Spectrometer: issues with SpectralWorkbench on ubuntu 11.04

[Shai Efrati]

Dear PubLabers,

I received the spectrometer kit i bought from you. It is so simple to build and has a very professional look that it's amazing. Thank you for "inventing" it :)

I do have some issues with SpectralWorkbench though. I'm using it on ubuntu 11.04, and although the camera works well through Cheese, it can't seem to work on SW. My main camera appears to work well, but when i try to change to the spectrometer webcam i get just black. When running it through processing, i get the following error (pointing at line 538):

The constructor GSCapture(PApplet, int, int, String, int) is undefined

When i erase the "10" from line 538, i get the following error (pointing at line 540):

The function start() does not exist.

Any ideas?

Thanks for all your efforts!

Shai.

[Shai Efrati]

Hey Jeff,

In the SpectralWorkbench folders i have only the GSVideo and controlP5 (which i already copied to the sketchbook folder before i sent my question), the GStreamer is missing. Does the GSVideo should do the work, or should i find a GStreamer library for that?

BTW - since i'm using a 64bit version, i had to link my processing to a different java folder (following some instructions i found on the internet).

Thanks for the help!

Shai.

On Mon, Apr 2, 2012 at 20:41, Jeffrey Warren <je...@publiclaboratory.org> wrote:

Hi, Shai - you have to install the GStreamer library, which should be included in the Spectral Workbench zip file, under /spectral_workbench/libraries/GStreamer/ or something.

Then you'll have to put it in the right place -- I think on linux, it's in your sketchbook folder, like, "<sketchbook folder>/libraries/GStreamer"

to find <sketchbook folder>, best way is to create and save a Processing sketch, then with it open, go to Show Sketchbook Folder in one of the menus.

See if that works. Glad you like the instrument! I'm looking forward to coding a version that does regular sampling every X seconds, so you can use it on a cruise or for just pointing it at the sky 24h/day

Jeff

[Jeffrey Warren]

oh, sorry, the GSVideo folder is it. They should be in a subfolder called "libraries" though, just to be sure.

GSVideo/GStreamer/GSCapture are all the same parent library so i get them mixed up. 

Jeff

[Shai Efrati]

So they were already in the library when i wrote my first message. Did someone try it on 64bit system?

I wonder how to proceed from here...

Thanks!

Shai.

[Jeffrey Warren]

ah - i think they were already in the libraries folder that came with Spectral Workbench -- but in an oddity of the Processing environment, that is not actually your Sketchbook. So you must create a new sketch, save it in the default location, then ask to open the Sketchbook from there. Processing is not good at helping you find the *real* default Sketchbook folder -- or at making it easy to install libraries.

I hope that resolves the issues... but you may be onto something as well regarding 64-bit Java.

Jeff

[Jeffrey Warren]

Hi, Shai - you have to install the GStreamer library, which should be included in the Spectral Workbench zip file, under /spectral_workbench/libraries/GStreamer/ or something.

Then you'll have to put it in the right place -- I think on linux, it's in your sketchbook folder, like, "<sketchbook folder>/libraries/GStreamer"

to find <sketchbook folder>, best way is to create and save a Processing sketch, then with it open, go to Show Sketchbook Folder in one of the menus.

See if that works. Glad you like the instrument! I'm looking forward to coding a version that does regular sampling every X seconds, so you can use it on a cruise or for just pointing it at the sky 24h/day

Jeff

On Sun, Apr 1, 2012 at 3:16 PM, Shai Efrati <sha...@gmail.com> wrote:

[Shai Efrati]

I don't have good news, since the libraries are in the correct location... i checked it several times, including putting them in a different location and getting different errors...

The 64bit Java issues were solved using some tips from the internet, and they allowed me to get to the point i am at now.

Shai.

[Jeffrey Warren]

OK, it looks like this is more than a simple library location issue. Let's open an issue in the Spectral Workbench tracker and continue debugging there. Could you create an issue and post exactly what path you've put library files (even run "pwd" in the directory on a command prompt and post the output?)

http://github.com/jywarren/spectral-workbench/issues/new

Thanks,

Jeff

[Jeffrey Warren]

If this does work, would you be able/willing to help put the steps up on the wiki for others?

Probably on this page: http://publiclaboratory.org/wiki/spectral-workbench-help

jeff

[Ryan Sevelj]

Shai I also had to do the whole linking thing with the java. I also had to edit a few lines in the SW file just to get it to load. Unfortunately i cant recall off the top of my head, but i remember having to set the resolution manually and a few other small changes. I will try and get java on my laptop and report back on the changes i had to make to get it load. Took me a few days to work out how to get it to load, but it worked well once i did.