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Getting Started with Tegra Android

Welcome to Tegra Android Development

Setting up an Android development environment can be a complex task. NVIDIA simplifies this for all Android developers with a single installer that manages this complexity for you on Windows 7 (32/64-bit), Mac OS X, and Ubuntu Linux (32 bit/x64). The Tegra Android Development Pack (TADP) installs all software tools required to develop for Android on NVIDIA’s Tegra platform, Tegra Android sample code, and is the perfect companion for developing native applications for Tegra DevKits. This suite of developer tools is targeted at Tegra devices, but will configure a development environment that will work with almost any Android device.

Development tools installed include the following: Android SDK, Android NDK, JDK, Cygwin, Eclipse, CDT, ADT, Apache Ant, and NVIDIA Debug Manager for Eclipse.

Join the NVIDIA GameWorks Registered Developer Program

The NVIDIA GameWorks Registered Developer Program is an important part of NVIDIA's commitment to the GameWorks Developer community. This program gives NVIDIA a way to provide pre-release information and content to its most important developers, and enable two-way communication about issues and feature requests. It also provides you with the latest Tegra news, updates, developer tools, samples, OS images, and tips and tricks that aren’t available to the public. Plus, all development tools are freely available to members of the NVIDIA GameWorks Registered Developer Program.

Sign up for free access to the NVIDIA GameWorks Registered Developer Program. The application process includes creating a Developer Zone account. If you already have a Developer Zone account, start here instead.

Downloads and Resources

Download the latest the complete list of available Tegra Android resources at NVIDIA GameWorks Download Center page. In order to download these files, you must be a member of the NVIDIA GameWorks Registered Developer Program. To join, simply apply here for a free account. The application process includes creating a Developer Zone account. If you already have a Developer Zone account, start here instead.

Select the appropriate operating system environment to begin your download.

Note: Note that if you are on a corporate network that uses a proxy server, the download process may fail. To work around this, you can set environment value http_proxy manually to use the proxy for downloading.
For example, you can set http_proxy= http://10.19.216.147:portnum or http_proxy= http://username:password@10.19.216.147:portnum. After setting this environment variable, the installer will use the proxy to download the TADP components.

Guides and Documentation

Read the latest guides and documentation on how to get started with developing on NVIDIA Tegra. General Android development information, hardware setup how-tos, performance analysis and debugging tools guides, technical references, etc., are all available at your disposal.

Mobile Developer Tools - Introduction to Tegra Android development using the Tegra Android Developer Pack, as well as using tools such as PerfHUD ES, Tegra System Profiler, and Nsight Tegra, Visual Studio Edition.

Technologies - Guides on hardware technologies such as NVIDIA 3D Vision Automatic, as well as mobile technologies such as DirectStylus, OpenCV for Tegra, and other "how to" guides.

Mobile Devices – Steps to setup your Tegra hardware platform for development.

Recent Presentations

GPU Technology Conference 2013 – Programming Project Shield & Tegra 4

GPU Technology Conference 2013 – Optimizing Tegra Apps and Games Using Unity

GPU Technology Conference 2013 – Performance and Debugging Tools for High-performance Android Applications

Game Developer Conference 2013 – Tegra 4 & Project SHIELD: Redefining AFK

How to Install TADP

After you download and install the Tegra Android Development Pack you should have a fully-configured Android development environment ready for development. The Tegra Android Toolkit installs additional Tegra specific tools required to do in-depth debugging and analysis on Tegra devices.

If you are developing on a Tegra Development Kit, please download the latest OS Image and flash the device. This will ensure you have the most up-to-date system with the latest optimizations.

What's Included in TADP

The Tegra Android Developer Pack includes the following tools:

Android Development

The latest versions of:

Android SDK

Android APIs

Android NDK

Google USB Driver

Android Support Library

JDK

Cygwin

Eclipse

Apache Ant

Tegra Libraries and Tools

Tegra Graphics Debugger

Nsight Tegra, Visual Studio Edition

NVIDIA Debug Manager for Android

PerfHUD ES

Tegra System Profiler

CUDA support

OpenCV for Tegra

PhysX for Android

NVIDIA® SHIELD™ Tools Support

NVIDIA® Tegra NOTE 7 Tools Support

The pack provides sample applications, support libraries, and documentation on Android game development topics.

Reporting a Bug

If you encounter an error installing any of these packages, please report the issue via the Tegra Registered Developer Program bug reporting system: https://developer.nvidia.com/rdp/bugs/tegra-registered-developer-program-bug-report.

Note: You must be logged into your DevZone account to report a bug.

How to Install Drivers

Drivers can be found in the following location:

C:\NVPACK\Drivers\

NVIDIA devices are generally compatible with Google's Android drivers, except that Google drivers will not have the additional device identifiers for automatic recognition. Instead, you will need to apply drivers manually through the Device Manager in your operating system's Control Panel.

To install drivers, do the following:

It is recommended that the user re-scan their device list.

Locate the device in the hardware list. Typically it will have a yellow triangle with an exclamation point, indicating that it is not fully recognized yet.

Note: The device's name may appear different between standard Android Debugging Interface mode and Boot Loader Interface or fastboot mode. The device will not appear as fastboot, unless it has been specially booted into this mode.

Right-click on the device and select to update the drivers.
Select Browse my computer for driver software.
Select Let me pick from a list of device drivers on my computer.
Select Have Disk….
Select Browse.
Navigate to the driver folder.

If you are using Windows 8:
```
C:\NVPACK\Drivers\Win8\
```
If you are using Windows 7, Vista, or XP:
```
C:\NVPACK\Drivers\Win7+Vista+XP\
```
If you are installing drivers for SHIELD:
```
C:\NVPACK\Drivers\SHIELD\
```
Select android_winusb.inf.
If the device appears as FastBoot or Android Bootloader Interface, then select Android Bootloader Interface. Otherwise select Android Composite ADB Interface.
If you are using Windows 8, you may receive a warning that this driver may not be compatible with the device. Select yes to continue.
This issue will be fixed in future releases.
If you are using Windows 7, Vista, or XP, you may receive a warning that the driver is not signed. Select yes to continue.
This issue will be fixed in future releases.

Next Steps

Application Development and Debugging (CPU)

To start developing your Android application, or to debug an existing project in an integrated development environment, launch the Eclipse IDE, found here:

C:\NVPACK\eclipse

You can also debug your applications using Nsight Tegra, which can be launched through Microsoft Visual Studio 2010, or Visual Studio 2012.

Application Profiling (CPU)

To profile your native Tegra Android application, use the Tegra Profiler sampling profiler, found here:

C:\NVPACK\tegra-profiler

Graphics Debugging and Profiling (GPU)

To debug, optimize, and profile your OpenGL ES 2.0, OpenGL ES 3.0, OpenGL 4.x applications on NVIDIA Tegra K1, use Tegra Graphics Debugger tool included with this TADP release.

For more information on Tegra Graphics Debugger, see the Tegra Graphics Debugger Documentation.

To optimize your OpenGL ES 2.0 applications on Tegra 4 or older Tegra devices, use the PerfHUD ES tool, typically found here:

C:\NVPACK\perfhud_es

For more information on PerfHUD ES, see PerfHUD ES: An Introduction.