Configuring OLA as a Artnet Node in Ubuntu

Written by Karsten Wolf. 19/7/2012

My current personal requirements were for OLA to be a stand alone stage-side Node which would receive Artnet3 data from Luminosus (http://Luminosus.org) and Artnet1 data from Freestyler (http://Freestylerdmx.be) then output it to a DMXKing.com UltraDMX box.

My computer is an old laptop (with the screen torn off). With this setup, the setup steps are: connect the USB, Ethernet and power then hit the power button and walk away.

See the Guide for installing OLA on ubuntu here: The_Newbie_Guide_for_OLA_on_Ubuntu

Setting up OLA to start on startup

In the top menu bar on the right-most button (power logo) click it to bring up a drop-down menu. Select ‘Startup Applications’.

Click ‘Add’. Name it whatever you like. For the ‘command’ field input type:

olad -l 3

Note: The ‘-l’ is ‘-L’ but lowercase, not the number one. ‘3’ is the logging level, ‘0’ logs nothing, ‘4’ is debug logging, ‘3’ is log level info.

Next you may want to also set the computer to not lock while it’s running. I’m not sure of lock equates to what I understand as ‘sleep’ but I’d rather not have my computer do anything besides turn off the screen.

In the top menu bar on the right-most button (ubuntu logo) click it to bring up a drop-down menu. Select ‘System Settings’. Then select ‘Brightness and Lock’.

Set the brightness and ‘Dim screen to save power’ to whatever you like. Then switch ‘lock’ to ‘OFF’ to disable Ubuntu from locking up (and requiring a password). I tested it and OLA does still receive/transmit when Ubuntu is locked up, so if the computer is accessible to unauthorized personnel, lock may be a security option to have enabled.

At this point restart the system and test OLA with the Web client, if the web client comes up it works.

http://localhost:9090

Configuring OLA and Artnet

OLA Web Client

OLA is configured through a web browser client. On the Ubuntu machine you can access it in mozilla or any web browser via:

http://localhost:9090

From another computer or mobile device on the same network, type:

http://$IP:9090

example: http://192.168.0.2:9090

To find the IP address in Ubuntu click on the network Icon on the top menu bar. For LAN it’s two arrows, for Wifi it is the radiating antenna Icon. Click it then find ‘Connection Information’ in the drop down menu.

Alternatively you can access the IP in terminal via (ethernet only):

/sbin/ifconfig eth0

Artnet Config

To setup a new Universe within the web client click ‘Add Universe’ on the home page.

Devices are listed by name and direction. Direction determines whether it’s input or output. Select the Artnet Input and your USB Device Output.

For the most basic implementation setting the ‘Universe Id’ to ‘0’ should be fine.

Name the Universe with the ‘Universe Name’.

This should now be a functioning ArtNet3 Node.

Setting up Artnet1 compatibility

Note: These steps will also works for other plugins, just replace with the appropriate file names.

You can view the artnet plugin information in the Web Client by selecting ‘Plugins’ on the left and selecting ‘Artnet’.

Alternatively you can use Terminal. To view Plugin list:

ola_plugin_info

Artnet is default Plugin 2, so to see its info.

ola_plugin_info -p 2

Both methods will show you the same thing.

In order to get Artnet1 supported the config files needs to be edited. It is found at ~/.ola/ola-artnet.conf

This file is hidden, to open it using terminal type:

gedit ~/.ola/ola-artnet.conf

alternatively:

xdg-open ~/.ola/ola-artnet.conf

alternatively:

gnome-open ~/.ola/ola-artnet.conf

This will open the file in a text editor.

To enable Artnet1 to work change "'always_broadcast = false'" to "'always_broadcast = true'". Change any other settings you might need. Then save and close.

Go to the web client and on the home page click ‘reload plugins’.

The Princess is another Castle

Done, the computer should now be working as a stand alone Artnet to DMX Node.