KronTalk

Chronos => Software Dev => Topic started by: foobar on February 27, 2020, 12:22:13 PM

Title: Chronos V0.4.0 Beta - Debian and Networking
Post by: foobar on February 27, 2020, 12:22:13 PM
We are pleased to announce the beta release for our v0.4.0 software. The major focus of this release is to enable networking capabilities of the camera, and a new GUI to choose from. Under the hood, we have also replaced the operating system of the camera and will now be using an embedded build of the Debian operating system. This is the software that we are currently shipping on our Chronos 2.1 cameras, and is now also available for users of the Chronos 1.4.

    +----------------------------------+
   ++                                  ++
   |        Chronos V0.4.0-beta         |
   ++                                  ++
    +----------------------------------+


Notable Changes:
   - Support for the LUX2100 image sensor.
   - API for camera control via JSON/HTTP over the Ethernet port.
     * Examples: https://github.com/krontech/chronos-examples
   - Saving of media over network to an NFS and Samba share.
   - Software updates can be downloaded over the internet.
   - Real-time video stream from the camera using RTSP.
   - Experimental new GUI is available via the software update screen.
      * For more information: http://forum.krontech.ca/index.php?topic=498

Fixed Bugs:
   - Improved accuracy of overlay timestamps in frame trigger and shutter gating.

Minutae:
   - Internal D-Bus and Python APIs for camera control.
   - Move software update and GUI selection into a standalone tool.
   - Add the ability to switch between GUIs via the software update too.
   - Add Support for exposure trigger and shutter gating to IO3 (isolated).
   - Reogranized the trigger/IO settings window to make IO1 and IO2 consistent.
   - Allow specifying folders and complex paths in the save settings.

Changes During Beta:
   - Updates in build 20200302 (http://forum.krontech.ca/index.php?topic=531.msg3009#msg3009)
   - Updates in build 20200331 (http://forum.krontech.ca/index.php?topic=531.msg3078#msg3078)


Installation Instructions
The most up-to-date instructions can be found in the chronos-updates (https://github.com/krontech/chronos-updates/blob/master/doc/DEBIAN.md) respository on GitHub, but we have done our best to transcribe them here for you. The update procedure shown here should be familiar to anyone who has used a embedded Debian system such as the Beaglebone or Raspberry Pi.

Since this update requires a complete replacement of the operating system, we currently only offer this upgrade by completely replacing the contents of the microSD card. We are working on a more user friendly upgrade procedure that will hopefully be available in the next couple of weeks using the v0.3.2 software update procedure.

Step 1: Backup Factory Calibration
This step is required for Chronos 2.1 users, failure to do so may result in degrated image quality due to missing calibration files after the upgrade. Users of the Chronos 1.4 may skip this step, and re-generate their calibration data in step 6.

To backup your factory calibration data:

Step 2: Download the Latest Software Image

There are two ways to write the Debian image to an SD card:
a. using an SD card reader on a computer
b. using a Chronos 1.4 camera, and the update-to-debian app, which writes the Debian image to an SD card with a capacity of at least 4GB in the camera's top slot. After writing the image, continue with "Step 5: Insert the microSD Card into Your Camera" in this topic. More information is in this post: http://forum.krontech.ca/index.php?topic=531.msg3049#msg3049

Download the latest Debian image from debian.krontech.ca/builds (http://debian.krontech.ca/builds/). The image file will have an img.xz extension, and contains a sector-by-sector compressed image of the microSD card. The software images are named in the form chronos-<release>-<builddate>.img.xz, and at present there are two releases available for download: voyager and unstable.

The voyager release is contains the software being tested for version v0.4.0, and represents a state of our software that has received some testing to flush out bugs. The features available in this release should be stable, and packages will be updated only as necessary to resolve bugs. This is analogous to the Debian testing release.

The unstable builds are generated nightly whenever new software is commited to our software repositories, and will always contain the bleeding edge code and latest features. However, this is not recommended except for development use, as software may break and APIs may change without notice. This is analgoous to the Debian sid release.

At some point in the distant future, we expect to make voyager the stable release, and a new codename will be chosen for the beta release of v0.5.0 when new features are ready for beta testing.

Step 3: Connect a microSD Card to Your Computer
Use your computer's microSD card slot, or a USB adaptor to connect a microSD card to your computer. Since this procedure will completely overwrite the contents of the microSD card, it is advisable to use a new card, and keep the original microSD card if you ever want to go back to the v0.3.2 or any earlier release. You will need to use a microSD card at least 4GB in size to install the Debian filesystem image.

Step 4: Write the Image to Your microSD Card
There are several options available to write the Debian filesystem image to your microSD card, depending on which operating system you are using.

With balenaEtcher (https://www.balena.io/etcher/)
BalenaEtcher is an open-source tool that can be used to decompress and write filesystem images to storage media, such as the microSD card that the Chronos cameras use for their operating systems. BalenaEtcher is available for Windows, macOS and Linux.
(https://raw.githubusercontent.com/krontech/chronos-updates/master/doc/balena-download.png)

When starting balenaEtcher, select the img.xz file that you want to install, the storage device it is to be written to, and then click the Flash! buton to begin the flashing process.
(https://raw.githubusercontent.com/krontech/chronos-updates/master/doc/balena-setup.png)

After starting the flashing process, balenaEtcher will display a progress bar as it first flashes, and then verifies the written image to the microSD card.
(https://raw.githubusercontent.com/krontech/chronos-updates/master/doc/balena-flashing.png)

Finally, when flashing is completed. You can remove the microSD card from your computer.
(https://raw.githubusercontent.com/krontech/chronos-updates/master/doc/balena-complete.png)

Linux Command Line
The image can also be written directly to a microSD card using the xzcat and dd tools. However, this tool can be extremely dangerous if misused (dd is sometimes refered to as the disk destroyer), and it will just as easily overwrite your computer's root filesystem as it will the microSD card if you set the output device incorrectly.

First locate the block device of the microSD as it was detected by your operating system. In this example, it appears as /dev/sdX.
Code: [Select]
user@example:~$ lsblk -p
NAME                                       MAJ:MIN RM   SIZE RO TYPE  MOUNTPOINT
/dev/nvme0n1                               259:0    0   477G  0 disk 
├─/dev/nvme0n1p3                           259:3    0 475.7G  0 part 
│ └─/dev/mapper/nvme0n1p3_crypt            253:0    0 475.7G  0 crypt
│   ├─/dev/mapper/ubuntu--gnome--vg-root   253:1    0 474.8G  0 lvm   /
│   └─/dev/mapper/ubuntu--gnome--vg-swap_1 253:2    0   980M  0 lvm   [SWAP]
├─/dev/nvme0n1p1                           259:1    0   512M  0 part  /boot/efi
└─/dev/nvme0n1p2                           259:2    0   732M  0 part  /boot
/dev/sdX                                     8:16   1  14.9G  0 disk 
├─/dev/sdX2                                  8:18   1   3.4G  0 part  /media/user/ROOTFS
└─/dev/sdX1                                  8:17   1  39.2M  0 part  /media/user/BOOT

Before we can write an image to the microSD card, we must first ensure that it is not mounted by your operating system. We can use the lsblk tool to list any devices mounted for this card, and unmount them as needed.
Code: [Select]
user@example:~$ for part in $(lsblk -n -o MOUNTPOINT /dev/sdX); do umount $part; done

The image can then be decompressed and written directly to the block device as follows. The decompressed image will be approximately 3.7 GB in size and, depending on the write speed of your microSD card, can take between 5 and 15 minutes to complete writing.
Code: [Select]
user@example:~$ xzcat chronos-voyager-20200226.img.xz | sudo dd of=/dev/sdX status=progress
[sudo] password for user:
3711142400 bytes (3.7 GB, 3.5 GiB) copied, 751 s, 4.9 MB/s   

Other Links

The process described here is very similar to the installation of many other embedded Linux systems. You can find similar guides for both the Raspberry Pi (https://www.raspberrypi.org/documentation/installation/installing-images/) and Beaglebone (https://beagleboard.org/getting-started), which may provide some useful suggestions on other ways to create a microSD card if these tools don't work for you.

