wiki.openlighting.org - User contributions [en]

Net-Lynx

2011-08-28T19:08:49Z

Rha: Undo revision 3918 by 202.143.224.8 (Talk)

Link: http://www.artisticlicence.com/item36.htm<br>
Made by: [[Artistic Licence]]<br>
{{Features|rdm=yes|tx=yes|rx=yes}}
[[Image:Net-lynx.gif|right]]

The Net-Lynx by Artistic Licence is an ArtNet to DMX convertor. Available in two models, the O/P (DMX out) and I/P (DMX in), the Net-Lynx acts as a gateway between Art-Net and DMX networks. The Art-Net universes are set using the front panel controls and 4 leds indictate power, Art-Net data and DMX signals.

[[Category:ArtNet]]

OpenDMX.net

2011-08-28T18:08:37Z

Rha: Undo revision 3919 by 183.181.53.248 (Talk)

{{News}}
Welcome to opendmx.net. This site is part of the [[Open Lighting Project]] and aims to be a resource for those involved in the lighting industry looking for DMX software and associated control systems. It's also home to documentation for various open source and free lighting software.

If you're new to the world of lighting check out the [[:Category:Definitions|Definitions]] page, or have a look at the list of [[:Category:USB | USB interfaces]] or [[:Category:Controllers|Software Controllers]].

Do you know of non-conforming or fussy DMX equipment? If so, please add it to the [[NonConformDMX]] page. Are you interesting in seeing what equipment and solutions are available? See the list of upcoming [[Conferences & Exhibitions]].

The [[Open Lighting Projects List]] contains a list of installations from around the world where software from the Open Lighting Project has been used. If you know of something cool or are planning a new installation please add it to the list.

For questions about the site, contact admin <AT> opendmx.net

__NOTOC__

LLA, OpenDMX USB and Q Light Controller Tutorial

2011-08-28T17:42:14Z

Rha: /* Compile and install driver */

[[Category:Tutorials]]

=== Old tutorial, look for new methods ===

Since this tutorial was made, [[QLC]] from v. 3.0.4 comes with a driver for Enttec Open DMX USB (in a plugin called FTDI), and LLA changed name to [[OLA]].
See the mailing list archive of "QLC-devel" for more info for now (January 2010).

It should no longer be necessary to use [[OLA]] together with a Linux kernel driver, if you just want DMX output from [[QLC]] to an OpenDMX USB dongle attached to the same computer that runs QLC.

== Purpose ==
To show the steps to get the Enttec Open DMX USB interface working with the Linux Lighting Architecture, a general framework for lighting applications in Linux(LLA), via Erwin Rol's driver. Also getting the Q Lighting Controller (QLC) to work with LLA. This allows QLC to be used with the Enttec OpenDMX USB interfaces on a 2.6 kernel, for which dmx4linux is not yet fully working.

This may also be useful for people with a different interface supported by LLA who need some pointers on how to get LLA working with QLC, in which case you need only read from "Download and install LLA" onwards.

==Introduction==

I got very excited when I first saw QLC (http://qlc.sourceforge.net/). Then I got slightly annoyed, then very frustrated trying to get it to work. I ended up using Slackware so that I could have a relatively modern distro with Linux 2.4 in order to use dmx4linux. But it's a hassle to reboot every time I want to play with DMX. The other alternative is to use LLA, but this requires a separate computer for the Live CD.

LLA is available as packages for a standard distro, but needs an extra driver to work with Enttec OpenDMX USB, which is included on the Live CD but not in the standard packages.

This tutorial assumes you're using Ubuntu 7.04 (Fiesty Fawn), but should be usable for any apt-based distro. Could probably be adapted for rpm-based too.

This tutorial is deliberately quite verbose: although it could have been presented as one long cut'n'paste or a shell script, a walkthrough is more helpful for actually learning what's going on and will get out of date more slowly.

It would be really useful if users of other distros could modify this tutorial to make it more universal, or create other pages for distro-specific information.

