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Version: Torizon OS 7.x.y

Partner Demo Container - Crank Storyboard

Crank Storyboard - GUI Design and Development Software​

Crank Software is the company that develops Crank Storyboard, a GUI design and development tool created exclusively for embedded systems. Storyboard’s designer-developer parallel workflow environment accelerates design iteration and the overall development process by up to 50% while retaining design vision with maximum performance.

Crank has now added support for the Toradex Linux platform Torizon. Supporting Toradex System-on-Modules (SoMs) based on the NXP® i.MX 6, i.MX 7, i.MX 8 and Texas Instruments AM62.

Torizon Demo Gallery

The Torizon Demo Gallery offers a curated collection of demos and samples that deploy directly to the target device in a few clicks, without manual container setup.

Crank Storyboard Container for Torizon​

Crank Software has created a Storyboard Container for Torizon and uploaded it to Docker hub. Some of the advantages of using containers are as follows:

  • You can keep applications independent
  • Use different runtimes
  • Encapsulate application dependencies in the container
  • Maintenance and deployment is easier

Supported Modules​

The following SoMs are supported:

  • Verdin iMX8M Plus
  • Verdin iMX8M Mini
  • Verdin AM62
  • Apalis iMX8
  • Apalis iMX6
  • Colibri iMX7
  • Colibri iMX6
info

The demo shown may differ depending on the module architecture. For details on the 32-bit and 64-bit variants, see the Crank GUI Demo page on the Torizon Demo Gallery.

Supported Displays​

While you can use a wide variety of displays and monitors, additional configuration may be required for a specific setup.

A section at the end of this guide provides instructions about the display and touch screen configuration.

For the best experience, use a display that supports 1280x720, as the Crank Demonstration has a fixed resolution. We recommend one of the following Toradex displays for evaluation:

Intended Use​

This partner demo container is meant for the evaluation of the technology. It is suitable for development, but not for production.

How to Get Started​

This section provides instructions for you to quickly get started with Crank Storyboard.

Prerequisites​

  • Toradex SoM with Torizon installed. For instructions about how to install Torizon on your board, refer to Toradex Quickstart Guide
  • Basic understanding of Docker and docker run command options
  • An HDMI screen connected to the Toradex SoM board. Optionally, you can use one of the supported displays.

Running the Demo​

The Crank Storyboard Demo is available at the Torizon Demo Gallery.

You can find the Crank Storyboard Demo for each Toradex SoM at the Torizon Cloud Packages page.

Through the Torizon Cloud, you are able to upload the Crank Storyboard to multiple Toradex SoMs.

Manually Through the Command Line​

Before running Crank Storyboard, you must first start a custom Wayland/Weston container to initialize the graphical backend. This custom Weston container will force the output to be 1280x720 and run in fullscreen mode.

The following command will launch the custom Weston container:

# docker run -d --name=crank-weston        \
    --network host                         \
    --cap-add "CAP_SYS_TTY_CONFIG"         \
    --volume "/var/run/dbus:/var/run/dbus" \
    --volume "/run/udev:/run/udev"         \
    --volume "/dev:/dev"                   \
    --volume "/tmp:/tmp"                   \
    --device-cgroup-rule="c 4:* rmw"       \
    --device-cgroup-rule "c 10:223 rmw"    \
    --device-cgroup-rule="c 13:* rmw"      \
    --device-cgroup-rule="c 199:0 rmw"     \
    --device-cgroup-rule="c 226:* rmw"     \
    --device-cgroup-rule="c 235:* rmw"     \
    --device-cgroup-rule="c 253:* rmw"     \
    --security-opt seccomp=unconfined      \
    --shm-size 256mb                       \
    torizon/crank-weston-imx8:4

The following command will launch the Crank Storyboard demo:

# docker run -d --name=crank-imx8          \
    --volume "/var/run/dbus:/var/run/dbus" \
    --volume "/dev:/dev"                   \
    --volume "/tmp:/tmp"                   \
    --device-cgroup-rule="c 199:* rmw"     \
    --security-opt seccomp=unconfined      \
    --shm-size 256mb                       \
    cranksoftware/imx8-sb_8_2-wayland-base-imx8_4

Next Steps​

The following video shows the walkthrough of these steps and how you can deploy your own custom application using Storyboard.

Download your full-featured free trial of Crank Storyboard on Crank's Website.

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