Step 5: Insert the microSD Card into Your Camera
Remove the old microSD card from the slot located on the bottom of your camera, near the model and serial number, and replace it with the newly created microSD card with the v0.4.0 release. You will need to push the card in passed the detent to ensure it stays latched in place.
(https://raw.githubusercontent.com/krontech/chronos-updates/master/doc/microsd-location.jpg)

Once installed, you can power the camera on and you should be greeted with a Chronos boot logo, and eventually the user interface.

Step 6: Restore Factory Calibartion
After installing a new software image onto your microSD card, it is important to restore the factory calibration data to maintain the image quality of your Chronos camera.

Chronos 1.4: Generate Calibration
Users of the Chronos 1.4 can generate their calibration data automatically by navigating to the Factory tab of the Util Window, and tapping the Black Cal All Standard Resolutions button. This procedure can take up to 10 minutes to complete, and should be performed only once the camera has warmed up to its normal operating temperature.

Chronos 2.1: Restore Calibration
Users of the Chronos 2.1 must restore their calibration data by copying it off their camera before upgrading, as their camera is not capable of generating its own calibration data. To restore the calibration data:
Title: Re: Chronos V0.4.0 Beta - Debian and Networking
Post by: foobar on February 27, 2020, 01:17:33 PM
This GUI is intended for experimental use only, please use the "Chronos" GUI if you require a stable and well-tested user interface.

To try out the new GUI2, described in this thread (http://forum.krontech.ca/index.php?topic=498), you can access it by the software update menu as follows:

(http://forum.krontech.ca/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=531.0;attach=636)

(http://forum.krontech.ca/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=531.0;attach=638)

(http://forum.krontech.ca/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=531.0;attach=640)

(http://forum.krontech.ca/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=531.0;attach=642)
Title: Re: Chronos V0.4.0 Beta - Debian and Networking
Post by: NiNeff on February 29, 2020, 05:11:23 AM
Great to finally have something new to paly with. great work guys!
I got as far as step 6: generating the calibration failed with the following error on my 1.4:

"Error during black calibration, error 22: API call fail"
with just the option for "ok"

Also: is this blinking extracting cube supposed to be this way?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XdVor2fjf0U
looks wrong to me.
Title: Re: Chronos V0.4.0 Beta - Debian and Networking
Post by: NiNeff on February 29, 2020, 05:46:46 AM
Ok there is defenitively something wrong here:
after black calibration i've got this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XdVor2fjf0U

some more quick findings:
 - I like the new UI, but menues lack a "back" option in addition to "done" which returens you all te way to the front page
 - the web interface does not show video for me, haven't done any more tests with it, but it looks great otherwise
 - the new interface does not seem to have an option to restore the saved calibration data on the chronos 1.4, only to restore settings.
 - the restore calibration data fails on the old interface with the following message: "Error: tar command failed" if there is no calibration file on the external media. a more appropriate error message would be nice.
 - the slider for exposure is very sluggisch and barely reacts to screen input
 - i accidentally zoomed in on the main screen and can't find an easy way to zoom back out. pinching does not seem to work. but great feature to be able to zoom!
 - as i pressed the button right next to the network acces password (the striped box) to hide the actually entered characters i got an error in red: "Status: Error, See journalctl." At that point i had not connected an ethernet cable yet.
 - the alphabetical order of the submenues on the new GUI seems suboptimal, is there a way to reorder them?
 - great idea for the paython scripts! however the about.txt file gives an error as it can't be executed.
 - great ideea to be able to search for menues/settings!
 - the saved footage screen does not detect videos shot with the previous software version. Also it displayes "1gb free / 12 gb total (94%full)" where I have no idea what it is referencing. The sd card is only 23% full.
Title: Re: Chronos V0.4.0 Beta - Debian and Networking
Post by: foobar on February 29, 2020, 12:27:25 PM
Great to finally have something new to paly with. great work guys!
I got as far as step 6: generating the calibration failed with the following error on my 1.4:

"Error during black calibration, error 22: API call fail"
with just the option for "ok"

Also: is this blinking extracting cube supposed to be this way?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XdVor2fjf0U
looks wrong to me.

Ah, thank you for finding that, it turns out there is an issue in the factory calibration that has a probability of failing at very high framerates. I've managed to get a fix together that should be in the unstable release soon, and I should be able to get that change published into the beta when I get back to the office on Monday.

What is happening with the spinning cube is that your camera failed during this calibration phase, and the sensor is no longer outputting video. When the video system has nothing to display, it shows the loading animation instead. You will probably need a reboot of the camera to get video working again after this failure mode.

For the technical details, you can see the issue on github (https://github.com/krontech/chronos-cam-app/issues/154)
Title: Re: Chronos V0.4.0 Beta - Debian and Networking
Post by: foobar on February 29, 2020, 01:18:28 PM
some more quick findings:
 - I like the new UI, but menues lack a "back" option in addition to "done" which returens you all te way to the front page
I don't have a camera in front of me to test, but I seem to recall that most of the screens in the new GUI are only one layer deep from the front page, "back" and "done" are kinda the same thing for these pages. I will go through the GUI again on Monday to write up a more concrete bug report for this.

- the web interface does not show video for me, haven't done any more tests with it, but it looks great otherwise
We were trying not to announce the web interface yet, since it's really just a prototype at this point, but it came along for the ride with the HTTP/JSON API since they are built together in the same software package. In the version that got released in the beta, there is no video support yet on the web interface, and in the version that's in the unstable release it has crude video stream that works at about 1fps...  this is not ideal but we are working on it. The camera does natively support an RTSP stream for accessing the video at real-time, but we have found that getting this integrated into a browser is difficult.

- the new interface does not seem to have an option to restore the saved calibration data on the chronos 1.4, only to restore settings.
 - the restore calibration data fails on the old interface with the following message: "Error: tar command failed" if there is no calibration file on the external media. a more appropriate error message would be nice.
 - the slider for exposure is very sluggisch and barely reacts to screen input
 - as i pressed the button right next to the network acces password (the striped box) to hide the actually entered characters i got an error in red: "Status: Error, See journalctl." At that point i had not connected an ethernet cable yet.
 - great idea for the paython scripts! however the about.txt file gives an error as it can't be executed.
 - the saved footage screen does not detect videos shot with the previous software version. Also it displayes "1gb free / 12 gb total (94%full)" where I have no idea what it is referencing. The sd card is only 23% full.
I have logged some issues on github to track these things as we investigate them:

- i accidentally zoomed in on the main screen and can't find an easy way to zoom back out. pinching does not seem to work. but great feature to be able to zoom!
This feature is accessed by double-tapping the video window on the main screen and it should act like a toggle. So double-tap once to zoom in, and then double-tap again to zoom back to normal.

