DIY monome compatible grid w/ Adafruit NeoTrellis

Lemmy · 2020-03-02T22:17:05.855Z

Brilliant thanks. I’ll try it in the morning.

Lemmy · 2020-03-03T10:22:53.732Z

There was a problem with file paths. The norns directory structure looks like it has changed in relation to crone and softcut. SoftCutClient.cpp is now SoftcutClient.cpp and the softcut src files have been moved.

I updated the crone_sources in the new crones wscript (upated by the fates diy fix file) to match the paths in the original wscript.
After that, ./waf configure still works fine. When I then run ./waf I now get the following output:

Waf: Entering directory `/home/we/norns/build'
[29/54] Compiling maiden-repl/src/page.c
[30/54] Compiling maiden-repl/src/ui.c
[31/54] Compiling maiden-repl/src/pages.c
[33/54] Compiling maiden-repl/src/main.c
In file included from ../maiden-repl/src/pages.c:1:0:
../maiden-repl/src/page.h:7:21: fatal error: ncurses.h: No such file or directory
 #include <ncurses.h>
                     ^
compilation terminated.

../maiden-repl/src/ui.c:9:19: fatal error: panel.h: No such file or directory
 #include <panel.h>
                   ^
compilation terminated.

../maiden-repl/src/page.c:2:21: fatal error: ncurses.h: No such file or directory
 #include <ncurses.h>
                     ^
compilation terminated.

Waf: Leaving directory `/home/we/norns/build'
Build failed
 -> task in 'maiden-repl' failed with exit status 1 (run with -v to display more information)
 -> task in 'maiden-repl' failed with exit status 1 (run with -v to display more information)
 -> task in 'maiden-repl' failed with exit status 1 (run with -v to display more information)

I get the same error when running ./waf with the default crones wscript in place.

Is this a new thing, DIY Norns connecting to Neotrellis? From my searches most people seem to have been connecting Fates to Neotrellis. Should be the same in theory I guess.

UPDATE

Oh. The grid is detected now, in spite of the errors.

Good news. And I have input from the grid working too.

Looks like I knew exactly what I was doing all along

@okyeron Thanks for the script to sort this out.

For others setting this up - what I did to get this working on a DIY Norns (some linux command line knowledge presumed):

ssh into Norns
cd /home/we
git clone https://github.com/okyeron/fates.git
backup norns/crone wscript file:
sudo cp /home/we/norns/crone/wscript /home/we/norns/crone/wscript.bak
Overwrite original with @okyeron’s:
sudo cp -f /home/we/fates/install/norns/files/crone/wscript /home/we/norns/crone/wscript
Edit the wscript in home/we/norns/crone to have the same crone_sources as in wscript.bak. You also need to update the includes array to include the new location of softcut code, as in wscript.bak:

                 includes=[
                     'src',
                     './',
                     'softcut/softcut-lib/include'
                 ],

sudo cp -f /home/we/fates/install/norns/files/device/device_monitor.c /home/we/norns/matron/src/device/device_monitor.c
cd /home/we/norns
./waf configure
./waf
(I get compilation errors at this stage. See above.)
sleep, reboot
Configure devices in System menu

That worked for me… Perhaps @okyeron could shed light on the process.

okyeron · 2020-03-03T14:45:45.540Z

Ayeeeeeeeee… you shouldn’t need to do all that stuff.

Lemme check on my shield. Will try to report back later today

okyeron · 2020-03-03T15:26:05.813Z

OK, I remembered the steps that were missing - a couple of new packages were added, but are not in the shield kernel yet (these are already installed on fates):

If you’re on norns shield with 200218 do the following (if you’re on another version, update first).

NOTE - Be aware this is a hack/workaround and is not officially supported.
Proceed at your own risk

cd ~/
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install libncurses5-dev libncursesw5-dev
wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/okyeron/fates/master/install/norns/files/device/device_monitor.c
cd ~/norns
git pull
git submodule update --init --recursive
sudo cp -f /home/we/device_monitor.c /home/we/norns/matron/src/device/device_monitor.c
rm /home/we/device_monitor.c
./waf clean
./waf configure --enable-ableton-link
./waf build
sudo reboot

The missing packages will get fixed in the next release I believe. You’ll also need to re-run this after norns updates.

@Lemmy I’d suggest deleting ~/version.txt then go back and run the last update and do the above steps.

Lemmy · 2020-03-03T15:50:56.941Z

OK, will do. Did you look at the fates crone wscript compared with the most recent norns one? The paths to the source files in norns/crone seem to have been changed. That is effectively the main thing I did in the post above - I just ran your diy fix script line by line, but included the changes to norns/crone/wscript.

ground_state · 2020-03-03T16:10:26.998Z

Looks like all of this is partly due to softcut being moved

Lemmy · 2020-03-03T16:18:00.373Z

Yep. Case was also changed in SoftcutClient.cpp and associated header file. Softcut instead of SoftCut.

