Thread: Re: [Visualpython-users] Segmentation fault on Ubuntu 11.04 !

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Hi Bruce Sherwood

I'm on Ubuntu 11.04 - I would like to hear if there's an easy fix for this or if other users can verify this problem... Would it help to downgrade or anything?

> Googling around, I see lots of notes about people having trouble with
> proprietary graphics drivers on Ubuntu 11.04. As a test, I tried
> running the standard OpenGL test program glxgears (which involved
> installing some mesa components). It should show gears rotating, but
> in fact the animation hardly ran; the gears mostly didn't move. There

You're absolutely right, thanks.

> is definitely something very wrong in the graphics area of Ubuntu
> 11.04. This doesn't prove that there isn't some problem with VPython,

Right.

> but there doesn't seem to be much percentage in trying to debug that
> until and unless basic stuff like glxgears can run properly.

[SOLUTION]
Ok, problem has been solved: I de-activated using "ATI/AMD proprietary
FGLRX graphics driver" and re-installed mesa-components, rebooted and
then glxgears as well as some of the pydy/examples-files runs great!

Both the pendulum examples work great in 3D. However, as an example -
the "Rolling disc" runs maybe 2-3 frames and stops within 0.5 seconds
and hangs the window so I have to force quit/close it... I don't have
any idea about where to locate the cause of this problem...

BTW: Now where at least the pendulum examples (single+double) work
fully in 3D, I'll tell you that I want to learn more about multibody
modelling. I want to model a gearbox / drivetrain in a windturbine.
I'm starting to learn from this book: "Computer-Aided Analysis of
Mechanical Systems" (can be downloaded for free) by Parviz E.
Nikravesh and thats how I came around pydy... Is pydy suitable
for that kind of modelling and is it made in a way similar to
that described by Nikravesh ?

(btw no2: I've now disabled to receive mails in digest mode, because
I can see that the group forum software doesn't organize my mails
based on content with the same subject-line... My next replies should
hopefully be in the correct thread, when I just reply to it instead
of making a new email everytime)

Glad to hear you found a solution.

This isn't the right place to ask about pydy, unless there just
happens to be someone on this VPython list (not me) who knows
something about pydy.

You say you're interested in gears. Starting with VPython 5.50, there
is an extrusion object and a library of extrudable shapes that
includes gears. The Ubuntu python-visual package however is version
5.12, so you would have to build from source, which can be painful
(see Linux download page at vpython.org). You can read about
extrusions and gears in the VPython documentation found at vpython.org
(and installed with version 5.71).

Bruce Sherwood

On Fri, May 6, 2011 at 2:52 AM, M. H. <meg...@ho...> wrote:
>> Googling around, I see lots of notes about people having trouble with
>> proprietary graphics drivers on Ubuntu 11.04. As a test, I tried
>> running the standard OpenGL test program glxgears (which involved
>> installing some mesa components). It should show gears rotating, but
>> in fact the animation hardly ran; the gears mostly didn't move. There
>
> You're absolutely right, thanks.
>
>> is definitely something very wrong in the graphics area of Ubuntu
>> 11.04. This doesn't prove that there isn't some problem with VPython,
>
> Right.
>
>> but there doesn't seem to be much percentage in trying to debug that
>> until and unless basic stuff like glxgears can run properly.
>
> [SOLUTION]
> Ok, problem has been solved: I de-activated using "ATI/AMD proprietary
> FGLRX graphics driver" and re-installed mesa-components, rebooted and
> then glxgears as well as some of the pydy/examples-files runs great!
>
> Both the pendulum examples work great in 3D. However, as an example -
> the "Rolling disc" runs maybe 2-3 frames and stops within 0.5 seconds
> and hangs the window so I have to force quit/close it... I don't have
> any idea about where to locate the cause of this problem...
>
>
> BTW: Now where at least the pendulum examples (single+double) work
> fully in 3D, I'll tell you that I want to learn more about multibody
> modelling. I want to model a gearbox / drivetrain in a windturbine.
> I'm starting to learn from this book: "Computer-Aided Analysis of
> Mechanical Systems" (can be downloaded for free) by Parviz E.
> Nikravesh and thats how I came around pydy... Is pydy suitable
> for that kind of modelling and is it made in a way similar to
> that described by Nikravesh ?
>
> (btw no2: I've now disabled to receive mails in digest mode, because
> I can see that the group forum software doesn't organize my mails
> based on content with the same subject-line... My next replies should
> hopefully be in the correct thread, when I just reply to it instead
> of making a new email everytime)