- the alphabetical order of the submenues on the new GUI seems suboptimal, is there a way to reorder them?
 - great ideea to be able to search for menues/settings!
At present, we don't have the ability to sort or dynamically change the ordering of the menus. They are created in a fixed order, but I agree that alphabetical is probably not the best sorting.
Title: Re: Chronos V0.4.0 Beta - Debian and Networking
Post by: NiNeff on March 01, 2020, 01:57:34 AM
Thanks for the quick replies!
I managed to get the cam working again with loading the old 3.x calibration data.
I did notice a few more issues:
 - the option for overlaying frame count information onto the video output seems to be missing in the new ui
 - playing back a record starts with the screen black and flickering for a few sekonds bevore the actual output is shown
 - i sometimes have to turn the camera on twice as it shuts down automatically during the boot up
 - the saved footage screen also doesn't find newly recorded clips
 - the interface options don't seem to have any effect in the new gui
 - I'm absolutely confused by the triggers I/O menu, maybe I should read the docs when available
 - marking the save start does not leave any indication it worked until you also mark an save end.
 - entering the update screen and returning back clears the battery power graphs
Title: Re: Chronos V0.4.0 Beta - Debian and Networking
Post by: foobar on March 02, 2020, 01:37:07 PM
I have published some fixes to the package repository that should address the black calibration failures reported by NiNeff.

For a camera that is running Debian, you can apply these fixes by connecting your camera to the internet via its Ethernet port, navigating to the Software Update screen and tapping the 'Check for Updates' button. This procedure will take a couple of minutes to download the updates from our server, but when it completes the camera should reboot automatically with the newest software.

Updating a Camera Over the Internet
Ensure that the camera is connected to the internet via its Ethernet jack, and that it has link. You can also view the network connection status from the camera on the Network tab of the Util Window.

Once the network connectivity has been established, navigate to the Storage tab of the Util window, and click on the Apply Software Update button to open the Software Update tool.
(http://forum.krontech.ca/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=531.0;attach=636)

Under the 'Update From Package Repository' group, tap the Check for Updates to begin the update procedure.
(http://forum.krontech.ca/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=531.0;attach=646)

The first step of the network update procedure is to download the latest package lists from the Debian and Krontech package repositories, and process them to locate any packages that have received updates.
(http://forum.krontech.ca/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=531.0;attach=648)

If there are updates found, you will be prompted to proceed. Tap Yes to download and install the updates, or hit No to return the Software Update tool.
(http://forum.krontech.ca/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=531.0;attach=650)

While the update is in progress, the camera should reports its progress as packages are downloaded, unpacked, and then installed onto your camera.
(http://forum.krontech.ca/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=531.0;attach=652)

When the upgrade is completed, the camera should automatically reboot for the new software to take effect.
(http://forum.krontech.ca/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=531.0;attach=654)

Changes Added in chronos-voyager-20200302.img.xz

chronos-control: 0.4.0~beta23 -> 0.4.0~beta29
python3-pychronos: 0.4.0~beta23 -> 0.4.0~beta29

chronos-gui: 0.4.0~beta15 -> 0.4.0~beta20
chronos-update: 0.4.0~beta15 -> 0.4.0~beta20

chronos-http: 0.4.0~beta13 -> 0.4.0~beta17

chronos-pwrutil: 0.4.0~beta13 -> 0.4.0~beta14
chronos-tools: 0.4.0~beta13 -> 0.4.0~beta14
chronos-video: 0.4.0~beta13 -> 0.4.0~beta14

chronos-gui2: 0.4.0~beta131 -> 0.4.0~beta135
Title: Re: Chronos V0.4.0 Beta - Debian and Networking
Post by: NiNeff on March 03, 2020, 08:58:30 AM
nice! that was quick!
I just did the update and it went ok, I guess:
after the rebooting message the screen just went black and the camera stayed on in a limbo state. I waited 5 Minutes and then tried a soft-power off with no effect, I had to ddo a hard poweroff via long-pressing the button.
cam is working though.

(Nit-Picky minor detail on the side: the chronos-gui2 is package version is alpha135, not beta 135  :P)
 
EDIT
found a new bug: Sometimes when you click the menu button, the menu only appears for ~0.3 sec and closes again. or, when the menu is already open and you want to close it using the menue button it opens again. I also managed to get a crude video of the behavior, it is available on request.
Title: Re: Chronos V0.4.0 Beta - Debian and Networking
Post by: hodu84 on March 11, 2020, 01:16:29 AM
Thank you for the effort to release V0.4.0 Beta.
I was able to updates my Chronos 1.4 to V0.4.0 Beta.

I'm wondering if the updates makes easier to save the file from the camera to PC via Ethernet or OTG cable?
I tried to follow the instruction about python script made by some in other thread and I changed the directory to my computer in the script but nothing happened.

What I want to is just to save the file to the computer via Ethernet.

And also is there an easy instruction to transfer the file to the computer using samba share or NFS? I don't know how to do it.


Title: Re: Chronos V0.4.0 Beta - Debian and Networking
Post by: skronstein on March 11, 2020, 02:56:28 PM
Use the attached instructions to set up an SMB share on a Windows 10 system, or an NFS share on a Linux system.
These instructions will also be in the next revision of the user manual.
Title: Re: Chronos V0.4.0 Beta - Debian and Networking
Post by: nik282000 on March 12, 2020, 08:04:30 PM
Awesome! The new UI is great, even with the menu order being a little wonky, I was able to find all the setting I'm familiar with.
Update over network is also great, it makes things painless. Being able to SSH into the camera also makes way easier to poke around.

I think this update delivered pretty much everything I was hoping for! Thanks guys!
Title: Re: Chronos V0.4.0 Beta - Debian and Networking
Post by: skronstein on March 13, 2020, 08:30:05 PM
How's the responsiveness of the new UI? Do you think it's too slow in moving between screens or applying any changes?
Title: Re: Chronos V0.4.0 Beta - Debian and Networking
Post by: nik282000 on March 13, 2020, 11:13:10 PM
It seems pretty quick. On the playback previous recordings section I never see any recordings and the %used is wonky but that doesn't break functionality by any means.

Do you have a readme for the network menu on the new UI? First thing it did was ask me to set a pw without saying what it was for. Will it change the root pw used for ssh?
Title: Re: Chronos V0.4.0 Beta - Debian and Networking
Post by: Fyodor on March 16, 2020, 02:33:35 AM
I'm so looking forward to try this new software. The UI looks great! Unfortunately I ran out of micro SD cards, and need to wait until tomorrow to get one.

Thanks for that pdate!
Title: Re: Chronos V0.4.0 Beta - Debian and Networking
Post by: Bian on March 16, 2020, 05:38:22 AM

The new user interface is awesome!
But have the same problems like NiNeff in his posts  ;)
Title: Re: Chronos V0.4.0 Beta - Debian and Networking
Post by: skronstein on March 17, 2020, 08:03:54 PM
A new method to run update a camera to the new Debian release is now available. There is a camUpdate zip file containing the update-to-debian app, which runs on a Chronos 1.4 running software v0.3.2 or older, and writes the debian image to the SD card in the top slot. This is different previous updates, which would apply the update to the card in the bottom slot which the camera runs from.

