Expo matrix / panel display

[gerry]

Hello,

In the 'Xlights 4 new effects' session at the Expo that Gil presented (that I am now watching) , is that large display unit to Gil's left (that the matrix effects were being demonstrated on) a set of P10 panels or a large monitor/TV screen ?

I thought I heard Gil point to them as P10 panels .

If that is the case , how are the xlights effects and changes being projected on them in real time ?

I thought that one had to save the fseq file , upload it to the FPBBB and then play it there to see the results.

[mararunr]

Yes, P10 panels.  You can output to physical lights directly from xlights.  Creating fseq and loading to USB is for if you want to schedule your sequence to run at a certain time.  One of the powerful uses of xlights is real time light manipulation on your pixels, panels, projectors, whatever.

[JonB256]

Yes, that is a 4x5 P10 display, brought to Expo by Tom

If you put the P10's BeagleBoneBlack (BBB) in Bridge Mode and have a connection from the computer running xLights, it works in real time.

If you have a large P10 display and tried to send that much data over a Wireless, it might choke.

ok - I actually tested live output to my 3x3 P10 panel over wireless - it appears just fine. If there is any lag or jerkiness due to wireless, I'm not seeing it. I'm outputting Unicast to the BBB (Multicast didn't seem to work)

one note, though - I'm not using the USB Edimax wireless normally used with the BBB. I'm using an Edimax EW-7438RPn in Bridge mode to give me a Cat5 into the BBB. It never goes to sleep on me, a problem I kept having with the USB wireless.

[gerry]

Thanks Jon,

I will give it a try tomorrow. I do have my computer connected via cat5 to a router which is then connected to the BBB FP  as well as the PI.

This will save me heaps of time . I have been using xlights to output to other lights directly, but for the P10 , have ben following the route I described, which is why I was so keen to get multi synch working last week ! So that I could hear the seq on the Pi and see the effects on the panels.

I have read the forums quite a bit , but did not stumble across this . maybe its one if the things that people just know about.. Am currently using multicast, but if that does not work, will switch yo unicast.

Good thing I was paying close attention to Gil and thanks Mark once again for recording these.

[gerry]

Yes, that is a 4x5 P10 display, brought to Expo by Tom
If you put the P10's BeagleBoneBlack (BBB) in Bridge Mode and have a connection from the computer running xLights, it works in real time.
ok - I actually tested live output to my 3x3 P10 panel over wireless - it appears just fine. If there is any lag or jerkiness due to wireless, I'm not seeing it. I'm outputting Unicast to the BBB (Multicast didn't seem to work)

Jon , I tried this and encountered a few problems.
My setup is computer connected to router which has a FP on a Pi and a FP on a BBB (FFBBB) connected via an Ethernet cable . The FFBBB/panels now work well in standalone or multisynch mode and with multicast defined.
Time is set manually on the FPBBB as show network is not internet enabled.
 
Whilst leaving all the definitions as they are (from the working multisynch setup) , the only thing I changed was the FP  mode on the FP BBB. As soon as I do that the FP status goes to FPPD is Stopped (and the time below it on the Program control page goes blank). Starting the FPPD a few times does nothing. I assume that this is not normal ? I could not see anything obvious in the logs . Scanned the falcon forum.

Changed to Unicast in xLights setup (only for the universes covering the panels) and tried again, but it did not work (but my heart was not in it because of the above).
So reverted to multisynch .

Am I missing anything obvious ?
 



I went onto scan the Falcon forum for Bridge mode etc
 

[JonB256]

Gerry, I got lost with your various abbreviations for devices.

Your original question involved sending Live data from xLights/Nutcracker to your devices. If sending to both, they both need to be in Bridge mode so that they are listening/receiving data from your network.

Do  they have fixed IP addresses?

[gerry]

Hello Jon,

I edited the previous post to amend the abbreviations.
Both the FP on the Pi and the FP on the BBB have fixed ip addresses.
Was really only interested in sending data to the FP on the BBB that the P10 panels were connected to in real time from xlights. Exactly like in Gils video.

I could disconnect the FP on the PI and remove it, so then I only have laptop to router to FP on the BBB set to bridge mode. In which case, I assume that the FP,player status should not be stopped , when I do this ? And that as long as the time is set on the FP of the BBB , no internet connection is required ?

[CaptainMurdoch]

Are you saying FPPD won't start when you switch to bridge mode but will start fine when setup as a remote?  Do you have any universes configured for bridge mode?  Maybe there is a bug if there are no universes defined.   I may need to see the logs to see why it isn't starting.

