network plugin

O

oceanwanderlust

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My plan next year is to build stand-alone WiFi light controllers using Raspberry Pi. The only things exposed would be a power plug to the wall and 8 or 16 controlled power outlets. Each Pi would run a simple server script similar to this person's project:

https://googledrive.com/host/0B6UI0f-tde55cnlPYnBoTzVCMFk/Raspi.html

This person also provides a Python based solution to monitor the Vixen2 log file and send the network commands. However, I want to send commands to multiple Raspberry Pi servers, so I'm thinking a native c# plugin will be more reliable and faster. I then start thinking... someone has to have already thought of this...

Does anyone have source for a network client plugin for Vixen?

joe
 
Doesn't vixen have an E1.31 output plugin? You could that you could use that with a Raspberry Pi running the Falcon Pi Player (FPP) and you only have to write an output plugin to send the received data out the right place. This would also allow using the Pi in standalone mode playing a sequence locally. I am also working on allowing multiple networked Pi's running FPP to play in sync.
 
Sorry, left out one bit. FPP can receive E1.31 and send it out locally attached channel outputs. The current release can bridge to DMX or Pixelnet using a Falcon Pixelnet/DMX (FPD) add-on board and the next release should allow this bridge to USB output devices and other methods will be supported as output plugins are written.
 
Wow, that's exactly what I want, and then some! THANKYOU!

How's your Pi project going? You mention 'play in sync.' Is this an issue? I just hoped the scan rate would still be fast enough on a strong network.

joe
 
The Falcon Pi Player at http://falconchristmas.com is progressing nicely, numerous people used a Raspberry Pi running FPP as their main show computer last year, some running upwards of 20,000 channels.

The sync issue is that we don't want to rely on multiple Pi's being set to exactly the same time, and there are also various factors that could cause one Pi to play slightly faster than another, and the fact that we're also trying to synchronize to the audio being played. The code I'm working on now will have the Pi's kept in lock-step by a sync packet broadcast from the master FPP instance. You could put the same sequence file on multiple Pi's and have them each outputting different groups of channels, or you could put different sequence files on separate Pi's and expand to 100,000 channels with each Pi playing their own little slice. (pun intended) :)
 
My sync issue will be totally different; I'll be running the Falcon Pi as headless servers, hopefully in multiple neighbor's yards. Anyone who I let join the wifi network will be able to control everything from their own laptop with Vixen w/ E1.31 plugin. Sound will be an afterthought. In this setup, what would you suggest for the master? Vixen2? Falcon? Other?

I started on my first GPIO connector yesterday... 2, 8 channel relay boards per Pi.
 
Sounds like it will be easy to stomp all over each other if you have multiple Vixen installs on a shared network with each able to send E1.31 but with each also controlled by a different person.

I think that a single FPP master with multiple FPP slaves could run smoother once the new FPP version is released. Each person could put their FPP into 'slave' or 'standalone player' mode. When they are in slave mode, their FPP plays the sequences that the master tells them to play. If they are in standalone mode, FPP ignores any master command packets and plays what is locally configured. I have also built into the FPP master/slave protocol the concepts of both a Realm ID and a Slave ID. Once fully implemented, this will allow you to have multiple master/slave sets on the same network using different Realm ID's. The Slave ID feature will allow each slave to be optionally individually addressed so you could for instance trigger an effect to run on a single slave.

The FPP architecture would also give you a single point of control in the master and allow the people you let join to control the master via the web interface rather than using Vixen or some other sequencer to send out E1.31 on a shared network and becoming the wild west.
 
If anyone is still interested I could make a Generic Network. Same output as the generic serial but instead the packets sending to a LAN IP/port

Let me know and ill go ahead don't want to waste time is all.
 
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