Happy programmer's day! Does your DAC have an SDK? DAC interface library released.

Happy programmer's day, everyone. This day comes once a year on the 0x100th day of each year. It's a day where we appreciate the programmers who work in dark caves, putting together the patterns of ones and zeroes that make your life and entertainment better.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Programmers%27_Day

License: open/free use only. Contact for closed or commercial use.
https://innolasers.com/laser/LDL/Las...ry_SDK_2.1.zip

If you're using a laser DAC that does not have an interface SDK which allows fellow programmers to write you cool applications to use with it, now's the perfect day to send (another) request to your manufacturer that an SDK be released. You could be using Laseroids, LaserPong, LaserCam, ILD SOS, Spaghetti, LSX, and more.


In honor of programmer's day, I'm releasing a universal DAC interface library for Free to developers of free and open source software. This is the same DAC interface library that ILD SOS, LaserCam, and LSX use to control most all of the DACs available on the market. To use the library and gain access to 10 of the most popular DAC types out there, all you have to do is link to the library, query it to see what DACs it detects, and send frames to one (or more) selected DACs, all with the same easy-to-use functions. You don't have to bother with the different DAC dlls and interface types, the Laser DAC Library takes care of that for you, so writing a program to support the most popular DACs is very easy.

Every DAC that has an interface SDK published is supported, including the best laser projector controller DACs in the world:

RIYA
Lumax (LaserWorld)
EzAudDac (Sound cards)
QM2000
Medialas Mamba
Netlase
Easylase
OLSC
Showtacle Moncha
Showtacle Fiesta
Etherdream
Helios
LaserCube
LaserDock
OSC-Output to LSX frambuffer for additional effect layers

If you're a programmer and have had an interest in hacking in the laserspace, this is a great time to start. Send me a PM for more info.

Cheers!

drlava,

thanks for releasing the sdk!

the hobbyest community needs to band together, stop re-inventing the wheel, and start providing professional level products to compete against a largely stagnant industry dominated by a few key players. this is an excellent first step.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by drlava

Happy programmer's day, everyone. This day comes once a year on the 0x100th day of each year. It's a day where we appreciate the programmers who work in dark caves, putting together the patterns of ones and zeroes that make your life and entertainment better.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Programmers%27_Day

If you're using a laser DAC that does not have an interface SDK which allows fellow programmers to write you cool applications to use with it, now's the perfect day to send (another) request to your manufacturer that an SDK be released. You could be using Laseroids, LaserPong, LaserCam, ILD SOS, Spaghetti, LSX, and more.


In honor of programmer's day, I'm releasing a universal DAC interface library for Free to developers of free and open source software. This is the same DAC interface library that ILD SOS, LaserCam, and LSX use to control most all of the DACs available on the market. To use the library and gain access to 10 of the most popular DAC types out there, all you have to do is link to the library, query it to see what DACs it detects, and send frames to one (or more) selected DACs, all with the same easy-to-use functions. You don't have to bother with the different DAC dlls and interface types, the Laser DAC Library takes care of that for you, so writing a program to support the most popular DACs is very easy.

Every DAC that has an interface SDK published is supported, including the best laser projector controller DACs in the world:

RIYA
Lumax (LaserWorld)
EzAudDac (Sound cards)
QM2000
Medialas Mamba
Netlase
Easylase
OLSC
Showtacle Moncha
Showtacle Fiesta
Etherdream(coming soon)

If you're a programmer and have had an interest in hacking in the laserspace, this is a great time to start. Send me a PM for more info.

Cheers!

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Woo hoo! This is great- thanks Andrew!
Happy programmer's day too :)
^^ good points too swamidog, I agree completely.
Thanks, Mike

Hmm, something tells me that the FB3 is at the heart of this point ;)

If Pangolin get around to reading this, I'd really love if a SDK for the FB3 were released. I love all the software like Zoof games, but I don't have a DAC I can use with them :(

Cheers,
Dan

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Things

Hmm, something tells me that the FB3 is at the heart of this point ;)

If Pangolin get around to reading this, I'd really love if a SDK for the FB3 were released. I love all the software like Zoof games, but I don't have a DAC I can use with them :(

Cheers,
Dan

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would be nice to play LazyMAME on my netbook/FB3 :)

Woop!