[JonB256]

I've attached a screen shot of my BBB_P10 Status Screen.
This BBB is using a fixed IP address. Connected via a Wireless bridge.
Because of the Wireless Bridge, I can't send it Multicast data because I have my home Router blocking all Multicast from Wireless. But I did just verify that it will receive Multicast if I connect via CAT5 to my local switch.

Does your BBB_P10 screen look anything like this?

[gerry]

Are you saying FPPD won't start when you switch to bridge mode but will start fine when setup as a remote?  Do you have any universes configured for bridge mode?  Maybe there is a bug if there are no universes defined.   I may need to see the logs to see why it isn't starting.

Hello Captain,

That is correct . It (the FPPD) wont start . I tried starting it a few times to no effect . As soon as I change it to Remote or Standalone it is fine ie it runs and the panels work.

However , where do I define a Universe for 'bridge mode' ? I have all the universes defined on the E1.31 screen all saying multicast , but the E1.31 box is not ticked.

I am not at home now , but to avoid folks having to respond , I will retry today (my evening) and paste the definitions of all the screens.

for the logs , just change to debug and ensure everything is ticked ?

 

[gerry]

I've attached a screen shot of my BBB_P10 Status Screen.
This BBB is using a fixed IP address. Connected via a Wireless bridge.
Because of the Wireless Bridge, I can't send it Multicast data because I have my home Router blocking all Multicast from Wireless. But I did just verify that it will receive Multicast if I connect via CAT5 to my local switch.

Does your BBB_P10 screen look anything like this?

Hello Jon,
No , my screen says FPPD is Stopped , the button on the right says Start FPPD and there is absolutely nothing in the section below ie no bytes transferred , but also no universes listed.
I tried starting the FPPD as well as rebooting. then spent time scanning the forum for 'bridge'
So I may be missing a definition of Universes 'for Bridge mode' ?
However, I will post all my screens this evening .
At least I can test my sequence output to the panels using multisynch (so that I can hear the seq via the Pi audio) but that is a bit tedious and round about if I can simply play it from my laptop with xLights and fine tune that way.

[JonB256]

On the Settings Tab of your BBB_P10, you need to define the number of universes.

I set 128 Universes (1 thru 128 ) of Multicast. If you have no entries there, then Bridge Mode doesn't know what to listen for. Note I set as Multicast, but it will ignore that if you have a Fixed IP address and use Unicast.

I think the "Enable E1.31 Output" box makes people think it is only used for Output, but it is dual purpose.

In the attached picture, I changed from 128 to 96 Universes, saved and restarted the FPPD.
The Bridge Mode listing on Status immediately changed to just 96.

[CaptainMurdoch]

We will be separating out the E1.31 input and output config options after FPP v1.5 hopefully.

Once you upload, I won't be able to look at logs zip until tomorrow probably but hopefully it will help us figure it out.

[gerry]

Hello,

Attached is a document with screen prints showing my setup , what happens as well as my config

Sequence :
Ran the BBB FP in standalone mode and checked that output was being displayed on the panels. (Screen print)
Changed to Bridge mode. FPPD stopped (Screen print)
Took screen prints of config and downloaded logs {info mode} (Screen prints)
Changed to Standalone mode. FPPD immediately started (Screen print)
Changed to Bridge mode. FPPD stopped (Screen print)
Tried to Start FPPD. Status changed to running for 1 sec and then immediately stopped again.
downloaded zipped logs (with debug mode)

Config is as per first screen , Laptop hardwired to router which connects to BBB with FP.
Standalone network , no Wifi anywhere. No internet connection. Time correctly set manually
Config has not been changed for a while and works standalone and multi synch
 



[attachment deleted by admin]

[gerry]

On the Settings Tab of your BBB_P10, you need to define the number of universes.

I set 128 Universes (1 thru 128) of Multicast. If you have no entries there, then Bridge Mode doesn't know what to listen for. Note I set as Multicast, but it will ignore that if you have a Fixed IP address and use Unicast.

I think the "Enable E1.31 Output" box makes people think it is only used for Output, but it is dual purpose.

In the attached picture, I changed from 128 to 96 Universes, saved and restarted the FPPD.
The Bridge Mode listing on Status immediately changed to just 96.

Thanks for this Jon. I do have the universes defined on that screen (without really understanding what function uses what) from the time > a week ago that I was trying to get multi synch to work and someone suggested that this needed to be defined. Whilst maybe overkill, I have my xLights , master FP and the BBB FP with identical configurations whether some of them will be used or not.
Yesterday , I  played with changing the definition to Unicast , but was not sure exactly where all it had to be changed and anyhow the fact that the FPPD had stopped made me think that the rest of my testing was not going to be fruitful.

The IP addresses are static.

I do not have internet connection for the BBB FP though , but the time is correct.