EUROLITE USB-DMX512-PRO Interface, not playing-showing as output
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Hi there,
after the usual but always needed grats for your continuing efforts on this great software i wanted to ask if it's me that i don't get something or is it something else inside the program that doesn't allow the Eurolite USB-DMX512-PRO Interface to be seen as an output?
As far as i tried nothing can be done. FreeStyler sees it but (along with my sorry to developers and users of FS) as far as I may say, the comparison is by far for the QLC+.
So if there is something that can be done either by me or by any of you i'd appreciate your answers.
Thanks in advance
Is there any chance to get an answer for the above?
Hi,
QLC+ doesn't support this device now. OLA in LInux supports it, so
it's possible to use OLA plugin with this card (Linux/OSX only, no Windows)
the code is available, and pretty simple, so creating plugin for this device should not be hard, may be even one of the existing may work. The downside is, that no of the current developers has the device, and development without the device is slow.
If you know C++, I may guide you through the process.
Jano thanks for answering.
Unfortunately i don't know C++ (one of the many things i regret every day for not giving them some time), my only relation to programming is minimized to MSOffice... (Access and all these).
I don't know if i could follow your guideness but to just have a look of how a plugin is, just give me the info where i can find it in the source files (is it just the plugins folder?) and what info i should have from the device side, cause in the box there was nothing and i only downloaded the drivers from the site of eurolite.de
Thanks again
I got fooled by the name and the positive comments about this device at Thomann. I would like to port the plugin to QLC+ as soon as possible. We should be running with the device by May.
I already cloned the git repository to my laptop and currently setting up the environment.
Update: currently compiling qlcplus
Update: it compiled and installed without any problems on 64 bit Ubuntu 14.04
Could you suggest a good starting point for the Eurolite USB-DMX512-PRO plugin?
[ 250.449708] usb 3-3: USB disconnect, device number 6
[ 256.214038] usb 3-2: new full-speed USB device number 7 using xhci_hcd
[ 256.234882] usb 3-2: New USB device found, idVendor=04d8, idProduct=fa63
[ 256.234892] usb 3-2: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=0
[ 256.234897] usb 3-2: Product: Eurolite DMX512 Pro
[ 256.234901] usb 3-2: Manufacturer: Eurolite
[ 256.235818] cdc_acm 3-2:1.0: This device cannot do calls on its own. It is not a modem.
[ 256.235861] cdc_acm 3-2:1.0: ttyACM0: USB ACM device
Last edit: Karri Kaksonen 2015-03-06
Hi have a look at the nanodmx code (which maps a ttyACM device as well)
https://github.com/mcallegari/qlcplus/blob/master/plugins/dmxusb/src/nanodmx.cpp
Keep in mind that not being based on a FTDI chip, you'll have to understand how to make it work and also it will work only in Linux.
Ask Eurolite for specifications...even though I can already imagine the (non) answer
Update: apparently OLA supports it:
https://wiki.openlighting.org/index.php/OLA_Device_Specific_Configuration#Eurolite_USB_DMX512_PRO
Thanks for the hints. I will give it a shot as qlcplus/plugins/dmxusb/src/eurolite.cpp
If it starts working we will try it out in the theatre for a while to see if it is stable enough.
In the OLA sources the Eurolite seems to support 518 byte bulk transfers of the entire universe.
Unfortunately this is the 1st time for me coding anything in DMX. But it looks like the required info is available.
Last edit: Karri Kaksonen 2015-03-06
Reading around, it seems it uses the same protocol of the Enttec Open adapter.
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/open-lighting/De2u_murblw
If that's true, it should be easy to make it work.
I could do it in a few hours :)
I got to the point that the plugin is identified and it pops up on the input page in QLC+. Unfortunately I have no lights at home so I have to wait until the next time I go to the theatre in order to borrow some lights home.
I started from NanoDMX and edited in the commands for writing out the universe.
I also added a rule to udev for read/write access and the vendor and product id's to the place where the plugin is registered.
The plugin appears to be working good enough for me. I will clean it up a bit and make a git request for merging it. Probably tomorrow or during the week-end.
Hi, sounds like good news !
How did you organize the source in the end ?
Did you sublass enttecopen or nanodmx ?
I took the nanodmx route. Perhaps it could have been done better.
On my laptop the usb's don't have dots in the name so it was not recognized at all. Like 2-1 and not 2-1.0
The widget is from DMX USB class.
I was a litle scared to add a lot of device handling code to a working enttec plugin. It could have caused problems. To make an own class for Eurolite felt safer.
The only downside was that I lost sound for some reason. It could be because I used Qt5 on my Ubuntu 14.04 64bit laptop. I now realized that I should have used Qt4.
The dot thing sounds weird to me as I've implemented the nanodmx support exactly on a ubuntu 14.04.
Also I don't think Qt5 is related to your audio issues. It should be using ALSA, exactly as QLC+ on Qt4 did.
Anyway, ehenever you're ready, please send a PR on GitHub.
Cheers
Done. I also reverted back to Qt4 and the sound came back (mp3 player control in shows). Now I am designing the lights and sounds for the play. So far no problems. Already on page 28/68.
We will be running from my laptop using the branch "eurolite" on rehersals and go with Raspberry Pi2 in May when lights are stable.
The plugin files are in plugins/usbdmx/src/ You'll have to either add required information to enttecdmxusbpro, or clone the related files and adjust that (depending on how different the devices are).
OLA sources are here: https://github.com/OpenLightingProject/ola/tree/master/plugins/usbdmx
Here is an old QLC thread about the device: https://sourceforge.net/apps/phpbb/qlc/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=262&start=0
Here is an article that warns people about this device, that gave me this idea:
It may be possible to download FT_Prog from FTDI site and set the IDs of the device to the those of enttec open or pro, whichever is more similar to the eurolite device. Beware! If you don't know what you are doing, you may brick your device (render unusable/unrepairable)!
Hi again everyone.
After all these months i see that this dongle isn't getting its place in QLC+...
I've checked inside the box and found that the chip is not ftdi but mcp2200 so i understand (not sure for that of course) that this is the pblm that all other usb-dmx plugins don't "see" it.
Anyone here that has found a way to make that work with QLC+...?
It seems this isn't a very popular device... unless you've got several to support it might be better to cut your losses and get something that's compatible. I don't see anything special about it to justify its price tag - it doesn't even seem to claim isolation. Search this forum for Anyma for a really cheap interface I can recommend.
THX for your reply Matthew.
I know that the best to do would be to go for something else but the main pblm is that the setup is running in an occupied theater that hasn't got much money to spend and decisions through the open assembly are very difficult to make (it was my bad from the beginning that i didn't check compatibility)... so i'll stick to FreeStyler for now and hope that someone will find a way to make a plugin for QLC+...