5.1. TI Apps Launcher - User Guide

5.1.1. Overview

TI Apps Launcher is a QT Based Application launcher for TI Platforms. Currently, TI Apps Launcher incorporates following applications across all supported platforms,

  • Industrial HMI
  • Live Camera
  • Benchmarks
  • GPU Performance
  • Seva Store
  • Firefox
  • Settings

All of the necessary equipment requirement and instructions are provided here.

5.1.2. Hardware Prerequisites

  • TI AM69 SK
  • PC (Windows or Linux, to use serial terminal console)
  • HDMI Monitor (to view the Demo on Display)
  • Ethernet Cable (to connect AM69 SK to internet)
  • USB Camera (for Live Camera)
  • Keyboard & Mouse (to control the TI Apps Launcher)
  • SD card (minimum 16GB)

5.1.3. Launching and Using the TI Apps Launcher

The TI Apps Launcher launches on Linux startup. Follow the below instructions to use it.

  1. Flash an SD card with the tisdk-default-image. User can download the tisdk-default-image-j784s4-evm.wic.xz image from the SDK downloads page. Please follow the instructions from here to Flash an SD card.
  2. Insert the flashed SD card to the board, connect the display, mouse, ethernet cable, keyboard and power on the TI AM69 SK. The TI Apps Launcher will launch automatically when the device is fully booted.
../../_images/ti-apps-launcher-j7.png

Note

Due to some stability issues with the GPU driver we have currently disabled displaying GPU statistics in the Out Of Box ti-apps-launcher demo, as a workaround. This was done to avoid some visual artifacts that were seen on the display, intermittently, when the GPU loading was queried and updated once every second. The Jira bug ID for the same is: LCPD-34959.

5.1.3.1. Launching the Industrial HMI

  1. To launch the Industrial HMI demo, click on the Industrial HMI button on the left panel.

Note

It takes around 3-5 seconds for Industrial HMI to start.

  1. By default, the Industrial HMI demo starts in Auto mode as shown below.
../../_images/hmi-demo-j7.png
  1. You can click on the Auto-Manual slider button to switch modes.
  1. In Manual mode, you can use the ^ and v buttons of each motor to control the RPM.

Note

Referring to the note here, displaying GPU statistics was disabled in the SDK demo. The GPU loading observed when running the HMI demo in “Auto” mode was about 44%.

5.1.3.2. Launching the Live Camera

  1. Ensure you have enabled the camera sensors which you have connected to TI AM69 SK. Refer this to know the list of camera modules supported and how to enable the sensor overlays for them.
  2. To launch the Live Camera demo, click on the Live Camera button on the left panel.

Note

It takes around 3-5 seconds for Live Camera to start.

  1. The Live Camera demo starts streaming the output of the camera connected in the centre window of TI Apps Launcher. The image below is captured using USB Camera.
../../_images/live-camera-j7.png

5.1.3.3. Launching the Benchmarks Demo

  1. The Benchmarks Demo includes various System Benchmarks like dhrystone, linpack, nbench, etc. and GPU benchmarks like glmark2.
  2. Click on the Benchmarks button on the left panel.
  1. User will now see the list of Benchmarks available to test on TI AM69. Click on the play button infront of the benchmark you like to test. The image below is captured while running the dhrystone.
../../_images/benchmarks-system.png

5.1.3.4. Launching the GPU Performance Demo

  1. The GPU Performance demo allows users to vary the GPU loads using glmark2. Click on the GPU Performance button on the left panel.
  1. Now you can vary the GPU Loads by clicking on the various numbers you see on GPU Load Levels Bar.
  1. The image below is captured while running the glmark2 with GPU Load Level as 3.
../../_images/gpu-benchmarks-textures.png
  1. You will see the updated values of FPS & Score metrices getting populated.

Note

Referring to the note here, Displaying GPU statistics was disabled in the SDK demo. In this SDK, the observed GPU loading values for above GPU benchmark levels were as follows:

  1. 52%
  2. 82%
  3. 100%
  4. 100%

5.1.3.5. Launching the Seva Store

  1. AM69 SDK now supports Seva Store. Seva Store is TI developed Demo Gallery Tool which allows users to Download and Install demos on the go. Developers can host their Demos as Docker Images on any public Docker Registry and link them to Seva Design Gallery. Refer Seva Store - User Guide to know more about Seva Store.
../../_images/seva-store.png

Note

Please refer to here to set the correct proxy settings to be able to access Seva Store behind a webproxy.

5.1.3.6. Launching the Firefox Browser

  1. AM69 SDK now supports Firefox ESR Browser. Click on the Firefox button on the left panel.
  1. Click Launch button to launch the Firefox Browser. The Browser launches with TI Arm-based processors page as the first tab by default.
../../_images/firefox-tab.png

Note

It takes approximately 10-12 seconds for Firefox ESR browser to launch.

  1. Click x to close the Firefox Browser.

Note

Please refer to here to set the correct proxy settings to be able to access Firefox browser behind a webproxy.

5.1.3.7. Using the Settings Button

  1. The Settings button on the left panel can be used to set docker’s systemd-proxy and system proxy if your TI AM69 SK is connected to a VPN.
  1. Once the user clicks on the Settings button, it will ask for a HTTPS Proxy and No proxy values. If working from TI network, use HTTPS proxy = http://webproxy.ext.ti.com and No proxy = ti.com.
../../_images/settings.png
  1. Once you enter the necessary values for both HTTPS and No proxy, click on Set Proxy to set the proxy configuration.

5.1.4. Building the TI Apps Launcher

The TI Apps Launcher is enabled by default in yocto for AM69 Linux and RT-Linux.

The source code is available at TI Apps Launcher and can be re-compiled with the following steps

  1. To setup the environment, from the root of the SDK installation directory, source environment-setup script.

    $ source linux-devkit/environment-setup

  2. Go to the root of TI Apps Launcher repository and run the following command to build the application.

    $ qmake "SOURCES += configs/am69-sk.cpp" "DEFINES += SOC_J784S4"; make

  3. Copy the compiled binary to /usr/bin directory of the device

    $ scp ti-apps-launcher root@<ip-addr-of-device>:/usr/bin/

  4. If you have modified the scripts under the ti-apps-launcher scripts directory then copy the same to the device

    $ scp -r scripts/ root@<ip-addr-of-device>:/opt/ti-apps-launcher/