Galicaster on Ubuntu 18.04

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Stephen Marquard

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Aug 29, 2018, 9:29:17 AM8/29/18

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Hi all,

FYI, we are busy testing Galicaster on Ubuntu 18.04 with Datapath VisionRGB and VisionLC cards.

So far it works OK for except for a flashing green issue with the Datapath cards when there’s no signal present. Datapath is looking into this for us (it seems to be connected to the videorate element in the pipeline).

Cheers

Stephen

---
Stephen Marquard, Learning Technologies Co-ordinator,
Centre for Innovation in Learning and Teaching (CILT)
University of Cape Town
http://www.cilt.uct.ac.za
stephen....@uct.ac.za
Phone: +27-21-650-5037 Cell: +27-83-500-5290

Disclaimer - University of Cape Town This email is subject to UCT policies and email disclaimer published on our website at http://www.uct.ac.za/main/email-disclaimer or obtainable from +27 21 650 9111. If this email is not related to the business of UCT, it is sent by the sender in an individual capacity. Please report security incidents or abuse via https://csirt.uct.ac.za/page/report-an-incident.php.

Paul Pettit

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Aug 29, 2018, 9:49:37 AM8/29/18

to comm...@galicaster.org

Hi Stephen,

What kernel are you using?

I had no luck getting a Datapath driver for 4.15, and they would not give me a timeline for developing one, and just stopped responding to me. I am assuming they are not really supporting Linux any more as there have been no new drivers since sept 2017 and they are completely unresponsive.

I'm using Magewell cards in our new hardware as we needed a 4.15 kernel for the new PCs we are getting. Annoying that I need to support 2 different OS versions though :(

Thanks,

Paul.

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Stephen Marquard

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Aug 29, 2018, 10:03:58 AM8/29/18

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Hi Paul

This is:

Ubuntu 18.04.1 LTS (GNU/Linux 4.15.0-30-generic x86_64)

The drivers are beta versions supplied recently by Datapath:

http://downloads.datapath.co.uk/Linux/VisionInstall-7.17.14.304.tar.gz

http://downloads.datapath.co.uk/Linux/VisionLCInstall-1.1.6.303.tar.gz

We have found Datapath support to be very responsive, and they do provide new driver versions on request when kernel updates mean the older ones stop compiling.

Regards

Stephen

Paul Gration

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Aug 29, 2018, 10:25:45 AM8/29/18

to comm...@galicaster.org

Glad to see there's some beta drivers! We were in the same position as
Paul P and were hoping/waiting for some beta drivers but didn't hear
anything further.. went with 16.04 in the end.

Thanks,

Paul

On 29/08/18 15:03, Stephen Marquard wrote:
> Hi Paul
>
> This is:
>
> Ubuntu 18.04.1 LTS (GNU/Linux 4.15.0-30-generic x86_64)
>
> The drivers are beta versions supplied recently by Datapath:
>
> http://downloads.datapath.co.uk/Linux/VisionInstall-7.17.14.304.tar.gz
>
> http://downloads.datapath.co.uk/Linux/VisionLCInstall-1.1.6.303.tar.gz
>
> We have found Datapath support to be very responsive, and they do
> provide new driver versions on request when kernel updates mean the
> older ones stop compiling.
>
> Regards
>
> Stephen
>
> ---
> Stephen Marquard, Learning Technologies Co-ordinator,
> Centre for Innovation in Learning and Teaching (CILT)
> University of Cape Town

> http://www.cilt.uct.ac.za <http://www.cilt.uct.ac.za/>
> stephen....@uct.ac.za <mailto:stephen....@uct.ac.za>
> Phone: +27-21-650-5037 Cell: +27-83-500-5290
>
> *From:*Paul Pettit <p.pe...@keele.ac.uk>
> *Sent:* 29 August 2018 03:49 PM
> *To:* comm...@galicaster.org
> *Subject:* Re: [Galicaster] Galicaster on Ubuntu 18.04

> <https://protect-za.mimecast.com/s/akQ6Cy8AEXUJWkE8HZppjV>
> stephen....@uct.ac.za <mailto:stephen....@uct.ac.za>

> Phone: +27-21-650-5037 Cell: +27-83-500-5290
>
> Disclaimer - University of Cape Town This email is subject to UCT
> policies and email disclaimer published on our website at
> http://www.uct.ac.za/main/email-disclaimer