==Operating System==

Install one of the supported linux distributions onto your machine: Ubuntu [http://www.ubuntu.com], Fedora [http://www.fedoraproject.org] or CentOS [http://www.centos.org]

==Prerequisite packages==
===GIT and Cogito===
These are used to download source code.

Ubuntu:
<code><pre>
sudo apt-get install git-core cogito curl
</pre></code>

Centos/Fedora:
<code><pre>
yum install git-core cogito curl
</pre></code>

===Kernel===
We need this in order to be able to compile the modules

Ubuntu:
<code><pre>
sudo apt-get install linux-source
</pre></code>

Centos/Fedora:
<code><pre>
yum install kernel-devel
</pre></code>

===Alien (Ubuntu only)===
We will need to install some RPM files at some point (bah!)

<code><pre>
sudo apt-get install alien
</pre></code>

===Build essentials===
We're going to be building source, so we need the standard libraries:

Ubuntu:
<code><pre>
sudo apt-get install build-essential
</pre></code>

Centos/Fedora:
<code><pre>
yum install buildsys-build
</pre></code>

(if you're following this on a non-debian-style distibution, you need the libc, libstcd++ development files, C compiler etc.)

==Build and install the usb kernel module==

Erwil Rol's driver allows the Enttec OpenDMX USB driver to work with LLA.

It's best to make sure that you're running the kernel that you're intending to use - if you've upgraded from previous versions of Ubuntu you may have several versions hanging around. Removing old ones using Synaptic is probably a good idea.

===Compile and install driver===

<code><pre>
cd ~
mkdir dmx-software
cd dmx-software
git clone http://git.hbels.com/public/dmx_usb_module
cd dmx_usb_module
make
sudo cp ./dmx_usb.ko /lib/modules/$(uname -r)/kernel/drivers/usb/serial
sudo depmod
</pre></code>

==== Kernel 2.6.37 and newer kernels ====
This worked for me:

* save as "dmx_usb,patch"
* patch < dmx_usb,patch

--- ../b/dmx_usb.c 2011-08-28 20:27:57.929828288 +0300
+++ dmx_usb.c 2011-08-28 20:32:41.075288289 +0300
@@ -93,7 +93,7 @@

/* prevent races between open() and disconnect() */
-static DECLARE_MUTEX (disconnect_sem);
+static DEFINE_SEMAPHORE(disconnect_sem);

/* local function prototypes */
//static ssize_t dmx_usb_read (struct file *file, char *buffer, size_t count, loff_t *ppos);
@@ -121,7 +121,7 @@

/* .read = dmx_usb_read, */
.write = dmx_usb_write,
- .ioctl = dmx_usb_ioctl,
+ .unlocked_ioctl = dmx_usb_ioctl,
.open = dmx_usb_open,
.release = dmx_usb_release,
};
@@ -618,7 +618,7 @@
}
memset (dev, 0x00, sizeof (*dev));

- init_MUTEX (&dev->sem);
+ sema_init(&dev->sem, 1);
dev->udev = udev;
dev->interface = interface;

===Blacklist the other serial drivers===
Because this dongle uses a usb to serial converter chip, it's recognised by the hotplug/udev/hal system and drivers are loaded - unfortunately not ones that work with QLC. The workaround is to blacklist the alternative drivers. If you have other usb to serial converters then they will stop working - if you need these then you will have to delve into the source and change the USB device IDs that the drivers detect... here we will go for the quick and dirty solution.

