PiDGC

Raspberry Pi based Digital Gauge Cluster by Josh Ellis / josh@ellis.sh

*** Please Note: This library is designed for, and without heavy modification, will not work on anything other than the Raspberry Pi 4B running a 2021 version of RaspiOS (in my case 2021-05-07-raspios-buster-armhf-lite.img). There are files compiled specifically for this architecture. Additionally, this is hardcoded to support a 1280x480 display. It will look weird on other displays. ***

Setup steps on Buster Lite:

• raspi-config
  • System Options
    • Boot / Auto Login
      • Select "Console Autologin"
    • Network at Boot
      • Select "No," do not wait for network at boot
  • Interface Options
    • I2C
      • Enable I2C
  • Advanced Options
    • GL Driver
      • Select "GL (Fake KMS)"
• Follow ALL STEPS in files/PICAN3_UGA_10.pdf to setup/enable the PiCAN3. You must enable the CANBUS and RTC.
• Follow instructions on https://www.raspberrypi.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=24679#p227301 to set the proper resolution. This should be 1280x480.
• Export environment variables needed for Qt:
  • export QT_QPA_PLATFORM=eglfs
  • export QT_QPA_PLATFORM_PLUGIN_PATH=/usr/local/qt5.15/plugins/platforms
  • export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/usr/local/qt5.15/lib
• Install dependencies needed for PiDGC:
  • sudo apt-get install libgles2 libpulse-dev libdouble-conversion-dev libegl1-mesa libmtdev-dev libinput-tools default-jdk
  • sudo apt-get install libts-dev libxkbcommon-x11-0 libwebpdemux2 libgstreamer-plugins-base1.0-0 gstreamer1.0-gl gstreamer1.0-plugins-bad
• Add pi user to render group. This is required for good performance.
  • sudo gpasswd -a pi render
• Copy the files/qt5.15.tar.gz archive to your Raspberry Pi 4, and then decompress it into /usr/local/qt5.15
• Make PiDGC folder and copy over all files:
  • mkdir ~/pidgc
  • Copy files/display into ~/pidgc folder
  • Copy files/config.ini into ~/pidgc folder
  • Copy files/images folder and all files it contains into ~/pidgc folder
  • Copy files/hw-interface.jar into ~/pidgc folder
• Edit /boot/config.txt. Append:

initial_turbo=60
disable_splash=1
boot_delay=0

• Append quiet fastboot to /boot/cmdline.txt
• Append contents of files/network_interfaces to file /etc/network/interfaces
• Copy contents of linux/pidgc-display.service to /etc/systemd/system/pidgc-display.service
• Copy contents of linux/pidgc-hw-interface.service to /etc/systemd/system/pidgc-hw-interface.service
• Enable both services
  • sudo systemctl enable pidgc-display.service
  • sudo systemctl enable pidgc-hw-interface.service
• Bring up CAN:
  • sudo /sbin/ip link set can0 up type can bitrate 500000
• Add user pi to dialout group:
  • sudo adduser pi dialout
• Disable unused services once everything is done. This decreases boot time substantially:
  • sudo systemctl disable ssh
  • sudo systemctl disable hciuart
  • sudo systemctl disable nmbd # If you have samba installed
  • sudo systemctl disable smbd # If you have samba installed
  • sudo systemctl disable systemd-timesyncd
  • sudo systemctl disable wpa_supplicant
  • sudo systemctl disable rpi-eeprom-update
  • sudo systemctl disable raspi-config
  • sudo systemctl disable networking
  • sudo systemctl disable dhcpcd

Now when you reboot the system should start the display and be up and running!