> <https://protect-za.mimecast.com/s/OyNuCzm4GXCnB9vkuXO08V> or

> obtainable from +27 21 650 9111. If this email is not related to the
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> Please report security incidents or abuse via
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>
> --
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>
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> policies and email disclaimer published on our website at
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> the sender in an individual capacity. Please report security incidents
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--
Paul Gration
Multimedia Software Developer
University of Sussex
+44 (0) 1273 873269

Paul Pettit

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Aug 29, 2018, 10:29:37 AM8/29/18

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Hi Stephen,

Well, that is annoying! Datapath always used to be responsive to me, but this year they have been completely useless. I have been trying since April to find out when a working driver would be available. In May they said they had already replied to Paul @ Sussex so didn't think they needed to reply to me too! Last I head was mid June when they said they were actually working on it and would let me know when it was ready. Told them I needed to know ASAP if they were going to release a working driver as I needed to buy 35 more cards to use with PCs that were unsupported by earlier kernels, but never heard back.

So I went and bought Magewell Pro Capture Dual HDMI cards instead, which are cheaper and have some nice features anyway, and the drivers are easier to deploy (and they had a working driver for 4.15 on 1 Feb). This works nicely with galicaster in 18.04 if anyone is interested.

Oh well, they lost a load of cash by not responding. I will certainly be buying Magewell kit from now on!

Thanks,

Paul.

Andrew Wilson

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Sep 19, 2018, 11:07:50 AM9/19/18

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hiya just reviving this thread

so we're just testing on 18.04

galicaster works which is cool

lecturesight not working anymore but i suspect i need to install the intel neo opencl stuff

we had to do this because the intel GPU in the latest coffeelake CPU + boards we now have won't work with 16.04 even with HWE kernel/xserver

-andy

Paul Gration

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Sep 19, 2018, 11:41:04 AM9/19/18

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We had simolar with skylake but found removing the HWE stuff worked better and our problems with graphics drivers went away

Andrew Wilson

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Sep 19, 2018, 12:19:51 PM9/19/18

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Cheers Paul. Yep we also avoided HWE on skylake as that had mixed results for us.

A question. Has anyone got headless VNC ( or similar) working on 18.04.

X11vnc isn't working right now and vino is just poor performance

Paul Pettit

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Sep 19, 2018, 12:43:49 PM9/19/18

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Hi Andy,

I've only tried X11vnc so far, using the same config as I am using for 16.04, but no clients I've tried want to connect to it using TLS and I haven't got time to do much experimentation at the moment.

Let us know if you get anywhere before I get a chance to take another look!

Thanks,

Paul.

Andrew Wilson

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Sep 19, 2018, 12:47:30 PM9/19/18

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Yeah. Just getting a black screen and no xorg.conf I make seems to help ( I hate xorg.confs btw) .If you could share your x11vnc command and xorg.conf (if you use one) that would be great. Not using TLS for now

Paul Pettit

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Sep 19, 2018, 1:00:59 PM9/19/18

to comm...@galicaster.org

I launch x11vnc from xinetd using:

/usr/bin/x11vnc -inetd -o /var/log/x11vnc.log -display :0 -auth /var/run/lightdm/root/:0 -many -bg -shared -unixpw galicaster

-unixpw forces TLS so I have not tested without yet, but like this i get TLS handshake errors in 18.04. Presumably the newer version of the server is restricting older handshakes or cyphers and the clients have not caught up.

and my current xorg.conf is pretty boring:

# don't allow switching to virtual terminals

Section "ServerFlags"

Option "DontVTSwitch"

Option "DontZap"

EndSection

# turn off DPMS (monitor power management)

# and set preferred resolution

Section "Monitor"

Identifier "HDMI1"

Modeline "1280x720_50.00" 60.50 1280 1328 1456 1632 720 723 728 744 -hsync +vsync

Option "PreferredMode" "1280x720_50.00"

Option "DPMS" "false"

EndSection

Section "ServerLayout"

Identifier "ServerLayout0"

Option "StandbyTime" "0"

Option "SuspendTime" "0"

Option "OffTime" "0"

Option "BlankTime" "0"

EndSection

I guess none of that is useful really.

Paul.

Andrew Wilson

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Sep 19, 2018, 1:02:41 PM9/19/18

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No thanks! It's worth a shot

Stephen Marquard

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Sep 20, 2018, 7:17:36 AM9/20/18

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We still have an issue with the Datapath VisionRGB cards and Ubuntu 18.04 (or maybe with the specific gstreamer version.

