#102

Factory Norns here, I’m definitely interested in this but both not got round to it and also you are right that I’m slightly afraid of borking it. It won’t stop me trying it but I’ll def want to do it on a day that I’ve got time for coffee, swearing and fault finding.

By the way, thanks for sharing this, it looks like a really substantial piece of work and opens up the platform for even more interesting possibilities.

1 Like
#103

if you’re using windows its best to use VNC, i posted rough instructions here:

basic process (as outlined in above post is)
install real vnc server and jwm on norns
install real vnc client on you windows machines

then rather than use ssh -Y as shown in video,
start vnc server on norns, connect with vnc client (on windows)
then start a terminal window on the desktop that appears (its in the menu at the bottom corner)
then process as per video , stop sidekick, and start it manually.

it might seem complex, but once you’ve done it once its very simple and a really handy way to interact with the norns in the future :slight_smile:

sorry, I missed this post!
two sides to this … size of desktop (on server) and scaling of that desktop on the client

size of the desktop on server, you can change this by specifying size you want the desktop

vncserver -geometry 2560x1440

(you can also do this in a .vnc/config file, but I find it easier to do when launching server)

next… on the client side there are preferences to how it ‘scales’ the desktop, I like to prevent this scaling, to keep the text nice and sharp - I also run in full screen usually (on a mac)

so combined, what I do is use the above geometry which is the size of my mac display,
the have scaling at 100% on client (so no scaling) , then use full screen.
this basically give me a full screen virtual desktop into my norns.

(ok, in fairness, Ive not been doing this much with Norns, rather the Organelle … but its the same thing :wink: )

2 Likes
#104

I’d not had time to try this out, but I just did so using your helpful video and posts here. Thankfully you made it all very easy, so I was successful. I got it working on my original monome norns - and everything that I discovered was very fascinating thus far! Thank you so much for doing this!!

So I got excited and I decided to try adding F-DUST, S-TITAN and S-additive, but they are not visible. I suspected that wouldn’t work, but why not? And where did those patches go after I chose to install them using Sidekick? Do I need to find and remove them so that they don’t cause issues?

#105

Additional orac modules need to be placed in
~/data/orac/modules.
There should be instruction with the module - no?

Note: orac v1 modules need some small changes to make compatible with v2. Some have been done, but not sure if the ones listed have been.

#106

Hi Mark @TheTechnobear .
I think that your .deb files should be accesible as a apt-get command. I´ve been searching for distribute debian packages easily and I found a way to make it.
The idea is when you make a new version of Orac, Sidekick, Mec… replacing the files in the repository and in Norns running the commands:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade orac sidekick mec

Norns will update to the latest releases, as simply as that.
On sidekick´s menu could be a secction called “Check for Updates” that run this commands.

Check this post, there are a lot of information about packages distribution. Look at the " Publish your repository in 2 minutes"

1 Like
#107

hmm, its an interesting idea…
I hadn’t realised a deb repo is as simple as a file store, i thought it had to run some kind of server … but it makes sense thinking about it.but for sure, Im 90% there already as Im already using debs…so seems like a simple move for me.

what I think I’ll do is create a new GitHub repo, just for norns packages, to use as the deb repo.
(this means I can easily push new versions from the rPI build machine im using)

perhaps then what I do is create a simple ./install.sh , which adds the relevant sources, calls apt-get update and install orac/sidekic/mec

the check for updates is a nice idea, means the user doesn’t have to use the command line.
(it needs to be ‘per package’ , as Sidekick is not dependent on orac/mec so cannot refer to it - but thats easy enough I can add support for an ‘update.sh’ per patch (or something similar) )

I think this approach is nice, means user only has to copy and run ./install.sh the first time,
what I like about it, is also gives me a hook into add ‘stretch-backports’ for official norns, and also allows me in the future to add other packages.

demo pd
I have thought about packaging these too… as it would make updating easier, but the reason I haven’t is they show the user how to install their own PD patches (and share them)
so I guess, I’ll keep them separate for now.

sooo… I was waiting to hear that the ‘official norns’ was working ok, which we now know it is :slight_smile:
what I think I’ll do , is now look to make a few minor improvements, then test this distribution mechanism out - if it works then I’ll move to this for the next release.

