2016-02-25
New Blog over at root42.de/blog
Blogger is out -- long live the new Blog! Head now over to http://www.root42.de/blog and get all the same content you had here!
2016-02-20
ScummVM fullscreen on a Raspberry Pi TFT touchscreen
I managed to get ScummVM running on the 3.5" Waveshare touchscreen. This is obviously only nice, if it runs fullscreen. Have a look:
For this to work, you need to adjust your openbox configuration, assuming you are running a default Raspbian with LXDE / openbox. Edit .config/openbox/lxde-pi-rc.xml and add the following to the applications section:
You can switch between fullscreen and windowed mode by pressing Alt+F11, in the default openbox configuration.
Next, you need to install scummvm and the OpenGL software rasterizer, since the touch screen frame buffer does not support the hardware OpenGL engine that the Pi provides:
This will also install dri drivers and some OpenGL utilities, such as glxgears to test performance.
Now you want to tell ScummVM to actually use the OpenGL backend driver, or else it will not scale to, but rather use the default 2x scaler, which is too large for the 480x320 display. Easiest way to do this is to edit ~/.scummvmrc (you have to have run ScummVM at least once for this) and edit the [scummvm] section to have these lines:
If gfx_mode or the other lines already exist, edit them to your liking.
For this to work, you need to adjust your openbox configuration, assuming you are running a default Raspbian with LXDE / openbox. Edit .config/openbox/lxde-pi-rc.xml and add the following to the applications section:
<application class="scummvm" name="scummvm">
<fullscreen>yes</fullscreen>
</application>
You can switch between fullscreen and windowed mode by pressing Alt+F11, in the default openbox configuration.
Next, you need to install scummvm and the OpenGL software rasterizer, since the touch screen frame buffer does not support the hardware OpenGL engine that the Pi provides:
$ sudo apt-get install scummvm mesa-utils libgl1-mesa-dri libgl1-mesa-swx11
This will also install dri drivers and some OpenGL utilities, such as glxgears to test performance.
Now you want to tell ScummVM to actually use the OpenGL backend driver, or else it will not scale to, but rather use the default 2x scaler, which is too large for the 480x320 display. Easiest way to do this is to edit ~/.scummvmrc (you have to have run ScummVM at least once for this) and edit the [scummvm] section to have these lines:
[scummvm]
last_fullscreen_mode_width=480
last_fullscreen_mode_height=320
gfx_mode=opengl_nearest
If gfx_mode or the other lines already exist, edit them to your liking.
Installing an ads7864 based Raspberry Pi TFT touchscreen (Waveshare 3.5" LCD)
I have a Waveshare 3.5" TFT touch screen for the Raspberry Pi. Those displays come with some software to help set it up. Sadly, this only works for Raspbian based on Debian 7. The new Raspbian Debian 8 (Jessie) does not play well with this setup. So here is what I did to make it work.
First of all, you need to upgrade the kernel on your brand new Jessie installation:
I had to do the power off, or else the Pi would show only a black screen after reboot. YMMV.
Next up, we need to change the boot parameters, i.e. the /boot/config.txt and /boot/cmdline.txt. Add the following to the end of /boot/cmdline.txt:
This chooses a smaller font for the framebuffer console and turns off the boot logo.
Second, add the following lines to the end of /boot/config.txt:
Next step is setting up all the kernel modules. Make sure /etc/modules contains exactly these line:
The options for these modules have to be put in a file called /etc/modprobe.d/lcd.conf:
Next up are the X11 configurations. First, add a file /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/99-calibration.conf with the following content:
You also need to edit /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/99-fbturbo.conf. It should already exist, and you need to make it have this content:
The change is setting the fbdev to /dev/fb1, which is the touchscreen, instead of /dev/fb0, which is the HDMI output.
Last but not least, you may want to install the input calibration tool:
After all this, reboot and hopefully the Pi will reboot into a tiny X11 session on the touch screen.
You can calibrate the display by running this, e.g. via an ssh session:
You simply have to replace the calibration and swap axes lines into your /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/99-calibration.conf, which we created earlier.
First of all, you need to upgrade the kernel on your brand new Jessie installation:
$ sudo rpi-update
$ sudo power off
I had to do the power off, or else the Pi would show only a black screen after reboot. YMMV.