The camUpdate zip file can be downloaded here: http://debian.krontech.ca/builds/camUpdate-debian-2020-03-17.zip (http://debian.krontech.ca/builds/camUpdate-debian-2020-03-17.zip)

To use it:
1. Put the camUpdate folder on a USB flash drive formatted as FAT32.
2. insert that drive into the Chronos.
3. Press the Apply Software Update button on the Util screen (found on either the Main or Storage tab, depending on software version)
4. Follow the directions on screen in the app to write the image to the SD card.
5. Continue with "Step 5: Insert the microSD Card into Your Camera" in this topic. http://forum.krontech.ca/index.php?topic=531
Title: Re: Chronos V0.4.0 Beta - Debian and Networking
Post by: ieSe on March 20, 2020, 03:30:23 PM
Use the attached instructions to set up an SMB share on a Windows 10 system, or an NFS share on a Linux system.
These instructions will also be in the next revision of the user manual.

Thank you for the release V0.4.0 Beta.

I had installed and run chronos-voyager-20200302.img for my chronos 1.4 32GB. The new UI is easy to use but i think some features isn't finished yet and it is less responsive than the old UI. I asked if you can share the instruction for network saving form the new UI, because i think the file you share is not fro the new UI.

Bugs:

I have also another question, is saving through Ethernet cable will skip saving to the ring buffer or it just another way for saving videos like saving on SD-card or external Hard disk?
Title: Re: Chronos V0.4.0 Beta - Debian and Networking
Post by: skronstein on March 20, 2020, 08:32:29 PM
It seems pretty quick. On the playback previous recordings section I never see any recordings and the %used is wonky but that doesn't break functionality by any means.

Do you have a readme for the network menu on the new UI? First thing it did was ask me to set a pw without saying what it was for. Will it change the root pw used for ssh?

I haven't used the new UI in a while, but I think the new UI's network menu won't let you use it at all until you set a password on it. I believe it sets the root password for ssh for both the USB and ethernet connections.

There are 2 buttons beside the text box on the App & Internet access screen. Either enter your own password, or tap the button with the dice on it to generate a random password. The network accessible features should be displayed once you have a password and tap the button with the diagonal lines.

Use the attached instructions to set up an SMB share on a Windows 10 system, or an NFS share on a Linux system.
These instructions will also be in the next revision of the user manual.

Thank you for the release V0.4.0 Beta.

I had installed and run chronos-voyager-20200302.img for my chronos 1.4 32GB. The new UI is easy to use but i think some features isn't finished yet and it is less responsive than the old UI. I asked if you can share the instruction for network saving form the new UI, because i think the file you share is not fro the new UI.
NFS and SMB shares have only been implemented in the old UI, not the new one.


Bugs:
  • If I press (Menu -> Camera settings) and then choose save camera settings, i have to force the camera to shut down as it not responding any more.
  • Some time when you go to play & save tab, you can't see the videos that you had recorded. The green bar in the bottom area is sometimes missing when you move forward and backward.
  • (Menu -> Review saved Videos) this tab is really helpful but if you saved many videos and go there to check them you will find no videos in "Files o Device"

Sorry, I was not able to reproduce the freeze after saving settings. My camera pauses for 5-10 seconds while saving the settings to the USB stick, and is then responsive again.

Play & Save is only for viewing and saving the current video in memory, not the viewing of previously saved videos.

Many features have not been completed at this time, including the viewing of previously saved videos..

I have also another question, is saving through Ethernet cable will skip saving to the ring buffer or it just another way for saving videos like saving on SD-card or external Hard disk?


In the current software, videos must be recorded to the ring buffer, before being written to the SD card. In the future, we will support a Continuous recording mode that will allow recording continuously at 60fps on the Chronos 1.4, skipping the ring buffer and saving directly to the SD card.
Title: Re: Chronos V0.4.0 Beta - Debian and Networking
Post by: Kuhny1 on March 21, 2020, 07:48:36 AM
Software update went nicely, I only saw two bugs that was not mentioned
* The camera will seem to fail at initializing the sensor, it will show the cube animation repeatedly. The UI will load but the cube will still stay in the upper left inside of the UI.
* When trying to view past recordings, nothing shows up in the list to view.

And some help for anyone else with Ethernet control

W10 (likely to be nearly the same on older versions)

Not sure if this is common knowledge but for those who would like to directly connect the camera to a laptop without having internet access, you need to share your WiFi connection to your Ethernet port, here's how to do it.


1. Go into Control panel --> Network and Internet -->
Network and Sharing Center --> (on the left) Change Adapter Settings

2. Right click on your WiFi connection and click properties

3. Click the sharing tab and then check both boxes and hit ok.

4. You should now be able to plug your camera into the Ethernet port with a standard Enet cable and your computer will assign it an IP. Connect to it like normal.


Side Note - Even if your laptop has no active wifi connection, it will still assign it an IP and work as usual.

Title: Re: Chronos V0.4.0 Beta - Debian and Networking
Post by: ieSe on March 22, 2020, 02:36:17 PM
Quote
I haven't used the new UI in a while, but I think the new UI's network menu won't let you use it at all until you set a password on it. I believe it sets the root password for ssh for both the USB and ethernet connections.

There are 2 buttons beside the text box on the App & Internet access screen. Either enter your own password, or tap the button with the dice on it to generate a random password. The network accessible features should be displayed once you have a password and tap the button with the diagonal lines.

Thank you skronstein for your replay. I installed the software V0.4.0 Beta again without applying the new UI. I tried the instructions but it didn't work. Here is the error "Mount Failed: mount: wrong fs type, bad option, bad superblock on //192.168.0.102/smb, missing codepage or helper program, or other error (for several file systems (e.g nfs, cifs) you might need a /sbin/mount.<type> helper program)". I think this is a problem with sharing files between Linux and windows.

Hardware Setup
My laptop is running Windows 10 Home. You can find my network sharing settings in images.
I thought that smb file location address might differ from the instructions file, so i tried these addresses but none of them works too.
In Mount tab:

Did i make something wrong?
Title: Re: Chronos V0.4.0 Beta - Debian and Networking
Post by: foobar on March 23, 2020, 12:06:42 PM
The networking shares work by configuring your laptop as the SMB server, to which the camera will connect as a client. From the screenshots you have provided, it looks like you have configured your camera correctly. However, due to the age of the Linux kernel running on the camera (version 3.2, which is about 10 years old now), we are only able to support SMBv1 for the time being. This means that you will need to enable the SMBv1 Server feature on your Windows 10 laptop for sharing to work.

As someone who has an interest in network security, this situation makes me quite sad; SMBv1 is quite old, and has many known vulnerabilities in it, which is why Microsoft disables it by default.
Title: Re: Chronos V0.4.0 Beta - Debian and Networking
Post by: foobar on March 23, 2020, 01:31:34 PM
After discussing the state of the new GUI with the rest of the software team, we have found that it isn't ready for serious use and that there are too many outstanding issues for us to be able to reasonably address with the size of team we have available. As such, we have decided that we will not be supporting this new GUI going forward, and we will instead make the original GUI our focus for the camera. Therefore, if you encounter bugs or missing features in the new GUI, we cannot promise that we will be able to fix them, and we encourage you to switch back to the original GUI if these issues become problematic.

We will keep the new GUI accessible via the software update tool for the time being as an experimental option, and we would be glad to receive any feedback about it and its features. If there are things that you like about the new GUI, we would like to try and migrate those features into the original GUI.