====Ubuntu====
With your favourite text editor, as root/sudo, edit /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist e.g.:

<code><pre>
sudo gedit /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist
</pre></code>

add the following lines:

<code><pre>
blacklist usbserial
blacklist usb-serial
blacklist ftdi_sio
</pre></code>

====Centos/Fedora====
I do not know of any blacklisting in redhat based distros so just delete the offending module

<code><pre>
mv /lib/modules/`uname -r`/kernel/drivers/usb/serial/ftdi_sio.ko /lib/modules/`uname -r`/kernel/drivers/usb/serial/ftdi_sio.ko.disabled
depmod -a
</pre></code>

===Remove the brltty package (Ubuntu only)===
According to Synaptic, "BRLTTY is a daemon which provides access to the Linux console (text mode) for a blind person using a soft braille display". Unfortunately it has a habit of interfering with anything that looks like it might be a serial console, USB to serial devices included. There's probably a more elegant workaround, but we'll go for the quick and dirty again, and remove it:

<code><pre>
sudo apt-get remove brltty
</pre></code>

===Test the driver===
Plug in your dongle!! Hopefully all will go well, and if you type:

<code><pre>
dmesg
</pre></code>

you should see:

<pre>
DMX USB device now attached to dmx192
</pre>

If you've got other modules loading, ftdi serial drivers, etc. then something's wrong.

==Download and install LLA==
LLA is Linux Lighting Architecture, a general framework for lighting applications in Linux. It's available as a live CD, but we're just using the package as a way to interface QLC with the USB driver. More info about LLA on its webpage.

===Install the packages===
====Ubuntu====
There are debian packages available at the time of writing. Add the packages to your sources file:

<code><pre>
sudo gedit /etc/apt/sources.list
</pre></code>

Add the following line at the end:

<code><pre>
deb http://www.nomis52.net/data/debian ./
</pre></code>

Install the packages:

<code><pre>
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install liblla0 llad llad-console lla-examples
</pre></code>

====Centos/Fedora====
There are packages available for CentOS 4 and 5 and Fedora 5,6,7 & 8 at the time of writing. You need to add the netmindz.net repo to yum

<code><pre>
yum install http://rpms.netmindz.net/all/noarch/RPMS.netmindz/netmindz-repo-1.1.3-1.noarch.rpm
</pre></code>

This will create a new file in /etc/yum.repos.d/netmindz.repo and register the GPG key used to sign netmindz.net packages

Install the packages:

<code><pre>
yum install lla llad-console lla-examples
</pre></code>

===Test the installation===
With your dongle connected as in section 3, you're now ready to test. Connect a DMX device up to your dongle, make sure you know the channel number it's on, make sure it's working correctly, make sure you got the polarity in your DMX lead right, etc. etc. Being sure that the dongle/hardware/software combination is the only weak link will save a lot of hair-pulling...

Fix the permissions on /dev/dmx:

chmod a+rw /dev/dmx

First, start the daemon with debug mode on:

llad -d 3 -f -s

Next, in another terminal find out what number the OpenDMX device is:

<code><pre>
lla_dev_info
</pre></code>

you should get something like:

<pre>
Device 2: Open DMX USB Device
</pre>

If you can't see 'Open DMX USB Device' in there somewhere, then you haven't got the kernel driver installed properly. Go straight to jail, do not pass go.

Assuming everything is OK, you need to patch this device so we can use it:

<code><pre>
lla_patch -d2 -p0 -u0
</pre></code>

(replace -d2 with whichever device number is your Open DMX USB)

now do:

<code><pre>
lla_dev_info
</pre></code>

and it should say

<code><pre>
Device 2: Open DMX USB Device
port 0, cap OUT, universe 1
</pre></code>

Finally:

<code><pre>
lla_dmxconsole
</pre></code>

and play with the console!

Don't forget to remove your test patch afterwards:

<code><pre>
lla_patch -r -d2 -p0 -u0
</pre></code>

==Download and install the latest build of QLC==
====Ubuntu====
Finally! There are Ubuntu/Debian packages, but at the time of writing they're not the most up-to-date and don't include the LLA plugin. You could compile from source, but the most recent RPM packages work fine and save time and hassle.