Next up, we need to change the boot parameters, i.e. the /boot/config.txt and /boot/cmdline.txt. Add the following to the end of /boot/cmdline.txt:
fbcon=map:10 fbcon=font:ProFont6x11 logo.nologo
This chooses a smaller font for the framebuffer console and turns off the boot logo.
Second, add the following lines to the end of /boot/config.txt:
dtparam=audio=on
dtparam=spi=on
dtoverlay=ads7846,cs=1,penirq=17,penirq_pull=2,speed=1000000,keep_vref_on=1,swapxy=1,pmax=255,xohms=60,xmin=200,xmax=3900,ymin=200,ymax=3900
dtparam=i2c_arm=on
dtoverlay=w1-gpio-pullup,gpiopin=4,extpullup=1
Next step is setting up all the kernel modules. Make sure /etc/modules contains exactly these line:
spi-bcm2835
snd-bcm2835
i2c-bcm2708
i2c-dev
ads7846
flexfb
fbtft_device
The options for these modules have to be put in a file called /etc/modprobe.d/lcd.conf:
options flexfb width=320 height=480 regwidth=16 init=-1,0xb0,0x0,-1,0x11,-2,250,-1,0x3A,0x55,-1,0xC2,0x44,-1,0xC5,0x00,0x00,0x00,0x00,-1,0xE0,0x0F,0x1F,0x1C,0x0C,0x0F,0x08,0x48,0x98,0x37,0x0A,0x13,0x04,0x11,0x0D,0x00,-1,0xE1,0x0F,0x32,0x2E,0x0B,0x0D,0x05,0x47,0x75,0x37,0x06,0x10,0x03,0x24,0x20,0x00,-1,0xE2,0x0F,0x32,0x2E,0x0B,0x0D,0x05,0x47,0x75,0x37,0x06,0x10,0x03,0x24,0x20,0x00,-1,0x36,0x28,-1,0x11,-1,0x29,-3
options fbtft_device debug=3 rotate=90 name=flexfb speed=16000000 gpios=reset:25,dc:24
options ads7846_device model=7846 cs=1 gpio_pendown=17 keep_vref_on=1 swap_xy=1 pressure_max=255 x_plate_ohms=60 x_min=200 x_max=3900 y_min=200 y_max=3900
Next up are the X11 configurations. First, add a file /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/99-calibration.conf with the following content:
Section "InputClass"
Identifier "calibration"
MatchProduct "ADS7846 Touchscreen"
Option "Calibration" "126, 3734, 3892, 199"
Option "SwapAxes" "1"
EndSection
You also need to edit /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/99-fbturbo.conf. It should already exist, and you need to make it have this content:
Section "Device"
Identifier "Allwinner A10/A13 FBDEV"
Driver "fbturbo"
Option "fbdev" "/dev/fb1"
Option "SwapbuffersWait" "true"
EndSection
The change is setting the fbdev to /dev/fb1, which is the touchscreen, instead of /dev/fb0, which is the HDMI output.
Last but not least, you may want to install the input calibration tool:
$ sudo apt-get install xinput-calibrator
After all this, reboot and hopefully the Pi will reboot into a tiny X11 session on the touch screen.
You can calibrate the display by running this, e.g. via an ssh session:
$ DISPLAY=:0 xinput_calibrator
Calibrating EVDEV driver for "ADS7846 Touchscreen" id=6
current calibration values (from XInput): min_x=3932, max_x=300 and min_y=294, max_y=3801
Doing dynamic recalibration:
Swapping X and Y axis...
Setting calibration data: 2763, 2763, 2942, 2978
--> Making the calibration permanent <-- span="">
copy the snippet below into '/etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/99-calibration.conf' (/usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/ in some distro's)
Section "InputClass"
Identifier "calibration"
MatchProduct "ADS7846 Touchscreen"
Option "Calibration" "2763 2763 2942 2978"
Option "SwapAxes" "1"
EndSection
You simply have to replace the calibration and swap axes lines into your /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/99-calibration.conf, which we created earlier.