I apologize for getting your hopes up with the new look and feel and I hope that you will forgive me for releasing software that is incomplete and full of bugs.
Title: Re: Chronos V0.4.0 Beta - Debian and Networking
Post by: ieSe on March 23, 2020, 06:46:58 PM
The networking shares work by configuring your laptop as the SMB server, to which the camera will connect as a client. From the screenshots you have provided, it looks like you have configured your camera correctly. However, due to the age of the Linux kernel running on the camera (version 3.2, which is about 10 years old now), we are only able to support SMBv1 for the time being. This means that you will need to enable the SMBv1 Server feature on your Windows 10 laptop for sharing to work.

I enabled SMB 1.0/CIFS Client but the camera still can't access smb file due to the same error. And when I pressed "Test", I got "SMB share cam on 192.168.0.102 is not connected".
Title: Re: Chronos V0.4.0 Beta - Debian and Networking
Post by: dindindy on March 23, 2020, 11:22:33 PM
I think the recorded clips can be play in Chronons itself would be very nice.  n_n
Title: Re: Chronos V0.4.0 Beta - Debian and Networking
Post by: Bian on March 23, 2020, 11:31:23 PM
After discussing the state of the new GUI with the rest of the software team, we have found that it isn't ready for serious use and that there are too many outstanding issues for us to be able to reasonably address with the size of team we have available. As such, we have decided that we will not be supporting this new GUI going forward, and we will instead make the original GUI our focus for the camera. Therefore, if you encounter bugs or missing features in the new GUI, we cannot promise that we will be able to fix them, and we encourage you to switch back to the original GUI if these issues become problematic.

We will keep the new GUI accessible via the software update tool for the time being as an experimental option, and we would be glad to receive any feedback about it and its features. If there are things that you like about the new GUI, we would like to try and migrate those features into the original GUI.

I apologize for getting your hopes up with the new look and feel and I hope that you will forgive me for releasing software that is incomplete and full of bugs.

Sad to hear this, because the new version is very user friendly. Does this mean to switch back to the  version 0.3.2 or is it also avaliable on the debian unstable?
Title: Re: Chronos V0.4.0 Beta - Debian and Networking
Post by: NiNeff on March 24, 2020, 10:02:21 AM
After discussing the state of the new GUI with the rest of the software team, we have found that it isn't ready for serious use and that there are too many outstanding issues for us to be able to reasonably address with the size of team we have available. As such, we have decided that we will not be supporting this new GUI going forward, and we will instead make the original GUI our focus for the camera. Therefore, if you encounter bugs or missing features in the new GUI, we cannot promise that we will be able to fix them, and we encourage you to switch back to the original GUI if these issues become problematic.

We will keep the new GUI accessible via the software update tool for the time being as an experimental option, and we would be glad to receive any feedback about it and its features. If there are things that you like about the new GUI, we would like to try and migrate those features into the original GUI.

I apologize for getting your hopes up with the new look and feel and I hope that you will forgive me for releasing software that is incomplete and full of bugs.
That's quite sad, but you having to focus your ressources is very valid.
Features I'd like to see in the old GUI:
* Zoom
* Battery Charge indicator as changing icon
* python scripts (should still be possible over ssh anyway)
* stored file playback
Title: Re: Chronos V0.4.0 Beta - Debian and Networking
Post by: foobar on March 24, 2020, 10:45:38 AM
Sad to hear this, because the new version is very user friendly. Does this mean to switch back to the  version 0.3.2 or is it also avaliable on the debian unstable?

We will continue to keep the new GUI2 as an option on the unstable branch for you to experiment with, we just have to say that we are unable to commit to fixing problems that you might find in it, and that our officially supported user interface is going to be the existing Chronos user interface.

This does not mean that we are abandoning the v0.4.0 software and its features, just that the user interface will continue to have the same look and feel as our v0.3.2 and earlier releases.
Title: Re: Chronos V0.4.0 Beta - Debian and Networking
Post by: foobar on March 24, 2020, 10:51:13 AM
That's quite sad, but you having to focus your ressources is very valid.
Features I'd like to see in the old GUI:
* Zoom
* Battery Charge indicator as changing icon
* python scripts (should still be possible over ssh anyway)
* stored file playback

I'd love to see all of those features made available on the old GUI too, especially the zoom, as I have often found the limited screen real estate to be quite difficult to workaround when faced with weird aspect ratios (try focusing a camera at 1280x96 to see how fun this can be).

Unfortunately, stored file playback will probably be a long ways out, since this is one of the screens in the new GUI whose functionality is not implemented.
Title: Re: Chronos V0.4.0 Beta - Debian and Networking
Post by: foobar on March 24, 2020, 11:00:39 AM
I enabled SMB 1.0/CIFS Client but the camera still can't access smb file due to the same error. And when I pressed "Test", I got "SMB share cam on 192.168.0.102 is not connected".

I've spent a bit of time looking into this, and it seems like we might have a bug in the SMB mounting code, I'll let you know as soon as I have a fix ready to be deployed.
Title: Re: Chronos V0.4.0 Beta - Debian and Networking
Post by: nik282000 on March 24, 2020, 07:48:42 PM
Quote
try focusing a camera at 1280x96 to see how fun this can be

I usually set the camera to 128x128, focus then to back to the crazy aspect ratio. Just sayin.
Title: Re: Chronos V0.4.0 Beta - Debian and Networking
Post by: foobar on March 28, 2020, 12:21:54 PM
Quote
I haven't used the new UI in a while, but I think the new UI's network menu won't let you use it at all until you set a password on it. I believe it sets the root password for ssh for both the USB and ethernet connections.

There are 2 buttons beside the text box on the App & Internet access screen. Either enter your own password, or tap the button with the dice on it to generate a random password. The network accessible features should be displayed once you have a password and tap the button with the diagonal lines.

Thank you skronstein for your replay. I installed the software V0.4.0 Beta again without applying the new UI. I tried the instructions but it didn't work. Here is the error "Mount Failed: mount: wrong fs type, bad option, bad superblock on //192.168.0.102/smb, missing codepage or helper program, or other error (for several file systems (e.g nfs, cifs) you might need a /sbin/mount.<type> helper program)". I think this is a problem with sharing files between Linux and windows.

Hardware Setup
  • My laptop is connected to the router through wireless network.
  • Chronos 1.4 is connected to the same router through the Ethernet cable.
My laptop is running Windows 10 Home. You can find my network sharing settings in images.
I thought that smb file location address might differ from the instructions file, so i tried these addresses but none of them works too.
In Mount tab:
  • smb
  • \\DESKTOP-23CTSB5\smb
  • \DESKTOP-23CTSB5\smb
  • DESKTOP-23CTSB5\smb
  • //DESKTOP-23CTSB5/smb
  • /DESKTOP-23CTSB5/smb
  • DESKTOP-23CTSB5/smb

Did i make something wrong?

Hi, just to follow up on this. The latest updates to the unstable branch should now have resolved some of the issues that we found in the SMB mounting code. In particular there were two bugs that you were likely running into. The first was that shares requiring a username and password were failing due to an error in the setting of the mount options, and the second was that cameras were missing some support packages that would enable name resolution. To get these fixes, you will need to ensure you have software build 0.4.0~beta38 or newer, as shown on the About tab of the Util window.

I have attached some screenshots of how I have configured my camera so that it is able to save footage to a Samba share on my Windows 10 PC. Note that the layout of the network settings window has changed slightly between voyager and unstable.