Hi Bruce

> Glad to hear you found a solution.
> 
> This isn't the right place to ask about pydy, unless there just
> happens to be someone on this VPython list (not me) who knows
> something about pydy.

Ah, thanks a lot for your help/comments... I'll look somewhere else and figure something out and ask about pydy elsewhere...

> You say you're interested in gears. Starting with VPython 5.50, there
> is an extrusion object and a library of extrudable shapes that
> includes gears. The Ubuntu python-visual package however is version
> 5.12, so you would have to build from source, which can be painful
> (see Linux download page at vpython.org). You can read about
> extrusions and gears in the VPython documentation found at vpython.org
> (and installed with version 5.71).

Ah, ok. Currently I'm a bit too busy to learn something new but maybe I'll get back to that later when I get more time...

Thanks for your help!

It is the case that VPython worked on Ubuntu 10.10, so downgrading
would presumably work (or maybe you can boot into 10.10 on the boot
page). The problem presumably is the video driver. Interesting that
there's a problem with both you ATI card and my Nvidia card.

I'll mention that the package "python-visual" on Ubuntu 11.04 is still
VPython 5.12, from August 2009. I wonder whether anyone reading this
list knows something about how Ubuntu packages are prepared. Seems
like an awfully long lag time from August 2009 to now, nearly two
years.

Bruce Sherwood

On Thu, May 5, 2011 at 11:53 AM, M. H. <meg...@ho...> wrote:
> Hi Bruce Sherwood
>
> I'm on Ubuntu 11.04 - I would like to hear if there's an easy fix for this
> or if other users can verify this problem... Would it help to downgrade or
> anything?

Googling around, I see lots of notes about people having trouble with
proprietary graphics drivers on Ubuntu 11.04. As a test, I tried
running the standard OpenGL test program glxgears (which involved
installing some mesa components). It should show gears rotating, but
in fact the animation hardly ran; the gears mostly didn't move. There
is definitely something very wrong in the graphics area of Ubuntu
11.04. This doesn't prove that there isn't some problem with VPython,
but there doesn't seem to be much percentage in trying to debug that
until and unless basic stuff like glxgears can run properly.

Bruce Sherwood

On Thu, May 5, 2011 at 12:16 PM, Bruce Sherwood <Bru...@nc...> wrote:
> It is the case that VPython worked on Ubuntu 10.10, so downgrading
> would presumably work (or maybe you can boot into 10.10 on the boot
> page). The problem presumably is the video driver. Interesting that
> there's a problem with both you ATI card and my Nvidia card.
>
> I'll mention that the package "python-visual" on Ubuntu 11.04 is still
> VPython 5.12, from August 2009. I wonder whether anyone reading this
> list knows something about how Ubuntu packages are prepared. Seems
> like an awfully long lag time from August 2009 to now, nearly two
> years.
>
> Bruce Sherwood
>
> On Thu, May 5, 2011 at 11:53 AM, M. H. <meg...@ho...> wrote:
>> Hi Bruce Sherwood
>>
>> I'm on Ubuntu 11.04 - I would like to hear if there's an easy fix for this
>> or if other users can verify this problem... Would it help to downgrade or
>> anything?
>

Thread: Re: [Visualpython-users] Segmentation fault on Ubuntu 11.04 !

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