Summary of Feature Requests for Xlights/Nutcracker

[sean]

in feb of 2014 Matt Brown was looking to use msvc as the compiler. we have alwyas (for many years) been mingw.

Matt Left for LOR, we never switched. The reason Matt was looking at msvc was that audacity is compiled using codeblocks, wxwidgets and msvc. We thought we would need routines from audacity to draw mp3 waveforms and such.

Dave Pitts has figured out how to draw mp3 waveforms using our current stack.

we use codeblocks, wxwidgets and mingw.

In the last 100 releases, none have ever been compiled using msvc. Mingw is the compiler we will keep using as we go to xlights 4.0

xl 4 is progressing very nicely. i think we have daves participation for 2-3 more weeks . he then is going to become a hardware guy and work on his neo and falcon controller boards.

[arw01]

Thanks Sean I got code  blocks installed on the windows 8 machine, have to see if I made it through the wxwidgets installation or not.

Which piece of code does the protocols and which is the lsp export?  I think i would look at the LSP part first and then stick my nose into the protocols, would you expect we have to specify the protocol by element or does xlights already do that if you have a lor dongle and are using e1.31 for the pixels.  I've always been either a USB to pixelnet or e1.31 so never paid that much attention to how xlights knows which is which.

[arw01]

Had some time to work at getting the environment up.  having some trouble at this step of the read me:

1) Open a command prompt
     2) cd to the build\msw directory under your wxWidgets base directory
     3) Some users have reported that their path variable was too long, which confused the wx buld.
        If so, try: SET Path=C:\Windows\system32;C:\Windows;C:\Program Files (x86)\CodeBlocks\MinGW\bin

     4) run: mingw32-make -f makefile.gcc MONOLITHIC=1 SHARED=1 UNICODE=1 CXXFLAGS="-std=gnu++0x" BUILD=debug
     5) run: mingw32-make -f makefile.gcc MONOLITHIC=1 SHARED=1 UNICODE=1 CXXFLAGS="-std=gnu++0x" BUILD=release
     6) If you downloaded the zip or 7z version of wxWidgets instead of the Windows installer version,
        then you need to update your path environment variable to include C:\wxWidgets-3.0.0\lib\gcc_dll
        (assuming C:\wxWidgets-3.0.0 is your wxWidgets base directory).

C:\wxWidgets-3.0.2>mingw32-make -f makefile.gcc MONOLITHIC=1 SHARED=1 UNICODE=1
CXXFLAGS="-std=gnu++0x" BUILD=debug
'mingw32-make' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.

C:\wxWidgets-3.0.2>set path
Path=C:\ProgramData\Oracle\Java\javapath;C:\WINDOWS\system32;C:\WINDOWS;C:\WINDO
WS\System32\Wbem;C:\WINDOWS\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\;C:\Program Files (x
86)\xLights;C:\Program Files x86)\Windows Live\Shared;C:\Program Files (x86)\Qui
ckTime\QTSystem\;C:\wxWidgets-3.0.2\lib\gcc_dll
PATHEXT=.COM;.EXE;.BAT;.CMD;.VBS;.VBE;.JS;.JSE;.WSF;.WSH;.MSC

C:\wxWidgets-3.0.2>dir Mingw32* /S
 Volume in drive C has no label.
 Volume Serial Number is AECB-B01B
File Not Found

C:\wxWidgets-3.0.2>

[sean]

did you download the codeblcoks that has mingw?

here is where my mingw is located. the make command is in the bin directory below that

C:\Program Files (x86)\CodeBlocks\MinGW

HERE IS MY PATH

C:\Users\Sean_Dell\Documents\xLights>path
PATH=C:\ProgramData\Oracle\Java\javapath;C:\Program Files (x86)\CodeBlocks\MinGW
\bin;C:\Program Files (x86)\NVIDIA Corporation\PhysX\Common;C:\Program Files (x8
6)\Intel\iCLS Client\;C:\Program Files\Intel\iCLS Client\;C:\Windows\system32;C:
\Windows;C:\Windows\System32\Wbem;C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\;C:
\Program Files\Intel\Intel(R) Management Engine Components\DAL;C:\Program Files
(x86)\Intel\Intel(R) Management Engine Components\DAL;C:\Program Files\Intel\Int
el(R) Management Engine Components\IPT;C:\Program Files (x86)\Intel\Intel(R) Man
agement Engine Components\IPT;C:\Program Files (x86)\xLights;C:\Program Files\To
rtoiseGit\bin;C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\120\Tools\Binn\;C:\Program F
iles\TortoiseSVN\bin;

[Gilrock]

You missed the step about changing to the "build\msw" directory.

Try running the make commands from:
"C:\wxWidgets-3.0.2\build\msw"

Oh and yeah modify your path like Sean suggested.  If MinGW is not installed under CodeBlocks then you need to get the install that has it.

[arw01]

Sorry my copy and pasted piece did not go down into that directly, but my first attempt and subsequent fumbling was.

So you are thinking I have the wrong code-blocks installed?

Alan

[arw01]

it was a further path issue, I went and specifically added my codeblocks directory onto the tail of the path and off the compile went.

Thanks for the bit of a hint, made me curious enough to go looking at which codeblocks I had installed and I found the mingw directories so I knew they existed, which meant it had to be a path issue.

Alan

[rangerrick]

Hi Paul,

After much thought about creating the perfect tree topper, I wonder if anyone as thought about a 3d sphere or cube.  This solves the problem I have for my boat: Somebody always sees it from the wrong angle whenever the boat is in motion. 

A rotating or 3d effect in a cube would be awesome!  A rotating star, the face of Santa, fill in the blank.  I realize that this has it's own set of issues since it can't be omni-directional, but I'm still thinking this effect would have a huge impact.

Rick