The first step is to share a folder on your windows 10 PC, and ensure that SMB 1.0/CIFS file sharing support is enabled. In this particular case, my username on this windows 10 PC is "Owen" and I am the owner of this share.
(http://forum.krontech.ca/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=531.0;attach=684;image)(http://forum.krontech.ca/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=531.0;attach=686;image)

We can then configure the camera to use this share via the Network tab in the Util window, and then hit Apply to mount the share and make it permanent.
(http://forum.krontech.ca/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=531.0;attach=688;image)

After this, the network share should appear in the Storage tab of the Util window when successfully mounted.
(http://forum.krontech.ca/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=531.0;attach=692;image)

And it should be available as a storage device when saving video.
(http://forum.krontech.ca/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=531.0;attach=694;image)
Title: Re: Chronos V0.4.0 Beta - Debian and Networking
Post by: foobar on March 30, 2020, 07:11:49 PM
We have pushed some updated software to the voyager software release, which should hopefully address some issues that you have reported, and improve the usability of the camera's software. You can access these changes using the Software Update tool found on the Storage tab of the Util window, and then downloading updates from the package repository.

Major Changes from chronos-voyager-20200302.img.xz to chronos-voyager-20200331.img.xz

Full changelog for updated software

chronos-control: 0.4.0~beta29 -> 0.4.0~beta50
python3-pychronos: 0.4.0~beta29 -> 0.4.0~beta50

chronos-gui: 0.4.0~beta20 -> 0.4.0~beta38
chronos-update: 0.4.0~beta20 -> 0.4.0~beta38

chronos-http: 0.4.0~beta17 -> 0.4.0~beta54

chronos-pwrutil: 0.4.0~beta14 -> 0.4.0~beta50
chronos-tools: 0.4.0~beta14 -> 0.4.0~beta50
chronos-video: 0.4.0~beta14 -> 0.4.0~beta50

u-boot-ti81xx: 0.3.5-201006psp4.4.0.1 -> 0.3.6-201006psp4.4.0.1
Title: Re: Chronos V0.4.0 Beta - Debian and Networking
Post by: ieSe on March 31, 2020, 06:48:32 AM
Quote
I haven't used the new UI in a while, but I think the new UI's network menu won't let you use it at all until you set a password on it. I believe it sets the root password for ssh for both the USB and ethernet connections.

There are 2 buttons beside the text box on the App & Internet access screen. Either enter your own password, or tap the button with the dice on it to generate a random password. The network accessible features should be displayed once you have a password and tap the button with the diagonal lines.

Thank you skronstein for your replay. I installed the software V0.4.0 Beta again without applying the new UI. I tried the instructions but it didn't work. Here is the error "Mount Failed: mount: wrong fs type, bad option, bad superblock on //192.168.0.102/smb, missing codepage or helper program, or other error (for several file systems (e.g nfs, cifs) you might need a /sbin/mount.<type> helper program)". I think this is a problem with sharing files between Linux and windows.

Hardware Setup
  • My laptop is connected to the router through wireless network.
  • Chronos 1.4 is connected to the same router through the Ethernet cable.
My laptop is running Windows 10 Home. You can find my network sharing settings in images.
I thought that smb file location address might differ from the instructions file, so i tried these addresses but none of them works too.
In Mount tab:
  • smb
  • \\DESKTOP-23CTSB5\smb
  • \DESKTOP-23CTSB5\smb
  • DESKTOP-23CTSB5\smb
  • //DESKTOP-23CTSB5/smb
  • /DESKTOP-23CTSB5/smb
  • DESKTOP-23CTSB5/smb

Did i make something wrong?

Hi, just to follow up on this. The latest updates to the unstable branch should now have resolved some of the issues that we found in the SMB mounting code. In particular there were two bugs that you were likely running into. The first was that shares requiring a username and password were failing due to an error in the setting of the mount options, and the second was that cameras were missing some support packages that would enable name resolution. To get these fixes, you will need to ensure you have software build 0.4.0~beta38 or newer, as shown on the About tab of the Util window.

I have attached some screenshots of how I have configured my camera so that it is able to save footage to a Samba share on my Windows 10 PC. Note that the layout of the network settings window has changed slightly between voyager and unstable.

The first step is to share a folder on your windows 10 PC, and ensure that SMB 1.0/CIFS file sharing support is enabled. In this particular case, my username on this windows 10 PC is "Owen" and I am the owner of this share.

We can then configure the camera to use this share via the Network tab in the Util window, and then hit Apply to mount the share and make it permanent.

After this, the network share should appear in the Storage tab of the Util window when successfully mounted.

And it should be available as a storage device when saving video.

Hi, I installed chronos-unstable-20200328.img and also chronos-voyager-20200331.img, but i got the same error 'DESKTOP-23CTSB5 is not reachable!'. Here are my steps to configure the smb file:
Title: Re: Chronos V0.4.0 Beta - Debian and Networking
Post by: NiNeff on March 31, 2020, 07:40:45 AM
the update sounds awesome, I will test it sometime later this week!
Title: Re: Chronos V0.4.0 Beta - Debian and Networking
Post by: Bian on March 31, 2020, 07:53:05 AM
I am a bit confused - are the described changes in the "standard" GUI also availabel or only in the "new" GUI, which is no longer being developed.

BTW I have the same problem like ieSe - I tried to setup smb like in the description and get the report 'DESKTOP-XXXXX is not reachable!'
Title: Re: Chronos V0.4.0 Beta - Debian and Networking
Post by: foobar on March 31, 2020, 11:29:38 AM
I am a bit confused - are the described changes in the "standard" GUI also availabel or only in the "new" GUI, which is no longer being developed.

BTW I have the same problem like ieSe - I tried to setup smb like in the description and get the report 'DESKTOP-XXXXX is not reachable!'

These changes are in the standard GUI, there have been no changes made to the "new" GUI since the last build on 20200302.
Title: Re: Chronos V0.4.0 Beta - Debian and Networking
Post by: foobar on March 31, 2020, 11:43:42 AM
Hi, I installed chronos-unstable-20200328.img and also chronos-voyager-20200331.img, but i got the same error 'DESKTOP-23CTSB5 is not reachable!'. Here are my steps to configure the smb file:
  • For Windows:
    • control panel -> programs -> Turn windows features on and off -> check all boxes for SMB 1.0/ CIFS
    • Make new folder "smb" in drive c:\ -> right click on it -> choose "sharing" tab -> click on share -> choose owner -> click share
    • to get my username correctly I opened cmd -> type (echo %username%) then enter

  • For Chronos 1.4
    • MSB Share: (//DESKTOP-23CTSB5/smb)
    • Username : I typed the username that i got from step 3 in Windows steps
    • Password  : I typed the Password, that i use to login in to my laptop

When attempting to mount a Samba share, the camera will first test network connectivity to the server for the share (your Desktop in this case) and it does so by sending an ICMP ping, when you receive an error message stating the at the destination "is not reachable" it means that this ping has failed.

Further down on the network tab, in the Network Status box, you should see the status of the camera's Ethernet interface. Can you verify that the camera has an IPv4 address, and that your windows desktop is able to ping the camera? In the screenshots that I posted, my camera has an IPv4 address of 192.168.1.208

(http://forum.krontech.ca/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=531.0;attach=696)
Title: Re: Chronos V0.4.0 Beta - Debian and Networking
Post by: ieSe on March 31, 2020, 04:28:02 PM

When attempting to mount a Samba share, the camera will first test network connectivity to the server for the share (your Desktop in this case) and it does so by sending an ICMP ping, when you receive an error message stating the at the destination "is not reachable" it means that this ping has failed.

