garageCube

[CaseyJScalf]

Since the debut of MadMapper on Windows 10 making reliable permanent projection mapping and lighting installations has become 10x easier. Not only are Windows PC's much more easy to configure than the Mac computers but they tend to have more technical features.

However, after doing this for a few years our team has been burned multiple times with bricked installations thanks to the geniuses at Microsoft who think having blue screens like this pop up and NEED TO BE CLICKED are a good idea.

All of our installations use remote access because they are on roof tops, in different states, locked in outdoor rated enclosures. We simply can't always reach them to click on the "boot anyways" or "no thank you" in response to these screens and we can't ask our clients to do this every few months either.

For a while there was respite from this with the Windows 10 IOT Enterprise version of the OS but that is not only a unicorn to find then but virtually impossible now since Windows 11 reared its head.

I think you can see where this is going...

So now I ask, "Is it possible to get MadMapper on a Linux machine?"

I have discussed the above problem with some of my most respected tech heads and they keep pointing me to using Linux for they have absolute customizability, very minimal OS bloat, and although more technical they are meant to just run.

For instance, I just learned the computers on most metro busses or those in factories all use Linux. Do we really think they would tolerate a "wElComE to WinDoWs" screen that prevented a million dollar system from working??

Anyways... What are the options as of today? Is this possible with maybe a "Wine" for Linux or some other wrapper that could get it to work? Is porting to Linux at all in the MadMapper pipeline? Maybe by some miracle does it already exist and I am a dinosaur?

I have rewritten our playback app in Processing for Linux. Works great. I also re-wrote the scheduler for timing and projector on/off in Linux, also in Processing. Our camera systems and remote access are also good to go for Linux... Just need that mapping engine. Definitely not going to rewrite that one. Waaaaay too much math going on there. Also, most open source mapping libraries are buggy, struggle with multi screen, and pale in comparison to the UI/UX of MadMapper.

So... Does anyone have any ideas or thoughts on this conundrum?

I have been a proud MM user for over 9 years now and would LOVE to keep it going.
If there is anything I could do to help this discussion along please let me know.

Obvious questions:

"Why not just use MiniMad?"
We need perfect frame sync and edge blending. Sometimes 12+ projectors. Sometimes 4k. Not possible yet on Mini.

"Have you tried disabling the auto update?"
Yes, like 20x in every single way from System Settings to the command line. Still get updates and these "gEt MoRE oUT oF WinDoWs" screens... I even wrote a blog post about it. https://www.caseyjscalf.com/blog-full-r ... dows-10-11

"Have you used the baked in mesh warping from vendors like Christie and Panasonic?"
Yes but they pale in comparison to the ease of MadMapper. Will look into this seriously though as it could be better than a bricked machine even if not as good as MM.

[Pierre Guilluy]

We're not against having MadMapper on Linux, but porting to a new platform takes a lot of time to get right, and we're not sure it's worth the cost commercially yet.

However, we've ran some tests using MadMapper's Windows version on the Steam Deck running Steam OS / Arch Linux using the Proton compatibility layer.
While MadMapper started directly using the latest Proton (which is very impressive considering the number of dependencies and Windows-specific tricks we use on the Windows version of MadMapper) with pretty good engine performance, the user-interface ran very slow and the software was not very usable, at least on the Deck's low-power APU.

As a comparaison, MadMapper ran flawlessly on a Windows 11 installed on a SD-card on the same Steam Deck.

However, I would suggest you try the same on a Desktop computer, using Steam which comes standard with the latest Proton and facilitates software installation.

[franz]

MM on linux is unlikely to happen, as it would be too costly buisness-wise. Maybe 0.001% of MM users would be interested in.
I think we would prefer to focus on developping new features than porting the app to another system.

[lagelat]

I'm interested in having a reliable free os on affordable PC ( I've got a new PC with 3 NVIDIA quadro, I5, 8go RAM, 1TO M2 for 1000€ but i'm spending so much time to set windows 11 for shows or theater or museum (no updates, remote desktop+GPU, etc....)
Gonna try proton...