<code><pre>
cd ~/dmx-software
wget http://rpms.netmindz.net/FC6/i386/RPMS.netmindz/qlc-2.6.1-2.fc6.i386.rpm
</pre></code>

'''Update:''' the above source is currently not working. You will need to find a version of QLC with the LLA patches, try http://www.lpcollier.net/QLC_OpenDMX.html or contacting the QLC development mailing list https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/qlc-devel

'''Update update:''' the source above is back online, so if you prefer to download the rpm and use alien you can, or else download the deb file from Lee Collier's site http://www.lpcollier.net/QLC_OpenDMX.html and skip the next step.

<code><pre>
sudo alien qlc-2.6.1-2.fc6.i386.rpm
</pre></code>

wait a long time... (don't worry about the warnings)... then:

<code><pre>
sudo dpkg -i qlc-2.6.1-2.fc6.i386.deb
sudo apt-get install libqt3-mt
</pre></code>

====Centos/Fedora====

<code><pre>
yum install qlc
</pre></code>

Now try it:

<code><pre>
sudo qlc &
</pre></code>

QLC should run OK. Don't get too excited yet, there's one more step...

==Put it all together==
We now need a script that will start the lla daemon, patch the adaptor to the DMX universe (QLC uses 1 by default, LLA uses 0) and start QLC. This should do it:

<code><pre>
#!/bin/bash
gksudo killall llad
sleep 2s
sudo llad
sleep 5s
sudo lla_patch -d2 -p0 -u1
sleep 2s
sudo qlc &
</pre></code>

save it as something memorable (I use qlc-start) and make sure it's executable:

<code><pre>
chmod u+x qlc-start
</pre></code>

and you're away!

LLA, OpenDMX USB and Q Light Controller Tutorial

2010-11-06T15:39:51Z

Rha: /* Compile and install driver */

[[Category:Tutorials]]

=== Old tutorial, look for new methods ===

Since this tutorial was made, [[QLC]] from v. 3.0.4 comes with a driver for Enttec Open DMX USB (in a plugin called FTDI), and LLA changed name to [[OLA]].
See the mailing list archive of "QLC-devel" for more info for now (January 2010).

It should no longer be necessary to use [[OLA]] together with a Linux kernel driver, if you just want DMX output from [[QLC]] to an OpenDMX USB dongle attached to the same computer that runs QLC.

== Purpose ==
To show the steps to get the Enttec Open DMX USB interface working with the Linux Lighting Architecture, a general framework for lighting applications in Linux(LLA), via Erwin Rol's driver. Also getting the Q Lighting Controller (QLC) to work with LLA. This allows QLC to be used with the Enttec OpenDMX USB interfaces on a 2.6 kernel, for which dmx4linux is not yet fully working.

This may also be useful for people with a different interface supported by LLA who need some pointers on how to get LLA working with QLC, in which case you need only read from "Download and install LLA" onwards.

==Introduction==

I got very excited when I first saw QLC (http://qlc.sourceforge.net/). Then I got slightly annoyed, then very frustrated trying to get it to work. I ended up using Slackware so that I could have a relatively modern distro with Linux 2.4 in order to use dmx4linux. But it's a hassle to reboot every time I want to play with DMX. The other alternative is to use LLA, but this requires a separate computer for the Live CD.

LLA is available as packages for a standard distro, but needs an extra driver to work with Enttec OpenDMX USB, which is included on the Live CD but not in the standard packages.

This tutorial assumes you're using Ubuntu 7.04 (Fiesty Fawn), but should be usable for any apt-based distro. Could probably be adapted for rpm-based too.

This tutorial is deliberately quite verbose: although it could have been presented as one long cut'n'paste or a shell script, a walkthrough is more helpful for actually learning what's going on and will get out of date more slowly.

It would be really useful if users of other distros could modify this tutorial to make it more universal, or create other pages for distro-specific information.

==Operating System==

Install one of the supported linux distributions onto your machine: Ubuntu [http://www.ubuntu.com], Fedora [http://www.fedoraproject.org] or CentOS [http://www.centos.org]

==Prerequisite packages==
===GIT and Cogito===
These are used to download source code.