Thanks for the interface!

Let's get to work now.

That's great thanks lava!

I wouldn't hold your breath for a sdk for the fb3, there is no upside for pango to do this. The qm2000(as in year) sdk was intended for funky things like laser mame, probably omniscan and some other special stuff. They didn't intend on other people writing full blown replacement software for lasershow designer.
The qm is not a cheap card to build. Parts are most likely getting harder to find and more expensive. The qm-net is huge and a little kludgey. The fb3 is, I am guessing, going to be the new base product. Computers with pci slots are going the way of the dodo, and people are getting tired of dragging around desktops or rack mount PCs.
Dac hardware is getting cheap to do so the value will be in the software. If they release a sdk and it can get around some of the artificial limitations of the fb3 (30k...) then they loose value in the big-bux qm hardware. That is also the reason that there is no net interface board to replace the usb. It would cost them all of $10 in parts to do this but it would rob from the money shot product.

Soon hardware is going to be cheap and plentiful and with your good (and getting better) software you will be a direct threat to them, like LA studio was. When people find out that they can have a board about the size of a credit card with 30* the processing power of the qm all the same I/O and net, dmx in and out, 6 channel-12bit color, extra spi ,i2c and open source for about $150 + your software spending 6k on a setup will start looking like a hard pill to swallow. Right now they have the advantage of a much more polished software, but time will change that.
The bottom is going to drop out of the hardware dac market pretty soon I think.

Any way I have no insider info, I am just thinking out loud, I could be all wet.

HAPPY PROGRAMER DAY!
.02c
chad

I spoke with Bill about the FB3 a while back. He basically had said there was not incentive/reason to do it and that it was not in their best interest to do so (correct me if I am wrong).

The best way to get them on board is to give Pangolin a reason to get on board.

Now we have 4 cents.

I'll add .01 to make it an even nickel-
I have followed the FB3 sdk topic since the FB3 came out and all the above is all correct. I think that Pangolin has a good business model going with what they have, so I can see why they wouldn't want to rock the boat. Adding another sdk would introduce a whole new layer of technical emails that Bill would likely have to field himself (or another of their high-level guys), and with all they have been working on, I could imagine that they consider that a very low priority. FB3's are really nice and compact, and it would be awesome to be able to communicate with them, but I don't see it happening. Alternates like a mini Riya are so cheap that if someone really wanted to do some of their own homebrew, there would be no reason not to get one of them in addition to whatever they might already own. If a cheap extra dac breaks someone's bank, they are in the wrong hobby :)

I might dust off some music visualizer stuff I was playing with, but no promises at the moment (still kind of rough). Anybody got any super secret wicked projects cooking? I am just enjoying the fact that a programming topic popped up in the programming sub forum! Imagine that ;)

Cheers and thanks again drlava!
-Mike

Quote:

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Originally Posted by mikkojay

Anybody got any super secret wicked projects cooking?
-Mike

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Not really secret, but not well known. The j4cbo DAC (hence fourth refereed to as: ) Etherdream, Is steaming ahead nicely. I described it's attributes in my earlier post. I also know that LSX is in the early stages of talking to it :)

chad

Hey Dr. Lava,

that sounds very interesting! PM sent. Pehraps that encourages me to continue a long forgotten work on my XML based Frame creation and playing software.

Greetings
Andreas

Sounds good!

Thanks for your contribution to freeware.*nyancat

Dean

I've finished up the first revision of this, with a demo app to get you familiar with how to use it. Send me a PM if you're interested!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by mikkojay

Woo hoo! This is great- thanks Andrew!
Happy programmer's day too :)
Thanks, Mike

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Hi Mike, I do hope this inspires some fellow enthusiasts to finish (or start) some projects they have been meaning to do. Hopefully we'll see some really creative and new things.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by flecom

would be nice to play LazyMAME on my netbook/FB3 :)

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Have you requested it? A DAC dealer will never know their users desires unless they communicate them.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by andythemechanic

Hey Dr. Lava,

that sounds very interesting! PM sent. Pehraps that encourages me to continue a long forgotten work on my XML based Frame creation and playing software.

