Qt for Microcontrollers Packs Smartphone-Like UX into Ultra-Low-Specification Devices
Running bare-metal with no need for a real-time operating system underneath it, Qt for MCUs aims to bring Qt to ultra-low-end hardware.
User interface specialist the Qt Company has announced Qt for Microcontrollers, a new graphics toolkit designed to bring smartphone-quality user experiences to low-end hardware — and it's targeting everything from connected transportation and medical devices to robotics and consumer electronics.
Launched this week at version 1.0, Qt for MCUs is designed to operate within a microcontrollers internal memory without the need for a real-time operating system (RTOS). Those already versed in Qt Quick and Qt Quick Ultralite will find Qt for MCUs immediately familiar, and support is already baked in to Qt Creator 4.11.
"Customers across industries are demanding powerful, highly intuitive applications, such as those they already enjoy on their smartphones, but scaled down to lower-end hardware," claims Petteri Holländer, senior vice-president of product management at the Qt Company. "With the introduction of Qt for MCUs, they can use Qt for virtually any software project they’re working on, regardless of the target device – with the added convenience of using just one technology framework and toolset.
"Our vision is to give customers across industries the platforms and toolkits they need to build powerful, smart, user-friendly applications – without being constrained by the types of target devices they can support. "What’s more, customers are no longer forced to update their legacy applications by taking months to rewrite the code base for those applications. They can use Qt to modernise and customise them in a fraction of the time."
More information on Qt for MCUs is available on the official product page, along with an evaluation version plus getting started guides.