SSC-32 Servo Sequencer on Linux?

[jmspaggi]

Has anyone been lucky with running SSC-32 Servo Sequencer on Linux?

I tried Windows 10 on Virtual Box and it failed. I tried Wine on Debian and it failed. I tried Wine on Ubuntu and it failed. I also have a Mac and will give it a try. I don’t have any Windows machine

Is that supposed to be as simple as doing “echo -e #0P1500S75\r > /dev/ttyUSB0” ?

JM

[scharette]

@jmspaggi

Has anyone been lucky with running SSC-32 Servo Sequencer on Linux?

Well, it doesn’t run under Linux (Windows only), so there’s that!

@jmspaggi

I tried Wine on Debian and it failed. I tried Wine on Ubuntu and it failed.

I actually haven’t tried that software under Linux, but I’ve tried other apps made with FlowBotics Studio (and FBS itself) and none of them worked in Wine.

@jmspaggi

I tried Windows 10 on Virtual Box and it failed.

Should’ve probably worked in a virtual machine, though. What kind of error/issue did you get in that case?

@jmspaggi

Is that supposed to be as simple as doing “echo -e #0P1500S75\r > /dev/ttyUSB0” ?

I guess you could do that, yes. I’d recommend instead to use some Python. Basic sequencing and such should be pretty straight forward enough that not much programming experience would be required. And Python is available on most modern platforms, too!
You can find some Python examples controlling the SSC-32U (and a Lynxmotion AL5D robotic arm). Those examples should work on both a desktop OS and on the RPi family of boards and are probably a good starting point.

As for a visual sequencer under Linux, we unfortunately do not have one at this time and I do not know of any from the community.

Sincerely,

[jmspaggi]

Thanks for taking the time to reply to my post.

I have finally been able to get it work under VirtualBox on Linux (Debian). If someone is reading this: Don’t forget to add the GuestAdditions (As recent as possible) and to configure the sequencer accordingly to what is configured on the board (Refer to documentation for the Led status).

Also, I have been able to get it work by writing a small Java example directly on Linux. Works like a charm. 1% of the job done

Best,

[scharette]

@jmspaggi

Thanks for taking the time to reply to my post.

No problem!

@jmspaggi

I have finally been able to get it work under VirtualBox on Linux (Debian). If someone is reading this: Don’t forget to add the GuestAdditions (As recent as possible)

Yes, those are super important to get the USB devices forwarded.

@jmspaggi

and to configure the sequencer accordingly to what is configured on the board (Refer to documentation for the Led status).

For reference, the details are on page 34 of the SSC-32U’s manual, bottom half.

@jmspaggi

Also, I have been able to get it work by writing a small Java example directly on Linux.

Good! Any programming language/framework that offers access to serial ports is all you need, really. Which, in modern times, is pretty much all of them.

@jmspaggi

Works like a charm.

If you happen to have a (public) repository for your code, feel free to share on the community! I’m sure some members would be interested.
You can share as a project, a tutorial or a blog post!

@jmspaggi

1% of the job done

Well, you know what they say about software, right? The first 20% takes 80% of the time… and the last 80% takes 80% of the time! I’m pretty sure when you get into embedded systems and robotics, that second part could add a 0 to it in some cases… That being said, stick to it! There’s nothing like a working project to make all those hours feel justified!