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Microchip Graphics Suite for Linux® OS

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Free, Modern Open-Source Linux® GUI Toolkit Optimized for Our Microprocessors (MPUs)

Microchip Graphics Suite (MGS) is an open-source graphics software development toolkit that enables you to create modern, responsive Graphical User Interfaces (GUIs) for consumer, automotive, industrial and medical end products. With much lower memory and system performance requirements than other graphics tools, MGS is a complete application-level graphics solution that integrates our existing drivers and libraries with the extensive Linux ecosystem. MGS is optimized to provide superior graphics performance and an exceptional user experience with reduced overall system cost and lower power consumption. 

Download MGS Technical Overview
Get Started With MGS

Simplify Your GUI Development With MGS 

MGS offers these key benefits to simplify the development of your Linux-based GUI:

  • Modern design flow
    • Features a modern C++14 design that is based on mature Linux graphics libraries, such as Cairo for 2D vector graphics, and utilizes Direct Rendering Manager (DRM)/Kernel Mode Setting (KMS) and X11 backends
    • Imports SVG or HTML5/CSS3 content from your favorite graphics design tools
    • Leverages popular and mature open-source Linux applications such as Cairo, gstreamer and ffmpeg       
  • Rapid iterations
    • Supports graphics development and simulation on a PC or directly on the target processor for quicker and iterative development and review of the GUI 
  • 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 to optimize performance
  • Widgets and animations
    • Provides a rich and extensible default widget set for customizing the look and feel of embedded touchscreens
    • Offers theme-based widget drawing, colors and fonts with built-in support for basic animations and effects
    • Integrates easily with real physics libraries such as Box2D
  • MGS Composer plug-in for Microchip Graphics Suite Composer
    • Create a user interface without writing code and export an XML file describing the UI to be imported by the MGS application to automatically create the user interface
  • Accelerates time to market
    • Included as part of our Linux4SAM distribution, so you can hit the ground running with a stable, tested and ready-to-go operating system and SDK

We provide Long-Term Support (LTS) for all our MPUs on mainline Linux to help you take advantage of the reliability, security and worry-free simplicity of the Linux operating system. As a one-stop shop, we provide the expertise, service and support, including long-term maintenance, for the entire graphics stack and hardware throughout the lifecycle of your products.

Benefits of Using MGS for Your Design

Optimized for Our MPUs

MGS provides superior graphics performance by taking advantage of the embedded display controllers, graphics and processing IPs of our 32-bit MPUs. 

Fast Boot

User Interface (UI) applications like automotive instrumentation clusters require a quick start time. MGS provides examples that boot from a cold reset in under three seconds.

Lower Bill of Materials (BoM) Cost

MGS leverages the hardware features of our highly power-efficient MPUs to deliver an excellent user experience using less memory. This power- and memory-efficient approach allows you to optimize memory and battery sizes to lower overall system cost.

Explore 32-bit MPUs

Getting Started

Review our MGS Technical Overview for a quick technical introduction of the MGS project, including licensing, features and comparisons to other graphics frameworks. A variety of documentation, sample applications and code examples in the MGS repository will help you get started quickly. The MGS Programmer’s Manual may be used as an API reference or for a deep dive into MGS’ architecture, configuration and debugging. You can also visit the Linux4SAM website for additional information about using MGS with our MPUs or visit our MGS Forum to get answers to your questions from the user community. Refer to the Getting Started section of the MGS Programmer’s Manual for complete instructions.

Resources

MGS for Linux Demos

Complete demos are available as precompiled binaries from the main Linux4SAM repository. Simply program the binary to an SD card and plug the SD card into a supported Microchip MPU evaluation board with an attached maXTouch® technology-enabled LCD display.

Current demos include:

  • MGS for Linux—Launcher Demo: This is the default graphics demo from the Linux4SAM repository. It loads several example XML files at startup. The launcher provides examples of MGS applications such as widget animations and video playback.
  • MGS for Linux—Thermostat Demo: This example thermostat demo supports real-time temperature measurements with the addition of a MikroElektronika THERMO Click. The demo also supports a USB camera input that displays on the LCD.

MPUs Supported by MGS for Linux

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