Running the M5Stack LVGL device emulator via PlatformIO

Now it is more convenient to design LVGL UI on PC, which can reduce the time wasted in flash the firmware. Using M5GFX, we can ensure that the display effect on the PC side is consistent with that of the device. Now we have also added a picture of the device shell as the border background, which can better simulate the display effect on the device side.

How to install & use demo

Install Visual Studio Code

https://code.visualstudio.com/ - follow instructions there, if you don't have vscode yet.

Install SDL drivers

Linux (Ubuntu, Debian, ...)

Use one of options below:

# 64 bits
sudo apt-get install libsdl2-dev

# 32 bits
sudo apt-get install gcc-multilib g++-multilib libsdl2-dev:i386

Note:

• Use 32-bits build for more correct memory stat info.
• If you have conflicts on libsdl2-dev:i386 install, remove 64-bits version and dependencies first.

MacOS

Use Homebrew:

brew install sdl2 pkg-config

Note: On MacOS you need to include (uncomment in provided example platformio.ini file) these lines in your platformio.ini file to import the drivers:

  ; SDL2 includes
  !pkg-config --cflags SDL2
  !pkg-config --libs SDL2

Windows

Use MSYS2

pacman -S mingw-w64-x86_64-gcc mingw-w64-x86_64-SDL2

Add the path to your Mingw-w64 bin folder to the Windows PATH environment variable (usually C:\msys64\mingw64\bin). See instruction, 4.

Install flasher drivers (optional)

If you plan to upload firmware & debug hardware, read notes in PlatformIO install docs.

Choose LVGL version(V8 or V9)

If you want build with lvgl v8, this was default option, you don't need change any files! But if you want try the lvgl latest version v9, you need to modify the version control macro definition in platformio.ini file as:

  -D LVGL_USE_V8=0  ; lvgl v8
  -D LVGL_USE_V9=1  ; lvgl v9

And don't forget to modify the links of the dependent libs to this:

  ; lvgl=https://github.com/lvgl/lvgl/archive/refs/tags/v8.3.0.zip  ; lvgl v8
  lvgl=https://github.com/lvgl/lvgl#master  ; lvgl v9

Build/Run

1. Clone this repository or download as zip.
2. In vscode, open folder via File -> Open Folder... menu.
   • If you do it first time - agree, when it suggests to install PlatformIO plugin, and wait when PlatformIO then install build tools and package dependencies.

To build/execute, on PlafomIO tab expand desired env and click target:

Note, for emulator env upload also executes compiled binary.

Zoom and rotate the window at runtime

The emulator support zoom and rotate the window at runtime. So you can easily zoom and rotate the window to view UI details.

1. Zoom

   Press ⌨️ 1 ~ 6 number key to zoom the window size.

2. Rotate

   Press ⌨️ "L" "R" letter key to rotate the window.