Lemmy · 2020-03-03T16:39:29.628Z

Compilation was successful after following the recommended steps.

okyeron · 2020-03-03T17:21:36.659Z

Lemmy:

Did you look at the fates crone wscript compared with the most recent norns one?

Nope. To clarify - You should not need to change wscript at all.

Just tested on my shield and my instructions above work just fine.

FWIW - I believe your build errors above were due to the missing ncurses package and the missing submodules

Lemmy · 2020-03-03T17:40:35.639Z

OK great, that makes things simpler.

Duksos · 2020-03-07T01:04:27.676Z

Hello
I’m contemplating this build
Is it easy to get up and running ?

Tonybologna · 2020-03-07T19:58:53.533Z

This guy is asking the real questions. I’ve been monitoring this neotrellis build and the fates build religiously, and I’m curious about the difficulty of these projects. I’m a graphic designer with little soldering experience and no coding experience. So, I’m waiting for other builders to work out the kinks.

Maybe someone can put a walk-through together. I’d love to work together and design some easy to follow instructions.

Lemmy · 2020-03-07T20:11:23.793Z

It really depends on your experience. It’s very straightforward to get a single 4x4 grid up and running and responding to user input, and that will give you the momentum to see it through to the end I think. Perhaps the trickiest part, if you haven’t done much soldering, is joining the neotrellis panels together. In terms of coding you might have to change a few numbers in a script to match the jumpers on your trellis grids, but it’s no big deal and nothing someone here can’t talk you through.
Enclosures are as simple or as complicated as you want to make them. I wouldn’t worry about the enclosure too much up front, just get the grid working first and you’ll be off and running.

okyeron · 2020-03-07T23:42:28.180Z

It really depends on your definition of “easy”

For someone with some soldering experience, it’s pretty easy to put together. If less experienced, then I’m not sure what to say aside from “it depends”. However, there are entire Adafruit guides on using the neotrellis boards, so I’d say there’s already easy to follow instructions out there.

bunkbeds · 2020-03-08T01:32:48.802Z

whenever i joined this board, i had zero soldering experience. after poking around here and elsewhere (and reading that wonderful adafruit soldering guide that was linked), i built up the confidence to pull the trigger on a cheap iron from amazon and get on with it. first thing i did was repair a sampler i had, which just had me desoldering a few points, replacing a potentiometer, and then soldering it into place. after that, i built a fates and felt totally adequately prepared just from getting a feel for the soldering process by fixing the busted sampler. guess what i’m sayin is, if you’ve got the time, energy and physical ability, i highly encourage you to do it! i’ve got a pretty wild tremor from a daily medicine i take and i’m still able to solder just fine. the perceived difficulty of soldering is way over exaggerated. perhaps we should start a campaign to destigmatize soldering.

@okyeron put together a very detailed build guide on how to put together the fates; not to mention he provides incredibly quick and detailed support whenever you may need it over in the fates thread. i’ve found everyone here to be very kind, helpful and supportive at every wobbly step of my soldering and coding journey. there’s also like a million other things i’m sure i could learn from the incredibly talented folks here!

you got this! just remember to double and triple check you’ve got the right component in the right place before touching the iron to anything and you’ll honestly probably be way ahead of the game

ground_state · 2020-03-08T04:29:03.428Z

also @Tonybologna;

If I were to go back and start over again, I would definitely do this, which will certainly make it much easier (the only reason I didn’t was that I didn’t have headers and didn’t want to wait for them to ship ). I ended up using resistor legs, which worked OK, but was definitely much more fiddly.

okyeron · 2020-03-08T04:46:40.185Z

Video for the above mention here

jojjjajjr · 2020-03-08T05:35:01.082Z

I used your technique when I soldered my boards and it worked great. There’s a slight curvature to it, as if it were a small patch of a 2-sphere with a very large radius. Definitely locally flat enough though.

I ended up ripping off one of the SDA pads while removing the header plastic, but the board still works because it has two other SDA connections on the other sides. Thought I’d post about this in case anyone else rips a pad off and worries that it’s catastrophic.

ground_state · 2020-03-08T23:03:31.488Z

jojjjajjr:

Definitely locally flat enough though

As I think someone else mentioned earlier (which is where I got the idea), joining the boards on the opposite side can flatten them out. I ended up doing all of mine, after starting out to try to correct the most obvious curvature.

Hlp · 2020-03-14T19:10:02.822Z

Is there any Trilogy/ansible compatible diy grid in 64 with the same keysize the post-40h grid have?