Running OpenPNP on Ubuntu

[GridWork]

I had my PNP running ok with Windows, but because I am a glutton for punishment, I want to convert over to Ubuntu. The biggest reason to me is hopefully making a more stable machine. 

So far the big issues are camera connectivity and being a novice to Linux/Ubuntu. I am using two different cameras (because of what I have and was able to get). The down looking camera is a NET iCube. It has Linux support, but difficult to configure.

The up-looking camera is an imaging source 72BUC02. Also good Linux support with this one.

I am struggling with the conversion over to Ubuntu in trying to get all of the devices to run. Is it a lost cause? Has anyone had success on Ubuntu?

[vespaman]

Ubuntu is just another linux distro, maybe actually a little better than the rest for OpenPnP (I'm thinking about the blue help button that takes you to the corresponding wiki page - I think it is really only working under Ubuntu, and other gnome distro's, the way it is implemented).

(Personally, I don't like gnome, so no Ubuntu for me.. :-) ).

If the cameras are supported, the normal hassle (regardless of OS), is to make sure they are on separate USB hubs, but as long as you had it working on windows, it should be fine where they where.

You will find them in /dev/ as with any drivers under linux.

You say that you are struggling, in what way, or with what exactly?

 - Micael

[GridWork]

First, OpenPNP is awesome, I like the look of it, the modularity and pretty much everything about it. The struggling has been more in taking the training wheels off (figuratively) and moving over to Linux. Things are just done differently than Windows. Switching from just downloading the Windows installer for whatever device to the .deb package or using apt-get (or equivalent) is just taking some getting used to. Going through the installs and finding that the USB drivers for the camera didn't install, but having no clue how to force the install of them.

I'm curious as to why the cameras should be on different hubs. I can understand somewhat on a bandwidth (resulting in dropped frames) but would there be a connectivity issue?

[mark maker]

> The struggling has been more in taking the training wheels off (figuratively) and moving over to Linux. Things are just done differently than Windows.

I'm basically trying the same for some months now, so I know what you mean. I found that installing Kubuntu (KDE) instead of Ubuntu (Gnome) helped a lot. But that's probably because I want to stay in control, I like to be able to adjust things to my liking. I have this 40 inch 5k monitor that I want to use in a professional way. I don't want/need a UI that mimics a mobile phone, as Gnome seems to do (I'm exaggerating). You can install Kubuntu on top of Ubuntu (I did that on one PC).

There's some stuff that is actually good to be different on Linux. Doing things on the command-line and especially the package management is one such example. It has its learning curve, but it offers a robust way to replicate these administrative steps, simply by copy&paste. With a bit of discipline you can even save all these snippets, so in case you want to setup the next PC, you're all set. Believe me, once you get the hang of this, you will direly miss it once you need to setup something on a Windows computer 😉.

Other things just suck on Linux. All my expensive Scanners, for instance, I can forget to run under Linux. Printing does not currently work reliable on my Canon printer (it often just prints the first page). LibreOffice Writer is no serious replacement for Word unfortunately (and this is really a shame).

I guess Webcam support is another one such example, see this discussion:

https://groups.google.com/g/openpnp/c/SpkC2XxB_jk/m/giIKoFwkAwAJ

I added some survival features, especially the Freeze Properties?:

https://github.com/openpnp/openpnp/wiki/OpenPnpCaptureCamera#freezing-camera-properties

Conclusion: using this switch, they work for me as long as I leave those settings alone, once set up.

Hang in there!

> I'm curious as to why the cameras should be on different hubs.

If they worked under Windows on the same PC, then I see no reason why they should suddenly stop working under Linux.

However, if you changed the cabling or even the PC, then look here:

https://github.com/openpnp/openpnp/wiki/USB-Camera-Troubleshooting-FAQ

_Mark

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