Anyone else want to try this pipeline and see what happens when there’s nothing plugged into the card?

gst-launch-1.0 v4l2src device=/dev/dada0 ! video/x-raw,format=YUY2,framerate=25/1,width=1280,height=720 ! queue ! videorate ! videoconvert ! xvimagesink name=sink-presentation async=false qos=true sync=false force-aspect-ratio=true

We get flashing black and green.

Regards

Stephen

Paul Pettit

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Oct 9, 2018, 8:43:14 AM10/9/18

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Hi Andy,

Just getting to look at this again - did you manage to get anywhere with the VNC stuff?

Thanks,

Paul.

Andrew Wilson

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Oct 9, 2018, 8:45:28 AM10/9/18

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No I gave up and used a dummy plug to get X to work. I've no plan to run 18.04 just yet but will around Christmas

Paul Pettit

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Oct 9, 2018, 8:48:30 AM10/9/18

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OK, thanks. I'll give it another try this afternoon and see if I get anywhere...

Paul Gration

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Oct 9, 2018, 9:15:09 AM10/9/18

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Not sure if it helps but with 16.04 and the hardware we use we hardly
have anything in our xorg.conf files and instead force the output
resolution with the linux command line option in grub, this sort of thing:

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash video=HDMI-A-1:1280x720D
video=HDMI-A-2:1280x720D video=HDMI-A-3:1280x720D"

This might be useful too:

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/kernel_mode_setting

Paul

On 09/10/18 13:47, Paul Pettit wrote:
> OK, thanks. I'll give it another try this afternoon and see if I get
> anywhere...
>
> On Tue, 9 Oct 2018 at 13:45, Andrew Wilson
> <andrew....@manchester.ac.uk

> <mailto:andrew....@manchester.ac.uk>> wrote:
>
> No I gave up and used a dummy plug to get X to work. I've no plan
> to run 18.04 just yet but will around Christmas
>
> On 9 Oct 2018 13:43, Paul Pettit <p.pe...@keele.ac.uk

> <mailto:p.pe...@keele.ac.uk>> wrote:
> Hi Andy,
>
> Just getting to look at this again - did you manage to get
> anywhere with the VNC stuff?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Paul.
>
> On Wed, 19 Sep 2018 at 18:02, Andrew Wilson
> <andrew....@manchester.ac.uk

> <mailto:andrew....@manchester.ac.uk>> wrote:
>
> No thanks! It's worth a shot
>
> On 19 Sep 2018 18:01, Paul Pettit <p.pe...@keele.ac.uk

> <mailto:andrew....@manchester.ac.uk>> wrote:
>
> Yeah. Just getting a black screen and no xorg.conf I make
> seems to help ( I hate xorg.confs btw) .If you could share
> your x11vnc command and xorg.conf (if you use one) that
> would be great. Not using TLS for now
>
> On 19 Sep 2018 17:44, Paul Pettit <p.pe...@keele.ac.uk

> <mailto:p.pe...@keele.ac.uk>> wrote:
> Hi Andy,
>
> I've only tried X11vnc so far, using the same config as I
> am using for 16.04, but no clients I've tried want to
> connect to it using TLS and I haven't got time to do much
> experimentation at the moment.
>
> Let us know if you get anywhere before I get a chance to
> take another look!
>
> Thanks,
>
> Paul.
>
> On Wed, 19 Sep 2018 at 17:19, Andrew Wilson
> <andrew....@manchester.ac.uk

> <mailto:andrew....@manchester.ac.uk>> wrote:
>
> Cheers Paul. Yep we also avoided HWE on skylake as
> that had mixed results for us.
>
> A question. Has anyone got headless VNC ( or similar)
> working on 18.04.
> X11vnc isn't working right now and vino is just poor
> performance
>
> On 19 Sep 2018 16:41, Paul Gration
> <p.m.g...@sussex.ac.uk

> <mailto:p.m.g...@sussex.ac.uk>> wrote:
> We had simolar with skylake but found removing the HWE
> stuff worked better and our problems with graphics
> drivers went away
>
> On 19 Sep 2018 16:07, Andrew Wilson
> <andrew.j...@gmail.com

