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status and plans for mobile/embedded platforms? (Read 1280 times)
mungbean
status and plans for mobile/embedded platforms?
Aug 17th, 2008, 10:50am  
For a long time I've been hoping that I'd be able to prototype apps for mobile and embedded devices using Processing.

Back in April when I last looked at this in depth, the final sticking point was AWT support.... I have a Nokia N800 "MID"/tablet running Linux-based Maemo, and thanks to some great work by the Jalimo folks you can run Java on this, but they're focusing development on SWT.  I tried re-compiling GNU Classpath for AWT but didn't manage it, and don't really have the time for pursuing this kind of stuff.

Meanwhile the mobile and embedded world carries on apace, with Google Android about to descend on the world.  Plus we're seeing more variants of Linux targetting mobile and embedded platforms, like Mamona, Poky etc.

I'd really like to continue using Processing for developing on things like the N800 and Beagleboard, but wonder if the AWT dependency is always going to turn out to be a pain in the butt.  Relying on Java causes enough problems as it is on many of these smaller/simpler platforms.

I'm almost wondering about moving to something else for mobile/embedded development, such as OpenFrameworks, or Clutter or Cairo with Python bindings.  But this would only help me with coding and deployment, whereas -- as a design educator -- I'd really rather stay with Processing if possible so I can share work with my students.

I'd love to hear what the current thinking is on keeping Processing as "write once, run anywhere" as possible, whether mobile/embedded systems feature in the roadmap for Processing's future, and particularly how sacred/essential the link to AWT is considered to be.  
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« Last Edit: Aug 17th, 2008, 11:52am by mungbean »  
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fry
Re: status and plans for mobile/embedded platforms
Reply #1 - Aug 17th, 2008, 2:09pm  
Mobile/embedded is something I have a significant personal interest in, and agree that it's extremely important. As I've mentioned elsewhere, it's part of how Processing got its start, because I needed a usable graphics library to use on an iPaq running Linux.

We plan to do more with regards to a C/C++ version with bindings to other platforms, however that work is mostly on hold until 1.0 is out. This would be an obvious choice for the small device side too. This could be done with backends like Cairo, Antigrain, SDL, OpenGL (ES), etc.

I don't think the link to AWT is particularly sacred, in fact it wasn't until we added Java2D as a renderer setting that we got more tied to Java graphics, in alpha (and now in P2D and P3D) we were doing it all by hand.

On the other hand, the more sacred part is the way that things are put together (the syntax, the way the PDE works, one button compilation with minimal b.s.) so if we can do that with other languages, I'm all for it.
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MrQuiet
Re: status and plans for mobile/embedded platforms?
Reply #2 - Apr 5th, 2010, 9:43am  
Does Processing run well on a Beagleboard? I am thinking of getting one for that purpose, but I'm having trouble finding info on the web.
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