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1 Light 8 Lighting Control
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2 ------------------------
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3
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4 Installation
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5
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6 You'll need Python 2.2, Tk 8.x. Depending on your platform, you might
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7 need SWIG as well. We also assume you have the same hardware that
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8 we built. It shouldn't be too hard to adapt it to another system,
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9 but we leave that as an exercise to the reader.
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10
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11 1. SWIG the parallel port C code. (optional, depending on platform,
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12 compiler, etc.)
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13
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14 First,
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15
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16 shell> make parport_wrap.c
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17
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18 Then,
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19
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20 shell> make parportmodule.so
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21
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22 2. Create the necessary preference files.
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23
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24 shell> touch /tmp/light9.prefs
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25 shell> touch /tmp/light9.prefs.dummy
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26
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27 Sadly, we didn't have the 5 seconds to add this to the code.
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28
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29 3. You're done. Sadly, Light 8 needs to be run as root, due to the nature of
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30 of the parallel port interface. However, you can run it in dummy mode
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31 without being root.
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32
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33 Live mode:
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34 shell> su
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35 <enter password>
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36 shell> python light8.py real
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37
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38 or
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39
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40 Dummy mode:
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41 shell> python light8.py
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42
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43
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44 Introduction and Usage
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45
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46 Light 8 is a quick-and-dirty hack to produce a working
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47 DMX controller written in Python and Tk. Our website,
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48 http://light9.bigasterisk.com/danceshow, has more information.
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49 We hope to produce a more elegant and flexible solution, known as
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50 Light 9. Nevertheless, we found Light 8 useful, and perhaps other
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51 lighting designers will as well.
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52
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53 As an example, we have included the configuration files for the dance
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54 show that we used Light 8 on. Light 8 has two modes, dummy and live.
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55 Each has it's own configuration file. Dummy uses ConfigDummy.py and
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56 live uses Config.py. Speaking of which, you need to add something
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57 after the command line to enter real mode so that you don't accidently
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58 run the show (this may seem silly, but we were developing it on two
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59 computers and didn't want to accidentally run it on both).
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60
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61 Dummy mode:
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62 shell> ./rsn.py
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63
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64 Real mode:
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65 shell> ./rsn.py real
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66
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67 (you could actually type anything for 'real', it just counts
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68 arguments)
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69
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70 Config must include several structures. patch is a dictionary,
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71 mapping channels to dimmers. However, unlike most light boards,
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72 Light 8 supports named channels. Additionally, channels may have
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73 multiple names. Furthermore, there is a 1-to-1 patch of channels
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74 to dimmers. Here's an example patch to illustrate:
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75
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76 patch = {
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77 ('center neutral 1', 'main special') : 1,
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78 'SL blue' : 3,
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79 'SR blue' : 4,
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80 }
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81
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82 In this patch, we can refer to dimmer 1 by two names, 'center
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83 neutral 1' and 'main special'. We can also refer to it as '1' or 1
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84 (either a Python string or int. Heck, maybe even a float, but I'm
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85 not sure). Dimmer 2 can only be referred to as '2' or 2, since
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86 the patch omits a name. Dimmer 3 can be referred to as 'SL blue',
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87 '3', or 3. And so on...
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88
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89 Source file breakdown
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90 ---------------------
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91
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92 rsn.py - Main loop, I/O, GUI, persistence, etc
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93 Xfader.py - 2-group crossfader widget and algorithm
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94 Patch.py - Manages DMX channel naming
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95 util.py - Some cue arithmetic functions
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96 Subs.py - Submaster object, including effects gui api,
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97 Config.py - Show-specific names and effect code
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98 ConfigDummy.py - Show-specific names and effect code for dummy site
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99 parport* - Parallel port interface code
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