Compiling boblight on Ubuntu.

First step: install necessary dependencies:

sudo apt-get install libx11-dev libgl1-mesa-dev libxrender-dev libxext-dev portaudio19-dev libavcodec-dev libavformat-dev libswscale-dev libavdevice-dev

Second step: get the source:

$ cd ~ $ svn checkout http://boblight.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/ boblight-read-only

$ cd boblight-read-only/ $ ./configure

Third step: compile:

$ cd boblight-read-only/

$ ./configure

If everything goes well..... $ make $ sudo make install

Fourth step configure boblight for your controller:

Depending on your controller you should move the correct config files to /etc under ~/boblight-read-only/arduino you will find config files for different setups.

For a arduino duemilanove,

$ sudo cp ~/boblight-read-only/arduino/duemilanove.conf /etc/boblight.conf

For a arduino MEGA,

$ sudo cp ~/boblight-read-only/arduino/mega.conf /etc/boblight.conf

Next put the arduino sketch onto your arduino. For simply a arduino MEGA or Duemilanove, open the sketch located at ~/boblight-read-only/arduino/boblight_arduino_pwm/boblight_arduino_pwm.pde in the arduino IDE.

The wiring for the arduino is as follows:

For duemilanove,

connect the first LED to pins 3,5,6 (which correspond to R,G,B). and the second LED to 9,10,11. Wire all the LED's ground to the ground on your arduino.

For MEGA,

connect the first LED to pins 2,3,4 (which correspond to R,G,B). the second LED to pins 5,6,7. the third LED to pins 8,9,10. and the fourth LED to pins 11,12,13. Wire all the LED's ground to the ground on your arduino.

Fifth step: Testing the lights:

Plug your arduino into your computer's USB port and run the command:

$ boblightd

Test your lights by running in another terminal:

$ boblight-constant FF0000 This should output the color RED. Kill this process and run: $ boblight-constant 00FF00 This should output the color GREEN. Kill this process and run: $ boblight-constant 0000FF This should output the color BLUE. Kill this process.

If a color wasn't output, or the wrong color was displayed you should go check the wiring of your arduino.

Depending on how your using boblight, you should run the correct boblight client. To have the colors change based on the image being displayed on the screen you should use boblight-X11.

boblight-X11 is known not to work in full screen with certain AMD Radeon cards with the closed source drivers. Some will work with the free Radeon drivers.

If you are running boblight-X11 over ssh do:

$ export DISPLAY=:0.0

To list various options for boblight-X11 you can run boblight-X11 -l and for help boblight-X11 -help

An example one could use is:

boblight-X11 -x -i 0.03 -o value=5.0 -o saturation=2.0 -o speed=60.0

Written by: jjrh