Further down on the network tab, in the Network Status box, you should see the status of the camera's Ethernet interface. Can you verify that the camera has an IPv4 address, and that your windows desktop is able to ping the camera? In the screenshots that I posted, my camera has an IPv4 address of 192.168.1.208

(http://forum.krontech.ca/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=531.0;attach=696)

Hi, the cam has an IPv4 address and I'm able to pig the cam from my laptop.
Title: Re: Chronos V0.4.0 Beta - Debian and Networking
Post by: foobar on March 31, 2020, 04:46:48 PM
Hmm, I wonder if this is something to do with Windows Firewall getting in the way of things.

My approach to debug this issue would be to SSH into the camera, and then run a ping command from the command line of the camera to see what occurs. Unfortunately there isn't a way to do this purely from the GUI. The command that I would run to test this would be ping DESKTOP-23CTSB5, which should show the resolution of DESKTOP-23CTSB5 into an IP address, plus responses from your Desktop.
Title: Re: Chronos V0.4.0 Beta - Debian and Networking
Post by: ieSe on March 31, 2020, 06:36:56 PM
Hmm, I wonder if this is something to do with Windows Firewall getting in the way of things.

My approach to debug this issue would be to SSH into the camera, and then run a ping command from the command line of the camera to see what occurs. Unfortunately there isn't a way to do this purely from the GUI. The command that I would run to test this would be ping DESKTOP-23CTSB5, which should show the resolution of DESKTOP-23CTSB5 into an IP address, plus responses from your Desktop.

Finally it works.

My laptop is running windows 10 and is connected to the router through wireless network and the camera is connected to the same router through Ethernet cable. Here is my configurations

On Laptop or PC:
On Chronos:
see screenshots Apply.jpeg and Test.jpeg

Software Bugs:
[/list]
Title: Re: Chronos V0.4.0 Beta - Debian and Networking
Post by: CS223 on April 07, 2020, 08:44:28 AM
Stupid question: Can you keep various versions each on their own uSD card and just swap them around? For example to use the 40k FPS mode in version V0.3.2 then swap the card for V0.4.0 to try the various new features?
Title: Re: Chronos V0.4.0 Beta - Debian and Networking
Post by: NiNeff on April 07, 2020, 12:05:56 PM
Stupid question: Can you keep various versions each on their own uSD card and just swap them around? For example to use the 40k FPS mode in version V0.3.2 then swap the card for V0.4.0 to try the various new features?
Yes, this is possible, just like swapping SD cards in a Raspberry Pi ;D
Title: Re: Chronos V0.4.0 Beta - Debian and Networking
Post by: skronstein on April 07, 2020, 02:14:29 PM
Stupid question: Can you keep various versions each on their own uSD card and just swap them around? For example to use the 40k FPS mode in version V0.3.2 then swap the card for V0.4.0 to try the various new features?
If you upgrade to 0.4, then go back to an older version, you might not see the battery's status when using that older version, but it should work fine otherwise. It should work again once you return to 0.4.
Title: Re: Chronos V0.4.0 Beta - Debian and Networking
Post by: lwaters on April 10, 2020, 11:59:34 AM
I'm sorry, I've gotten lost in this thread. Can someone clear this up for me? Is there a new update to the 1.4 and/or 2.1 that is stable? I have one of both but i'm hesitant to try to change anything on them as we are in the middle of things that are difficult to set up/tear down. The last time I was able to simply plug the camera in with an ethernet cable and download the update. Is this different now?
Thank you,
Laura
Title: Re: Chronos V0.4.0 Beta - Debian and Networking
Post by: gyppor on April 11, 2020, 08:18:14 PM
Stupid question: Can you keep various versions each on their own uSD card and just swap them around? For example to use the 40k FPS mode in version V0.3.2 then swap the card for V0.4.0 to try the various new features?
Yes, this is possible, just like swapping SD cards in a Raspberry Pi ;D

I've done this but had issues saving to an SD card that had older footage from version 0.3.2 on it. After I tried the new software version and had issues I reinserted the old card, but I couldn't save to the SD storage card. It would tell me "file already exists, rename and try again" when I tried to save. Removing the SD card with the old video files on it and replacing with a blank USB key solved the problem.
Title: Re: Chronos V0.4.0 Beta - Debian and Networking
Post by: CS223 on April 11, 2020, 10:21:10 PM
Stupid question: Can you keep various versions each on their own uSD card and just swap them around? For example to use the 40k FPS mode in version V0.3.2 then swap the card for V0.4.0 to try the various new features?
Yes, this is possible, just like swapping SD cards in a Raspberry Pi ;D

I've done this but had issues saving to an SD card that had older footage from version 0.3.2 on it. After I tried the new software version and had issues I reinserted the old card, but I couldn't save to the SD storage card. It would tell me "file already exists, rename and try again" when I tried to save. Removing the SD card with the old video files on it and replacing with a blank USB key solved the problem.

I was referring to swapping the firmware SD card. But even then, having a file storage SD card formatted by each firmware version and marked as such and swapped when the firmware SD card is swapped wouldn’t be a big deal. That said, if there are firmware version/hardware limitations for example having network capable firmware results in sacrificing speed or some other feature it would be advantageous to have multiple firmware versions so if you need a specific feature you swap in the version with that feature while giving up another. Speed for networking, or whatever. It would allow the user to taylor the application as needed and add versatility to the hardware. And simplify things too by keeping menus simple and not trying to cram everything into one all encompassing version.
Title: Re: Chronos V0.4.0 Beta - Debian and Networking
Post by: nik282000 on April 12, 2020, 10:02:00 AM
Every time I upgrade the firmware/OS I make an image of the SD card in case something goes wrong. So far I haven't had any problems swapping between versions. My most recent roll back was from 0.4.0b + online updates (about 40 or so) back to 0.4.0b with no updates, I didn't run into any problems. Previous to that I went between the 0.1 0.2 and 0.3 with no particular issues.
Title: Re: Chronos V0.4.0 Beta - Debian and Networking
Post by: clkdiv on April 13, 2020, 11:24:25 AM
Hello nice people. Just a question: Downloading a beta version here to Europe takes hours for me. I am quite sure this is because the beta-software is hosted on a subdomain directly on the krontec server. I am sure, there is no copy located somewhere here in Europe, thus one really has to download directly from krontec. This is very slow, I suppose there is no dedicated contingent for such a small server. It takes 14 hours for me, and I really have the fastest connection here. Also, I know that these connections to oversea servers are almost like peer-to-peer. So: Anyone knowing a faster location too? Like github or so?

Thanks!
Title: Re: Chronos V0.4.0 Beta - Debian and Networking
Post by: NiNeff on April 13, 2020, 01:59:21 PM
Hello nice people. Just a question: Downloading a beta version here to Europe takes hours for me. I am quite sure this is because the beta-software is hosted on a subdomain directly on the krontec server. I am sure, there is no copy located somewhere here in Europe, thus one really has to download directly from krontec. This is very slow, I suppose there is no dedicated contingent for such a small server. It takes 14 hours for me, and I really have the fastest connection here. Also, I know that these connections to oversea servers are almost like peer-to-peer. So: Anyone knowing a faster location too? Like github or so?

Thanks!
Are you using this official repo: http://debian.krontech.ca/builds/ ?
Here in Germany, my downloads from there vary a bit in speed but are generally in between 1-5 Mb/s so adequatly quick for the ~500MB filesize. They do however start slow and then increase in speed.