Ubuntu:
<code><pre>
sudo apt-get install git-core cogito curl
</pre></code>

Centos/Fedora:
<code><pre>
yum install git-core cogito curl
</pre></code>

===Kernel===
We need this in order to be able to compile the modules

Ubuntu:
<code><pre>
sudo apt-get install linux-source
</pre></code>

Centos/Fedora:
<code><pre>
yum install kernel-devel
</pre></code>

===Alien (Ubuntu only)===
We will need to install some RPM files at some point (bah!)

<code><pre>
sudo apt-get install alien
</pre></code>

===Build essentials===
We're going to be building source, so we need the standard libraries:

Ubuntu:
<code><pre>
sudo apt-get install build-essential
</pre></code>

Centos/Fedora:
<code><pre>
yum install buildsys-build
</pre></code>

(if you're following this on a non-debian-style distibution, you need the libc, libstcd++ development files, C compiler etc.)

==Build and install the usb kernel module==

Erwil Rol's driver allows the Enttec OpenDMX USB driver to work with LLA.

It's best to make sure that you're running the kernel that you're intending to use - if you've upgraded from previous versions of Ubuntu you may have several versions hanging around. Removing old ones using Synaptic is probably a good idea.

===Compile and install driver===

<code><pre>
cd ~
mkdir dmx-software
cd dmx-software
git clone http://git.hbels.com/public/dmx_usb_module
cd dmx_usb_module
make
sudo cp ./dmx_usb.ko /lib/modules/$(uname -r)/kernel/drivers/usb/serial
sudo depmod
</pre></code>

===Blacklist the other serial drivers===
Because this dongle uses a usb to serial converter chip, it's recognised by the hotplug/udev/hal system and drivers are loaded - unfortunately not ones that work with QLC. The workaround is to blacklist the alternative drivers. If you have other usb to serial converters then they will stop working - if you need these then you will have to delve into the source and change the USB device IDs that the drivers detect... here we will go for the quick and dirty solution.

====Ubuntu====
With your favourite text editor, as root/sudo, edit /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist e.g.:

<code><pre>
sudo gedit /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist
</pre></code>

add the following lines:

<code><pre>
blacklist usbserial
blacklist usb-serial
blacklist ftdi_sio
</pre></code>

====Centos/Fedora====
I do not know of any blacklisting in redhat based distros so just delete the offending module

<code><pre>
mv /lib/modules/`uname -r`/kernel/drivers/usb/serial/ftdi_sio.ko /lib/modules/`uname -r`/kernel/drivers/usb/serial/ftdi_sio.ko.disabled
depmod -a
</pre></code>

===Remove the brltty package (Ubuntu only)===
According to Synaptic, "BRLTTY is a daemon which provides access to the Linux console (text mode) for a blind person using a soft braille display". Unfortunately it has a habit of interfering with anything that looks like it might be a serial console, USB to serial devices included. There's probably a more elegant workaround, but we'll go for the quick and dirty again, and remove it:

<code><pre>
sudo apt-get remove brltty
</pre></code>

===Test the driver===
Plug in your dongle!! Hopefully all will go well, and if you type:

<code><pre>
dmesg
</pre></code>

you should see:

<pre>
DMX USB device now attached to dmx192
</pre>

If you've got other modules loading, ftdi serial drivers, etc. then something's wrong.

==Download and install LLA==
LLA is Linux Lighting Architecture, a general framework for lighting applications in Linux. It's available as a live CD, but we're just using the package as a way to interface QLC with the USB driver. More info about LLA on its webpage.

