0.12.tar.gz: the samples for MiniGUI Version 3.0.x.

MiniGUI can run on Linux console with FrameBuffer activated. If you video chip is VESA 2.0 compliant (most video chips support VESA 2.0), you can active Linux kernel's VESA FrameBuffer by add a boot option 'vga=0x0317'. This option will use VESA BIOS to enter a 1024x768-16bpp display mode. Please make sure that your display can support this mode.

You can also run MiniGUI on a virtual Frame Buffer, which runs on X Windows. Currently, MiniGUI can run on Qt Virtual Frame Buffer (QVFB) or GVFB (Gtk-based virtual Frame Buffer). Please download qvfb2 and/or gvfb tarball from the download zone of this site and install qvfb2 or gvfb first.

Installing resource files of MiniGUI

We must install resource files of MiniGUI first. Please follow the steps below to do it:

1) Use `tar' to extract minigui-res-be-3.0.12.tar.gz. You can use
           the following command:

           $ tar zxf minigui-res-be-3.0.12.tar.gz

        2) Change to the new directory and run `configure' and `make install' as a super user:

           $ ./configure

           $ sudo make install

Configure and compile MiniGUI

MiniGUI uses `automake' and `autoconf', so configuration and compilation of MiniGUI are very easy:

        1) Use `tar' to extract `libminigui-gpl-3.0.12.tar.gz' to a new directory:

           $ tar zxf libminigui-gpl-3.0.12.tar.gz

        2) Change to the new directory and run `./configure':

           $ ./configure

        3) Run the following commands to compile and install MiniGUI:

           $ make; sudo make install;

        4) By default, the libraries of MiniGUI will be installed in
           `/usr/local/lib'. You should make sure that this directory
           is listed in `/etc/ld.so.conf' file. And after having installed
           them, you should run the following command to update the cache
           of shared library system:

           $ sudo ldconfig

        5) If you want to specify which features MiniGUI provides, you
           can run

           $ ./configure --help

           to see the complete configuration options listed, then disable or
           enable some features by using command line switches. For example,
           if you do not want MiniGUI to load JPEG pictures via the function
           LoadBitmap, you can use

           $ ./configure --disable-jpgsupport

        6) Note that some features of MiniGUI depend on other libraries.
           Please make sure that you have installed them.

Run samples of MiniGUI

Before running the sample programs, you should extract the mg-samples-3.0.12.tar.gz and compile it:

        1) Extract the tarball to a new directory by using `tar' command.

        2) Run `./configure' and `make' to compile the demos.

            $ ./configure
            $ make

        3) Try to run the samples. For example, you can go to
           `mg-samples-3.0.12/same/' to run `same':

            $ cd same
            $ ./same