Greetings
Andreas

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Hi Andreas,
link, PM sent. Your project sounds very interesting and I look forward to seeing the results.

i read somewhere on the forum that the SDK for FB3 should come, but it was posted a year ago, anyone knows if its coming or not?

I would think Beyond is taking priority. In the long term who knows.

sorry lava... maybe i'm a little bit stupid... the SDK are the source file for communication with dac? only usb or ehternet version also? i'm not an expert programmer but i have a lot of university nerds... ehm... guys that eat coffee and java for breakfast :D

The SDK allows someone to develop software for a bunch different DACs without having to write code specifically for the DAC. So that more people can take advantage of the software. USB (most supported DACs are USB) and Ethernet (Netlase and EtherDream?)...

a lot of times i use only dmx for lights without laser... and i have only one usb dmx... my fiesta.net has dmx in and out... and i will be really happy if i can use it for wifi/ethernet dmx control without buy other devices :P

I am VERY interested in an SDK for the FB3. In fact, I think it would be incentive to buy more units.

HI drlava

I have tried to contact you via IRC and PMs, but not answer recieved.

I talked to Jacob from etherdream, i am beggining a project with etherdream but i also want to use UDAC, so my answer is where can i download it?

Thanks in advance

Hi,
I would also make a piece of software that use UDAC.
Does it support QM2000 NET version ?

I cannot send PM to drlava, nothing appears in my outbox,
is there another way to contact him or to get UDAC driver ?
thanks

Am I missing something? Where can the SDK be downloaded from?

You are missing something. The first post says to send DrLava a PM for more information. Send Andrew a PM or email.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by cfavreau

You are missing something. The first post says to send DrLava a PM for more information. Send Andrew a PM or email.

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Ah. Thanks for that.

If you can't seem to get a hold of him using email or PM he sometimes hangs out on the IRC too.

Has anyone used this in Java?
In the long term, I want to have DAC output functionability in my programs, but I get a headache looking at the C++ code...

... hmm ... I've actually written a small test application for laser-marking with the DLL provided with the EasylaseLC DAC.

Some original sample code was in Delphi ... rewrote the basic functionality with my old VC++ 6.0 ... then got problems with variable spaces, so rewrote it again with VC++ 2010 Express (damned CLI and missing help!) ... and today bought a VS2005 professional for EUR100 to get it more comfortable than with the crippled Express editions ...

A second path is programmin an interface/plugin DLL for BeamConstruct, what's a great laser marking module/application in OpenAPC.

And could be, that I have to write a complete application around the Easylase-DLL in March/April to embedd the DAC/lasermarking functionality in our CAD/CAM in a proprietary basic format (BIX in Pictures_by_PC/IsyCAM).

... maybe I should get in contact with Andrew too?

Viktor

I do not know if there are any existing code for Lava's library however you might want to take a look at JNA => https://today.java.net/article/2009/...ode-access-jna which is a wrapper for JNI (Java Native Interface I think). Also the JNative project looks nice too => http://sourceforge.net/projects/jnative/

Sorry I don't have any Java code, I have plenty of C/C++ code if you would like to look at that though.

I have some code for audiodacs and easylase in Java if you are interested. Also I've once written an JNI-wrapper for cfavreau's OLSC-lib.
Write me a PM with your email and I can send you the code.

Andreas

That would be epic. PM on its way.

Hi,

I'm trying to PM drlava, but somehow the message doesn't go out, is it possible to download the library from somewhere else?

thanks
Andrea

Same here. Trying to get the SDK. I'm working on a c# laser project.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by nocte

Hi,

I'm trying to PM drlava, but somehow the message doesn't go out, is it possible to download the library from somewhere else?

thanks
Andrea

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Did anyone ever get ahold of DrLava?

are there any updated releases on this? i have hooked all up with the C# wrapper but the ether dream box is not found by the library. deviceCount of the LDL_Init returns always 0 devices... any ideas? sitter.exe from ether dream sees it.

also, the code is now open source on github, i hope nobody minds this, if so please write me.

https://github.com/tebjan/VVVV.LaserDAC

Hi tonfilm,

I tried your implementation of etherdream.dll and sort of worked. It detects and can send frame data to etherdream but there is a 1.2 second delay. did this happen to you?

