Embedded Linux (eLinux) embedding for Flutter
This project was created to develop non-official embedded Linux embeddings of Flutter. This embedder is focusing on embedded Linux system use cases. It is also implemented based on Flutter desktop for Windows and has some unique features to use it in embedded systems.
flutter-elinux
Note that this project is the source code of the embedder. If you develop your flutter app for eLinux, use flutter-elinux, which is a non-official extension to the Flutter SDK to build and debug Flutter apps for embedded Linux devices.
Objective & Goal
Our objective is to use Flutter in embedded systems. We’re developing this embedder to use Flutter in embedded products. Ultimately we would like to propose and contribute this software to the mainline of Flutter Engine, which means we would like to add an embedded systems version into the Flutter repo for all embedded developers. Please note that this is just our ideal, not the official opinion of the Flutter community.
We would be grateful if you could give us feedback on bugs and new feature requests. We would like to cover the specifications of general-purpose embedded systems.
Features
- Flutter embedder optimized for Embedded Systems
- Lightweight than Flutter desktop for Linux (Not using X11 and GTK)
- Minimal dependent libraries
- The main target of this embedder is Arm64 devices. We haven’t confirmed in Arm 32bit (ARMv7, armhf) devices
- Display backend support
- Always single window fullscreen
- You can choose always-fullscreen or flexible-screen (any size) only when using Wayland/X11 backend
- Keyboard, mouse and touch inputs support
- Equivalent quality to Flutter desktops
- API compatibility with Flutter desktop for Windows and GLFW
- APIs such as MethodChannel and EventChannel are completely the same with them
Companion repos
| Repo | Purpose |
|---|---|
| flutter-elinux | Flutter tools for eLinux |
| flutter-elinux-plugins | Flutter plugins for eLinux |
| meta-flutter | Yocto recipes of eLinux embedding for Flutter |
Documentation
Documentation for this software can be found at Wiki.
Supported platforms
This embedder supports x64 and Arm64 (aarch64, ARMv8) architectures on Linux which supports either Wayland backend or DRM backend.
Tested devices
| Board / SoC | Vendor | OS / BSP | Backend | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jetson Nano | NVIDIA | JetPack 4.3 | Wayland |  |
| Jetson Nano | NVIDIA | JetPack 4.3 | DRM | (#1) |
| Raspberry Pi 4 Model B | Raspberry Pi Foundation | Ubuntu 20.10 | Wayland | |
| Raspberry Pi 4 Model B | Raspberry Pi Foundation | Ubuntu 20.10 | DRM | (#9) |
| i.MX 8MQuad EVK | NXP | Sumo (kernel 4.14.98) | Wayland | |
| i.MX 8M Mini EVKB | NXP | Zeus (kernel 5.4.70) | Wayland | |
| RB5 Development Kit | Qualcomm | Ubuntu 18.04.05 | DRM | |
| Zynq | Xilinx | – | – | Not tested |
| Desktop (x86_64) | Intel | Ubuntu 20.04 | Wayland | |
| Desktop (x86_64) | Intel | Ubuntu 20.04 | DRM | |
| Desktop (x86_64) | Intel | Ubuntu 20.04 | X11 | |
| QEMU (x86_64) | QEMU | AGL (Automotive Grade Linux) koi | Wayland | |
| QEMU (x86_64) | QEMU | AGL (Automotive Grade Linux) koi | DRM | |
Note
- i.MX 8M platforms don’t support applications using EGL on GBM, which means the DRM-GBM backend won’t work on i.MX 8M devices.
Tested Wayland compositors
Contributing
Now, we cannot accept any Pull Request (PR). Because We are building a system (e.g. CLA) to accept PRs, so please wait for a while the system is getting ready! However, we are always welcome to report bugs and request new features by creating issues.
With the assumption, our final goal of this software openly is to be merged this embedder into Flutter Engine after getting feedbacks. And Google CLA will be required when we do that in the future. Therefore, we cannot easily accept an external PR. However, you can free to create issues for reporting bugs and requesting new features.
Contribute on GitHub
Provides the list of the opensource Flutter apps collection with GitHub repository.