Up to 0.3.2 the files were actually available on github: https://github.com/krontech/chronos-updates/releases
As the 0.4 updates have a completely different structure its understandable they aren't there.
You also only have to download the whole thing once and can then use the on-camera update which then only downloads the required changes.
Title: Re: Chronos V0.4.0 Beta - Debian and Networking
Post by: skronstein on April 14, 2020, 04:04:36 PM
I'm sorry, I've gotten lost in this thread. Can someone clear this up for me? Is there a new update to the 1.4 and/or 2.1 that is stable? I have one of both but i'm hesitant to try to change anything on them as we are in the middle of things that are difficult to set up/tear down. The last time I was able to simply plug the camera in with an ethernet cable and download the update. Is this different now?
Thank you,
Laura

To our knowledge, the current release is stable. For any camera already running a version 0.4 beta or newer, connect an ethernet cable and download the latest update on camera. Alternatively, you can get SD card images here: http://debian.krontech.ca/builds/
Use a 'voyager' file to get the stable software.
The 'unstable' files are only for if those who want the latest software that has received less testing.

A Chronos 1.4 be updated to 0.4. See the first post in this thread for how to update to this software.
All Chronos 2.1 cameras ship with a beta of 0.4, so they can update from the network right from the start.
Title: Re: Chronos V0.4.0 Beta - Debian and Networking
Post by: Simon on April 28, 2020, 10:09:51 PM
Trying to find if I have the latest stable build installed - but can't see the matching between the downloadable images (e.g. chronos-voyager-20200410.img.xz) and the build number displayed in the About screen (0.4.0-beta38), nor anything in the List Packages screen, nor in tags in Github. What's the trick? Thanks.


Title: Re: Chronos V0.4.0 Beta - Debian and Networking
Post by: skronstein on April 29, 2020, 12:30:33 PM
Trying to find if I have the latest stable build installed - but can't see the matching between the downloadable images (e.g. chronos-voyager-20200410.img.xz) and the build number displayed in the About screen (0.4.0-beta38), nor anything in the List Packages screen, nor in tags in Github. What's the trick? Thanks.
To check if you have the latest package, you have to tap Apply Software Update to start the software update tool, then tap Check for Updates in the tool. The button will be greyed out if there is no internet connection. If it finds any updates, it will ask you if you want to download and apply them.

beta38 is just the build of camApp, which is only the GUI.
Title: Re: Chronos V0.4.0 Beta - Debian and Networking
Post by: mfloresdacunha on April 29, 2020, 04:51:17 PM
Hmm, I wonder if this is something to do with Windows Firewall getting in the way of things.

My approach to debug this issue would be to SSH into the camera, and then run a ping command from the command line of the camera to see what occurs. Unfortunately there isn't a way to do this purely from the GUI. The command that I would run to test this would be ping DESKTOP-23CTSB5, which should show the resolution of DESKTOP-23CTSB5 into an IP address, plus responses from your Desktop.

Finally it works.


Hi,

What kind of speeds are you getting when saving to the SMB server?

Best regards!
Title: Re: Chronos V0.4.0 Beta - Debian and Networking
Post by: rdemyan on May 01, 2020, 01:32:03 PM
If I buy a Chronos 1.4 camera now and receive it in a month or so, will the "unstable" version still be available so I can film at 109,000 frames per second?  Also, it is critical that I have an exposure time of around 1 microsecond.  Can the exposure time be set to around 1 microsecond throughout the entire range from 1000 fps to 109,000 fps?
Title: Re: Chronos V0.4.0 Beta - Debian and Networking
Post by: CS223 on May 01, 2020, 08:09:38 PM
The shutter speed can be set regardless but the issue is the amount of light required. David said figure 7 Lux per FPS. I presume that’s at 360 deg shutter so even way more light at higher shutter speeds. As long as the file remains on github, you can use it. Download it now and save it in anticipation of getting a camera. I’ll check and confirm tomorrow.
Title: Re: Chronos V0.4.0 Beta - Debian and Networking
Post by: rdemyan on May 02, 2020, 09:59:24 AM
"The shutter speed can be set regardless but the issue is the amount of light required. David said figure 7 Lux per FPS. I presume that’s at 360 deg shutter so even way more light at higher shutter speeds. As long as the file remains on github, you can use it. Download it now and save it in anticipation of getting a camera. I’ll check and confirm tomorrow."

Thanks.  I reread this thread and it looks like the Voyager release on 3/31/2020 supports a minimum vertical height of 32.  I'm not sure, but I think that corresponds to a 109,000 fps when the horizontal is 320 or maybe it is 336.
Title: Re: Chronos V0.4.0 Beta - Debian and Networking
Post by: hellfireh on June 09, 2020, 08:52:57 PM
I updated my Chronos 1.4 to the 0.4.0 version of the software recently and i selected the most recent stable software package but when I start up the camera, the camera sometimes gets caught in a boot loop and sometimes it starts up just fine. Is this a problem other people are having?
Title: Re: Chronos V0.4.0 Beta - Debian and Networking
Post by: MarcinS on June 09, 2020, 11:25:47 PM
I updated my Chronos 1.4 to the 0.4.0 version of the software recently and i selected the most recent stable software package but when I start up the camera, the camera sometimes gets caught in a boot loop and sometimes it starts up just fine. Is this a problem other people are having?

Check this topic: http://forum.krontech.ca/index.php?topic=551.msg3363#msg3363 and reply by sanjay.
Title: Re: Chronos V0.4.0 Beta - Debian and Networking
Post by: davto on October 02, 2020, 12:04:53 AM
Hi, I just formatted the micro SD card that came with our 2.1 camera before making a backup of the calibration settings (because, apparently, I'm an idiot). Are these settings lost now? Are they stored on the micro SD card or on the camera itself? If the latter, can I retrieve them by flashing the firmware the camera came with (no idea which version number that is though) back onto the micro SD card, inserting it and exporting the calibration to a USB flash drive before flashing the newer version? Thanks in advance!
Title: Re: Chronos V0.4.0 Beta - Debian and Networking
Post by: sanjay on October 05, 2020, 01:49:33 PM
Hi, I just formatted the micro SD card that came with our 2.1 camera before making a backup of the calibration settings (because, apparently, I'm an idiot). Are these settings lost now? Are they stored on the micro SD card or on the camera itself? If the latter, can I retrieve them by flashing the firmware the camera came with (no idea which version number that is though) back onto the micro SD card, inserting it and exporting the calibration to a USB flash drive before flashing the newer version? Thanks in advance!

Hi davto, the settings are stored on the microSD card. You'd be able to reflash the sd card with 0.5.1, but the 2.1s have factory calibration files that would need to be reloaded. Please send an email to [email protected] with your camera's serial number, and I'll send you the appropriate calibration files.
Title: Re: Chronos V0.4.0 Beta - Debian and Networking
Post by: MaryMiller on June 07, 2021, 01:56:09 PM
Thanks for the effort and explanations, everything is clear.
I'm curious to know if my camera will be ok after downloading the beta, because I'm a little bit afraid of ruining it. I don't really want to destroy my camera because of a possibly incompatible version. Once I had a project to do and I needed to put something from the toy story fonts (https://upfonts.com/peace-sans-font-toy-story-font) as a title. Luckily I managed to save the video, because my SD card died after that. That is why I try to be very careful.