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Using WiFi and Eth networks at the same time

Posted: Tue May 12, 2015 7:40 am
by karrika
Hello,

I added an USB WiFi dongle and configured it as an WiFi access point.

I can see my QLC web interface on my mobile phone connected through WiFi but changing the sliders or pressing buttons have no effect. At the same time a web interface through eth0 works fine.

What I would like to do is to have a wired PC with a browser on one side of the stage and a WiFi tablet on the other side of the stage. The show itself including sound effects and light control is running on Rapsberry Pi 2.

I am unsure why the WiFi controls have no effect.

Also the "Simple desk" shows up as empty on my mobile phone but ok on the eth0 browser.

Any ideas?

Re: Using WiFi and Eth networks at the same time

Posted: Tue May 12, 2015 7:46 am
by mcallegari
To be honest I've never tried the web interface with two active interfaces.
I think it's something related to the websockets used by QLC+.
I can have a look, but I'm afraid fixing this would require a lot of work and it seems to me like a corner case.

Re: Using WiFi and Eth networks at the same time

Posted: Tue May 26, 2015 5:21 am
by karrika
Thanks for the answer. My problem is that I am on stage myself with a need to control lights and sounds.

Unfortunately the character I am playing sometimes exits the stage to the right and sometimes to the left. So the alternatives are:
- wireless remote with no display in my pocket
- one stationary tablet on right side of stage and one on the left side of stage
- just one tablet that I hide on me that follows me

In any case I need to implement the wireless control for triggering effects from stage (doorbell, telephone, lights on/off). The plan is to use the Raspberry Pi GPIO pins for this and map the inputs to control QLC+. The sound is already coming from the Raspberry Pi.

From the tablet I need only to control the music and night/day lighting transitions.

I hope that two WiFi tablets can work with QLC at the same time.

Later in the summer we are also going to have performances in other theatres. It is going to be interesting to see how the fixture re-mapping works in real life :)

Re: Using WiFi and Eth networks at the same time

Posted: Tue Jun 02, 2015 5:33 am
by iamchrislaurie
Hi karrika

What about adding a bluetooth joystick? I'm not sure if the distance would be too long. You then set up the joystick as an hid input devise (you'll have to create an input profile for it as well). Then you map certain buttons on your virtual console to buttons in the joystick. Something like a next cue button to care of all lighting transitions and a few of the other buttons for triggering other effects.

On the tablet on the one side you can press the buttons using touch screen and on the other side of the stage you can press buttons on the joystick.

Possibly even running a looooong usb cable might also work.

I use a Pi2 and do not use the web interface, I recompile on the device and use it as per normal.

Running the joystick off a laptop would also work.

Let us know what you did.

Re: Using WiFi and Eth networks at the same time

Posted: Thu Jun 04, 2015 5:44 am
by karrika
Finally I went for separate buttons for everything.

I just connected a 40-pin flat cable to a screw terminal strip. And connected lots of switches between the Raspberry Pi GPIO pins and ground. No extra components were needed as Raspberry Pi has internal pullups on the chip. The wire lengths from the Pi to the pushbuttons were typically 3 meters.

Here is a picture of the design.

Image

So I finally did not use any computer display at all. Just a few switches and buttons hidden on the scene.

Here is a few pictures of out play that had its premiere yesterday. http://www.rampfeber.fi

To use this I wrote a bash script that was started in /etc/rc.local before the qlcplus.

Basically the script polled every switch once every 0.1 second.

Depending on the switch type the bash script then sent OSC messages to QLC+ virtual buttons to trigger music, sound effects and scenes. It worked like a dream and we did not need any technician at all (saving cost ;) ).

This is definitely the way to go for a small theatre like us. To keep it extremely simple, stupid and reliable. Just buttons - no displays.