(I’ll then update the top post here, and make notes on the youtube/patchstorage that the install method has changed…)

thanks for the suggestions,
I think this will make it a bit easier for the end-user, esp. on the upgrade side.

2 Likes
#108

Its more easy, the user simply have to execute one line of code:

sudo curl https://your-web-file-path/install.sh | sh

This command line download the .sh file and execute it automatically.
The install script should include your repo in “/etc/apt/sources.list”

1 Like
#109

hmm, not sure that’s much easier… but I guess we can do that,
I can leave that on the same (git) server as the deb files.

yes, thats what I was suggesting… as well as some other initial stuff that needs to be done

anyway, after a bit of faffing, Ive managed to get it working with GitHub as a backend,
the link you had above, actually makes it much more complicated than it needs to be :wink:

all you actually need to do is run

dpkg-scanpackages . /dev/null |gzip > Packages.gz

then the rest, is just copy/sync your files to a shareable space on the web… ive actually made a GitHub repo, and set it up as GitHub pages , and viola its done…
all I need to do is copy the deb files over, create the packages.gz , and resync to GitHub.
easier than having to upload things to patchstorage :slight_smile:

#110

Yay! Happy to see that it works! Now you can distribute your awesome work much more efficiently.

So… this metod could be ported to make a PureData patches library… perhaps a Sidekick app with a list of installable packages… Posibilities are infinite.

#111

yeah, I want to be careful with this…

I had the same idea for the Organelle, but the issue is
the zip file method is trivial for patch developers (who are not linux experts) to do.
once you start getting into creating packages, basically you reduce the number of people who can distribute stuff to a very small number ( even if you explain how to do it, they simply wont)

for the organelle, this simplicity of uploading a zip file to patch storage has really encouraged anyone who can write a pd patch to contribute.

of course… that does not mean I could not support both :slight_smile:

1 Like
#112

cool, this is now working…

if new users want to test this out,
simply log on to the norns and copy n’ paste this line

sudo curl https://thetechnobear.github.io/apt-norns/install.sh | sh

this works for both Factory Norns , and Fates :slight_smile:

It’ll become the official installation process for the next release… coming soon

(Im also going to update posts, so this is the proper route for factory norns now)

6 Likes
#113

You are fast as lightning!
This makes Orac/Mec/Sidekick a must have on Norns machine.
I think that this change will make more people want to try this out.

3 Likes
#114

definitely looking forward to trying this with Fates, when it’s in my hands! i have a lot of questions, but i’ll wait til i’ve had a chance to tinker around with it in person. that’ll probably answer the most important ones.

1 Like
#115

Ok, Im done, new release time…

Important update release : 0.95

I recommend everyone updates to this new version

new features:

  • Unified release for Factory Norns and Fates
  • New install procedure
  • ‘Check for updates’ to install new updates for orac/sidekick and other supporting apps
  • Power Off is now a ‘sidekick built in’ rather than system script.
  • Optimised painting in NuiLite

fixes:

  • Mec : reduced cpu load, now ~15% on one core, rather than 100%!
  • NuiLite : clearLine now correctly clears characters that ‘drop’ (e.g. g)

note: demo patches have also been updated on patchstorage.com

special thanks to @Oxbown for the suggestions to help simplify install and updates.

Existing Users : Important note

if you have this installed previously, please note the new install procedure detailed in the top post.

tldr; just run the following on norns, nothing else needed !

sudo curl https://thetechnobear.github.io/apt-norns/install.sh | sh
6 Likes
#116

Should FATES users with ORAC 2 on their boards run this command script? Or do you ‘check for updates’ within the Orac environment?

#117

I think I have a spare encoder for my DIY RaspiNorns somewhere. Is it just some gpio adjustments needed to make that work as enc4? (Apart from connecting it of course)?

#118

update went smoothly! thanks for all the hard work @TheTechnobear!

2 Likes
#119

I’m interested but haven’t had time to check it out yet!

1 Like
#120

I have a different overlay file for the 4th encoder. So you’d probably need to make adjustments to your .dts file, recompile it and update /boot/config.txt

Here’s my overlay

2 Likes
#121

rings into clouds via orac on norns :partying_face::partying_face::partying_face:

12 Likes