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Chromium – High-performance web HMIs for embedded Linux
Web technologies have established themselves as a powerful alternative to traditional GUI development. With Chromium (the open-source foundation of Google Chrome), you can bring frameworks like React, Vue, or Angular directly to your embedded devices. However, integrating a fully functional browser into a lean embedded Linux system is highly complex and requires in-depth knowledge of Yocto and hardware. This is precisely where we support you: Benefit from the extensive expertise of our FAEs (Field Application Engineers) to ensure Chromium runs hardware-accelerated and stably on PHYTEC hardware.
Why use web graphics on embedded systems?
The days when browser engines were too resource-intensive for embedded devices are over. Modern SoCs offer dedicated graphics processing units (GPUs) that handle the highly efficient rendering of HTML5, CSS3, and WebGL. Chromium is the de facto standard for accessing this performance.
Why should you use web HMIs for embedded projects?
✓ Platform independence
Develop your user interface only once. The same UI will run on the embedded device's touchscreen, on the service technician's PC, or on the end customer's smartphone.
✓ Faster time-to-market
Benefit from a gigantic ecosystem of web developers, pre-built UI components (e.g., Material Design), and open-source libraries, instead of laboriously programming in complex C/C++.
✓ Flexible architecture (local or online)
Web-HMIs can run completely independently via a local, lightweight web server (e.g. Nginx) on the PHYTEC device or seamlessly visualize data from the cloud as an edge gateway.
✓ Easy OTA updates
Separating the operating system from the application makes updates extremely secure and fast. Updating the user interface no longer requires a complete firmware update, but often only the replacement of compact local HTML/JS files.
The challenge: Mastering Chromium integration
The theory sounds simple, but in practice under Yocto it often looks quite different: Chromium is one of the largest and most complex software packages in the open-source world. Compiling it, resolving the Yocto dependencies, and—most importantly—the How to correctly enable hardware acceleration (VPU/GPU) via Wayland, often costs development teams weeks.
Our expertise for your project:
We won't leave you to tackle this challenge alone. PHYTEC has in-depth in-house expertise in Chromium integration. Our field application engineers have already successfully implemented high-performance kiosk mode solutions (fullscreen without browser bars) on our modules, optimally utilizing hardware resources. Contact us – we'd be happy to advise you on architecture, the right hardware selection, and integration best practices.
Recommended Hardware
For Chromium-based web HMIs, we recommend hardware with a powerful 3D GPU to efficiently offload rendering:
Our price-performance winner for web graphics. The architecture delivers surprisingly strong benchmark results in browser rendering.
The complete package for a quick start: module, baseboard and a 10" touch display with pre-installed Chromium image.
The powerful alternative for projects that require NPU power (e.g. for machine learning) in addition to web HMI.