2015-02-11
How to setup mDNS lookups on the Raspberry Pi
I've got the new Raspberry Pi 2, and was setting it up the other day. The first thing that annoys me with vanilla Debian installations is that they don't have mDNS/zeroconf/avahi enabled by default. This technology is very useful, since it helps you to advertise services on you local network, lets you resolve host names without the need for setting up a DNS server and much more.
Especially the convenience of not having to remember IP-addresses for your machines is worth the work to set this up. With DHCP you might not even get the same IP for every machine every time.
For this to work, I asked a question over at the Linux & Unix StackExchange. So parts of this blog entry are taken from there.
First, you might want to install avahi on your RasPi;
sudo apt-get install avahi-daemon
This should help with the Pi being resolvable by name from other machines -- which also have to support mDNS. For example Macs will come with mDNS-lookup enabled. So you should be able to ping your Pi just by using its name plus the local-domain:
ping raspberrypi.local
Next, you want to install the client side name service support for mDNS:
sudo apt-get install libnss-mdns
Make sure that the /etc/nsswitch.conf contains this line:
hosts: files mdns4_minimal [NOTFOUND=return] dns mdns4
There is probably already a line starting with "hosts:", which you can simple comment out with the #-sign.
For added convenience, you may want to add the sshd to the advertised services of avahi. Simply add a file /etc/avahi/services/ssh.service containing the following lines:
This should let you use mDNS on you Pi, see the advertised services on you other machines in the local network. If you are using Plex Media Server (see this great post), it will also utilize avahi to advertise its services.
Especially the convenience of not having to remember IP-addresses for your machines is worth the work to set this up. With DHCP you might not even get the same IP for every machine every time.
For this to work, I asked a question over at the Linux & Unix StackExchange. So parts of this blog entry are taken from there.
First, you might want to install avahi on your RasPi;
sudo apt-get install avahi-daemon
This should help with the Pi being resolvable by name from other machines -- which also have to support mDNS. For example Macs will come with mDNS-lookup enabled. So you should be able to ping your Pi just by using its name plus the local-domain:
ping raspberrypi.local
Next, you want to install the client side name service support for mDNS:
sudo apt-get install libnss-mdns
Make sure that the /etc/nsswitch.conf contains this line:
hosts: files mdns4_minimal [NOTFOUND=return] dns mdns4
There is probably already a line starting with "hosts:", which you can simple comment out with the #-sign.
For added convenience, you may want to add the sshd to the advertised services of avahi. Simply add a file /etc/avahi/services/ssh.service containing the following lines:
<?xml version="1.0" standalone='no'?><!--*-nxml-*-->
<!DOCTYPE service-group SYSTEM "avahi-service.dtd">
<service-group>
<name replace-wildcards="yes">%h</name>
<service>
<type>_ssh._tcp</type>
<port>22</port>
</service>
</service-group>
This should let you use mDNS on you Pi, see the advertised services on you other machines in the local network. If you are using Plex Media Server (see this great post), it will also utilize avahi to advertise its services.
2014-11-19
Autocompletion for C and C++ with Emacs 24
I have already done a blog post on auto completion using Emacs. But that was back in Emacs 23 days. Long ago...
Since then a lot has happened. Emacs 24 has been released, package managers like MELPA or ELPA have become standard, and company-mode seems to be winning against auto-complete. Also, clang has made huge strides forward.
So it is time to revisit the task of developing C or C++ using Emacs. I have put online an easy-to-install Emacs init.el that you can use as a start for your own development environment. I am using the OS X version of Emacs, but this should also work on Linux, given that you have clang and git installed.
You can install this init.el by issuing the following commands:
The file will make sure that upon startup of Emacs all necessary packages are installed, like company, magit but also LaTeX tools like aucTeX or refTeX. You can disable this check (or individual packages) in the init.el.
The code is up on github, so feel free to fork and/or contribute.
When doing simple C++ programming using only standard libraries, you should be ready to go. For more complex projects, you have to tweak the clang parameters, so that the compiler will find the header files. Completion happens automatically after ".", "->" and "::" but also when pressing M-/. You can rebind this key in the init.el, of course. This is what the completion looks like:
You can run it by executing M-x magit-status. Just type ? to get online help. Magit uses simple one-character-commands, like s for stage, c for commit, p for push and so on.