===Install the packages===
====Ubuntu====
There are debian packages available at the time of writing. Add the packages to your sources file:

<code><pre>
sudo gedit /etc/apt/sources.list
</pre></code>

Add the following line at the end:

<code><pre>
deb http://www.nomis52.net/data/debian ./
</pre></code>

Install the packages:

<code><pre>
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install liblla0 llad llad-console lla-examples
</pre></code>

====Centos/Fedora====
There are packages available for CentOS 4 and 5 and Fedora 5,6,7 & 8 at the time of writing. You need to add the netmindz.net repo to yum

<code><pre>
yum install http://rpms.netmindz.net/all/noarch/RPMS.netmindz/netmindz-repo-1.1.3-1.noarch.rpm
</pre></code>

This will create a new file in /etc/yum.repos.d/netmindz.repo and register the GPG key used to sign netmindz.net packages

Install the packages:

<code><pre>
yum install lla llad-console lla-examples
</pre></code>

===Test the installation===
With your dongle connected as in section 3, you're now ready to test. Connect a DMX device up to your dongle, make sure you know the channel number it's on, make sure it's working correctly, make sure you got the polarity in your DMX lead right, etc. etc. Being sure that the dongle/hardware/software combination is the only weak link will save a lot of hair-pulling...

Fix the permissions on /dev/dmx:

chmod a+rw /dev/dmx

First, start the daemon with debug mode on:

llad -d 3 -f -s

Next, in another terminal find out what number the OpenDMX device is:

<code><pre>
lla_dev_info
</pre></code>

you should get something like:

<pre>
Device 2: Open DMX USB Device
</pre>

If you can't see 'Open DMX USB Device' in there somewhere, then you haven't got the kernel driver installed properly. Go straight to jail, do not pass go.

Assuming everything is OK, you need to patch this device so we can use it:

<code><pre>
lla_patch -d2 -p0 -u0
</pre></code>

(replace -d2 with whichever device number is your Open DMX USB)

now do:

<code><pre>
lla_dev_info
</pre></code>

and it should say

<code><pre>
Device 2: Open DMX USB Device
port 0, cap OUT, universe 1
</pre></code>

Finally:

<code><pre>
lla_dmxconsole
</pre></code>

and play with the console!

Don't forget to remove your test patch afterwards:

<code><pre>
lla_patch -r -d2 -p0 -u0
</pre></code>

==Download and install the latest build of QLC==
====Ubuntu====
Finally! There are Ubuntu/Debian packages, but at the time of writing they're not the most up-to-date and don't include the LLA plugin. You could compile from source, but the most recent RPM packages work fine and save time and hassle.

<code><pre>
cd ~/dmx-software
wget http://rpms.netmindz.net/FC6/i386/RPMS.netmindz/qlc-2.6.1-2.fc6.i386.rpm
</pre></code>

'''Update:''' the above source is currently not working. You will need to find a version of QLC with the LLA patches, try http://www.lpcollier.net/QLC_OpenDMX.html or contacting the QLC development mailing list https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/qlc-devel

'''Update update:''' the source above is back online, so if you prefer to download the rpm and use alien you can, or else download the deb file from Lee Collier's site http://www.lpcollier.net/QLC_OpenDMX.html and skip the next step.

<code><pre>
sudo alien qlc-2.6.1-2.fc6.i386.rpm
</pre></code>

wait a long time... (don't worry about the warnings)... then:

<code><pre>
sudo dpkg -i qlc-2.6.1-2.fc6.i386.deb
sudo apt-get install libqt3-mt
</pre></code>

====Centos/Fedora====

<code><pre>
yum install qlc
</pre></code>

Now try it:

<code><pre>
sudo qlc &
</pre></code>

QLC should run OK. Don't get too excited yet, there's one more step...

==Put it all together==
We now need a script that will start the lla daemon, patch the adaptor to the DMX universe (QLC uses 1 by default, LLA uses 0) and start QLC. This should do it:

<code><pre>
#!/bin/bash
gksudo killall llad
sleep 2s
sudo llad
sleep 5s
sudo lla_patch -d2 -p0 -u1
sleep 2s
sudo qlc &
</pre></code>

save it as something memorable (I use qlc-start) and make sure it's executable:

<code><pre>
chmod u+x qlc-start
</pre></code>

and you're away!