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Hardware setup for NXP RT117X

Required Tools and Equipment

The following tools and equipment are needed to set up and run the project:

  • NXP RT117X hardware board with display
  • CGI Studio (Minimum version 3.15.1)
  • CMake GUI
  • Visual Studio Code
  • Ninja Build Tool
  • Required binary files (.bin)
  • IAR Embedded Workbench
  • Board Support Packages
  • Hardware Variants
    Hardware Revision Supported Display Supported BSP versions Notes
    Rev_a  720 × 1280 only Up to BSP 2.16 BSP versions higher than 2.16 are not supported
    Rev_b 720 × 1280 or 800 × 480 (Raspberry Pi Display) 2.16 and newer
    (e.g., 25_06_00)    		 Supports newer BSP versions

Hardware Connection Setup

  1. Connect the power cable to the NXP RT117X board.
  2. Connect the Micro-USB port on the board to a USB-A port on your laptop or PC. 
  3. Make sure the Micro-USB is connected to the USB Debug port.
  4. Power on the board.
  5. Check if the power LEDs on the board are glowing.
  6. Wait for your system to detect the board. You can verify this by checking Device Manager → Ports (COM & LPT) — a new COM port should appear for the NXP RT117X board

Scene Composer Configuration

  1. Open Scene Composer and create a new solution using the Empty Sample Solution template.
  2. Select and import multiple images into Scene Composer from the following path:
    (CGI-ROOT/cgi_studio_content/2D/Paid_Stock_Images)
  3. Drag and drop the imported images into the Scene Editor.
  4. In the Scene Editor, adjust the images by scaling and rotating them as needed.
  5. Add the following elements to the Scene Editor:
    1. One Solid Color Node
    2. One Text Node
    3. One Button
  6. Open the Render Target tab (next to the toolbox) and select an available render target.
  7. In the Properties panel, set the following values:
    1. Orientation:
      1. 90 ° for 720x1280/Portrait mode displays.
      2. 0° for 800 x 480/ Landscape mode displays.
    2. Width: 720
    3. Height: 1280
  8. Click on Display (0) under the Render Target tab.
  9. In the Display properties, set the X and Y resolution to match the Render Target resolution.
  10. Navigate to File → Solution Options → General Configuration.
  11. Finally, generate the Target Asset.

VS Code Configuration

  1. Open Visual Studio Code (VS Code) from the CGI root directory.
  2. Navigate to the toolchain file as per the hardware revision (rev_a/rev_b) and BSP version used, refer the following table to select the necessary toolchain file:
    Toolchain Table:
    Hardware Revision Toolchain file Description 
    Rev_a  IAR-toolchain-RT117X_Native2D.txt Rev_a without Touch
    IAR-toolchain-RT117X_Native2D_Touch.txt Rev_a with touch enabled display
    Rev_b IAR-toolchain-RT117X_Native2D_B.txt Rev_b without Touch support
    IAR-toolchain-RT117X_Native2D_B_Touch.txt Rev_b with Touch enabled display
    IAR-toolchain-RT117X_Native2D_B_Touch_2.16.txt

    Rev_b with Touch enabled display

    and BSP version 2.16
    For Eg: If using a Rev_b hardware version with BSP version 2.16, navigate to the following file.
    (CGI-ROOT/cgi_studio_devices/src/RT117X/ToolchainFiles/IAR-toolchain-RT117X_Native2D_B_Touch_2.16.txt)
  3. Open the file and make the following edits:
    1. Disable touch (only if the display does not support touch)
      set (CGIDEVICE_TOUCH_ENABLED OFF CACHE BOOL "Enable Touch support").
    2. Update the BSP path to match the local directory.
  4. Next, open the following file and update the display configurations as required:
    (CGI-ROOT/cgi_studio_devices/src/RT117X/CourierPlatformDefs/Target_FreeRTOS_RT117X
    /KernelTargets/iar/bsp_cm7_B216_cgi/vglite/cm7/display_support.h)
  5. In this file, go to line 28 and update the display panel configuration as shown below:
    1. Before:
      #define DEMO_PANEL DEMO_PANEL_RASPI_7INCH //DEMO_PANEL_RK055MHD091
    2. After:
      #define DEMO_PANEL DEMO_PANEL_RK055MHD091
      This removes the commented-out section and sets the display to RK055MHD091.

Project Configuration using Cmake GUI

  1. Open CMake GUI.
  2. Set the source code folder to:
     (CGI-ROOT\cmake\Apps\Courier\CourierSampleAppLight)
  3. Set the build folder (the location where build files will be generated).
  4. Click Configure.
  5. When prompted, select Ninja as the generator.
  6. Specify the toolchain file for cross-compiling refer the toolchain table, select the appropriate toolchain file as per the hardware version.
  7. Click Finish → Next.
  8. Click Configure again until all red entries disappear, then click Generate.
  9. Close CMake GUI.
  10. Open terminal in the build folder and give a ninja build.
  11. Run the following command
    ninja

Adding Assets

  1. Create an Assets folder in:
     CGI-ROOT\cgi_studio_courier_apps\src\CourierSampleAppLight
  2. Add the generated asset file to this folder.
  3. Rename it to:
     AssetLibCff_RT117X_Target.bin

Flashing and Execution

  1. Open the generated project from the following path: 
    BUILD-ROOT\iar_project\debug_cm7_B_cgi\CGI_RT117X.ew
  2. IAR Embedded Workbench IDE will launch automatically.
  3. Click Download and Debug to flash the binary to the hardware.
  4. After flashing, click GO in IAR to start execution.
  5. Observe the output on the display connected to the NXP RT117X board.

Verification

  1. Confirm that the display output matches the expected layout from Scene Composer.
  2. Check that images, colors, and animations render correctly.
  3. Validate Bitmap Stride behavior for both aligned and unaligned images.
  4. Ensure there are no visual distortions or flickering.

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