Saludos

This SDK has now been updated to version 2.1, supporting more DACs

What a grand and generous gesture for the laser hobbyist (et al) community. Being able to write code for the Etherdream has been on my wish list for quite a few years. Now the dream in the ether has come true.

My EasyLase_USB is now 18 years old I guess and my new computer (Windows 10) won;t see it.
The drivers are outdated (WinXp_64) and can only be installed by bypassing the security certificate check.
Still, the computer refuses to see the Easylase card.

Both my own dll import routine and LaserDacLib refuse to see the Easlylase DAC. (Riya is recognized perfectly by the DACLib).

drlava, do you have a trick up your sleeve?

thx.

Hi there Zoof. Can you take a picture of the EasyLase board so we can see the chip numbers? Especially interested in the USB chip. Maybe it is a FTDI chip? I cannot remember and I don't have any pictures of it anymore.

If we can't get it working then maybe we can get you a Helios.

And... I finally was able to find a picture of it. A nice one with hi-res.

It uses a FT245RL which is a USB to parallel converter. You can still get drivers for that for modern windows.

Follow this link to the manufacturer's page FT245RL (NRND) - FTDI (ftdichip.com) and then follow the driver links. You will want the D2XX drivers and not the VCP drivers.

Here's a link to the picture:

IMG_2901.JPG (1600×1200) (joeyhagedorn.com)

Here is the picture:

Attachment 60701

The USB chip is the one closest to the USB connector.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by cfavreau

And... I finally was able to find a picture of it. A nice one with hi-res.

It uses a FT245RL which is a USB to parallel converter. You can still get drivers for that for modern windows.

Follow this link to the manufacturer's page FT245RL (NRND) - FTDI (ftdichip.com) and then follow the driver links. You will want the D2XX drivers and not the VCP drivers.

Here's a link to the picture:

IMG_2901.JPG (1600×1200) (joeyhagedorn.com)

Here is the picture:

Attachment 60701

The USB chip is the one closest to the USB connector.

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Thanks, that did the trick!!!!

Thanks CFavreau, that is correct. For me, the EasyLase (version 1) shows up as USB\VID_0403&PID_DBD0
The standard FTDI drivers don't automatically work with it, and updating their .inf makes windows drivers signing check unhapy.

In my case in the device manager I right-clicked the device and chose 'update driver'
then 'browse my computer for drivers'
then 'let me pick from a list...'
then chose 'FTDI' manufacturer under USB devices, and by some amazing luck the 'FT4222 Interface A' from 2016 works. This driver has backward compatibility for the FT245RL, at least on Windows 10.

For me, this works under the 'netlase' DAC type in this library, using the newer 'jmlaser.dll' driver which supports the various JM Laser-built DACs.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by drlava

This SDK has now been updated to version 2.1, supporting more DACs

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Thank you for writing that library. I have two 2.5W LaserCubes I am trying it on.
Couple of questions and suggestions if you don't mind.

1 - Have you considered to put your project on Github so others can contribute to it? So far I failed to find it.
2 - The constant N_FRAMES is defined in the demo as 400 but on line 66 and 183 the number 400 is hard coded.
3 - I would love to see more comments in your demo code.

It all works but the scan speed gradually gets worse over the time the demo runs. The perfomance data written to log.txt when running LDL.bat is similar to your included log_LaserCube.txt

Code:

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Information:
          Wrote 400 Frames to DAC
          Checked DAC's buffer status 2360 times
          DAC's API averaged 2.006 ms per send request
          and averaged 1.932 ms per status check
          totalling 13.406 ms used by the DAC API per frame
Histogram of wait time used by status function calls:
0 ms: 0
1 ms: 154
2 ms: 2132
3 ms: 74
Histogram of wait time used by frame write function calls:
0 ms: 0
1 ms: 24
2 ms: 347
3 ms: 25
4 ms: 1
5 ms: 0
6 ms: 0
7 ms: 1
8 ms: 2

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By the way the LaserCube performance is not great when compared to the other log files in your SDK zip.

Regards

Paul

I just realise why you have wo main routines in the demo. The simple version without histogram logging runs just fine and is simple to understand.