> <mailto:andrew.j...@gmail.com>> wrote:
>
> hiya just reviving this thread
>
> so we're just testing on 18.04
> galicaster works which is cool
> lecturesight not working anymore but i suspect i
> need to install the intel neo opencl stuff
>
> we had to do this because the intel GPU in the
> latest coffeelake CPU + boards we now have won't
> work with 16.04 even with HWE kernel/xserver
>
> -andy
>
> On Wed, 29 Aug 2018 at 15:29 Paul Pettit
> <p.pe...@keele.ac.uk

> <mailto:stephen....@uct.ac.za>> wrote:
>
> Hi Paul
>
> This is:
>
> Ubuntu 18.04.1 LTS (GNU/Linux
> 4.15.0-30-generic x86_64)
>
> The drivers are beta versions supplied
> recently by Datapath:
>
> http://downloads.datapath.co.uk/Linux/VisionInstall-7.17.14.304.tar.gz
>
> http://downloads.datapath.co.uk/Linux/VisionLCInstall-1.1.6.303.tar.gz
>
> We have found Datapath support to be very
> responsive, and they do provide new driver
> versions on request when kernel updates
> mean the older ones stop compiling.
>
> Regards
>
> Stephen
>
> ---
> Stephen Marquard, Learning Technologies
> Co-ordinator,
> Centre for Innovation in Learning and
> Teaching (CILT)
> University of Cape Town
> http://www.cilt.uct.ac.za

> <http://www.cilt.uct.ac.za/>
> stephen....@uct.ac.za
> <mailto:stephen....@uct.ac.za>
> Phone: +27-21-650-5037

> <tel:+27%2021%20650%205037> Cell:
> +27-83-500-5290 <tel:+27%2083%20500%205290>
>
> *From:* Paul Pettit <p.pe...@keele.ac.uk
> <mailto:p.pe...@keele.ac.uk>>
> *Sent:* 29 August 2018 03:49 PM
> *To:* comm...@galicaster.org
> <mailto:comm...@galicaster.org>
> *Subject:* Re: [Galicaster] Galicaster on

> Ubuntu 18.04
>
> Hi Stephen,
>
> What kernel are you using?
>
> I had no luck getting a Datapath driver
> for 4.15, and they would not give me a
> timeline for developing one, and just
> stopped responding to me. I am assuming
> they are not really supporting Linux any
> more as there have been no new drivers
> since sept 2017 and they are completely
> unresponsive.
>
> I'm using Magewell cards in our new
> hardware as we needed a 4.15 kernel for
> the new PCs we are getting. Annoying that
> I need to support 2 different OS versions
> though :(
>
> Thanks,
>
> Paul.
>
> On Wed, 29 Aug 2018 at 14:29, Stephen
> Marquard <stephen....@uct.ac.za

> <mailto:stephen....@uct.ac.za>> wrote:
>
> Hi all,
>
> FYI, we are busy testing Galicaster on
> Ubuntu 18.04 with Datapath VisionRGB
> and VisionLC cards.
>
> So far it works OK for except for a
> flashing green issue with the Datapath
> cards when there’s no signal present.
> Datapath is looking into this for us
> (it seems to be connected to the
> videorate element in the pipeline).
>
> Cheers
>
> Stephen
>
> ---
> Stephen Marquard, Learning
> Technologies Co-ordinator,
> Centre for Innovation in Learning and
> Teaching (CILT)
> University of Cape Town
> http://www.cilt.uct.ac.za

> <https://protect-za.mimecast.com/s/akQ6Cy8AEXUJWkE8HZppjV>
> stephen....@uct.ac.za
> <mailto:stephen....@uct.ac.za>
> Phone: +27-21-650-5037

> <tel:+27%2021%20650%205037> Cell:
> +27-83-500-5290
> <tel:+27%2083%20500%205290>

>
> Disclaimer - University of Cape Town
> This email is subject to UCT policies
> and email disclaimer published on our
> website at
> http://www.uct.ac.za/main/email-disclaimer

> <https://protect-za.mimecast.com/s/OyNuCzm4GXCnB9vkuXO08V>

> or obtainable from +27 21 650 9111

> <tel:+27%2021%20650%209111>. If this

> email is not related to the business
> of UCT, it is sent by the sender in an
> individual capacity. Please report
> security incidents or abuse via
> https://csirt.uct.ac.za/page/report-an-incident.php

> <https://protect-za.mimecast.com/s/EgwtCAnX51iVo2MwI9McVg>.

>
>
> --
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