Currently I am evaluating the integration of lldb into Emacs, but haven't come far enough to say that I have found a powerful and flexible interface, apart from the standard command line. So there's more to come, hopefully!
Since then a lot has happened. Emacs 24 has been released, package managers like MELPA or ELPA have become standard, and company-mode seems to be winning against auto-complete. Also, clang has made huge strides forward.
So it is time to revisit the task of developing C or C++ using Emacs. I have put online an easy-to-install Emacs init.el that you can use as a start for your own development environment. I am using the OS X version of Emacs, but this should also work on Linux, given that you have clang and git installed.
You can install this init.el by issuing the following commands:
cd git clone https://github.com/root42/yet-another-emacs-init-el mkdir ~/.emacs.d cd ~/.emacs.d ln -snf ../yet-another-emacs-init-el/init.el .
The file will make sure that upon startup of Emacs all necessary packages are installed, like company, magit but also LaTeX tools like aucTeX or refTeX. You can disable this check (or individual packages) in the init.el.
The code is up on github, so feel free to fork and/or contribute.
When doing simple C++ programming using only standard libraries, you should be ready to go. For more complex projects, you have to tweak the clang parameters, so that the compiler will find the header files. Completion happens automatically after ".", "->" and "::" but also when pressing M-/. You can rebind this key in the init.el, of course. This is what the completion looks like:
My most commonly used keys that I have re-bound are as follows:
- f3 - Runs ff-find-other-file, trying to switch between header and implementation for C/C++ programs.
- f4 - Toggles the last two used buffers.
- f5, f6 - If tabbar is enabled (tabbar-mode), navigates back/forward through tabs.
- f7 - Toggle ispell dictionaries (german/english).
- f8 - Kill current buffer.
- f9 - Run compile.
- M-? - Run grep.
- M-n - Go to next error in compilation buffer.
- M-S-n - Go to previous error in compilation buffer.
- M->, M-< - Go to next/previous Emacs frame.
- M-/ - Run autocompletion using company mode.
- C-x o, C-x C-o - Go to next/previous Emacs window
Currently I am evaluating the integration of lldb into Emacs, but haven't come far enough to say that I have found a powerful and flexible interface, apart from the standard command line. So there's more to come, hopefully!
2014-08-31
How to view clojure docs in Emacs Cider
Developing clojure with Emacs Cider is great. To be able to view summaries for clojure functions and special forms, type this in you Cider REPL:
Afterwards, you can do stuff like this:
(use 'clojure.repl)
Afterwards, you can do stuff like this:
my.repl> (doc conj)
-------------------------
clojure.core/conj
([coll x] [coll x & xs])
conj[oin]. Returns a new collection with the xs
'added'. (conj nil item) returns (item). The 'addition' may
happen at different 'places' depending on the concrete type.
nil
2014-08-20
How to automatically refresh Cider when saving a clojure file in Emacs
Emacs has a great mode for using Clojure called Cider. Cider comes with an interactive REPL. The REPL allows you to test your code, start web apps, if you are using Luminus, and all in all accelerates development. One annoying thing though is that you have to refresh Cider every time you saved your sources. The good thing is that you can do this automatically. Just add the following to your init.el. I took the function from a blog post by Kris Jenkins:
Additionally, you can now run the refresh command manually, by hitting C-c C-r.
Update: I changed the after-save-hook to only trigger if we are in a buffer that has cider-mode enabled. Otherwise every save command in Emacs would have triggered the refresh!
(add-hook 'cider-mode-hook
'(lambda () (add-hook 'after-save-hook
'(lambda ()
(if (and (boundp 'cider-mode) cider-mode)
(cider-namespace-refresh)
)))))
(defun cider-namespace-refresh ()
(interactive)
(cider-interactive-eval
"(require 'clojure.tools.namespace.repl)
(clojure.tools.namespace.repl/refresh)"))
(define-key clojure-mode-map (kbd "C-c C-r") 'cider-namespace-refresh)
Additionally, you can now run the refresh command manually, by hitting C-c C-r.
Update: I changed the after-save-hook to only trigger if we are in a buffer that has cider-mode enabled. Otherwise every save command in Emacs would have triggered the refresh!
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