Open Lighting Project News – February 2015

Welcome to the February issue of OLPN, the newsletter for the Open Lighting Project community. Topics covered in this issue include:

  • OLA Release 0.9.4
  • OLA passes Coverity Analysis
  • Open Lighting Project at USITT
  • LightKey Controller
  • and more

OLA Release 0.9.4

OLA version 0.9.4 was released on 1/29 [1]. This includes new hotplug USB code and the GPIO plugin.

[1] https://github.com/OpenLightingProject/ola/releases

OLA passes Coverity Analysis

Coverity Scan [2] is a static analysis tool [3] which examines the source code to discover defects. Defects can cause unexpected program behavior or software crashes. Static analysis enables developers to find and fix defects before users encounter them, improving the quality of the codebase.

The Open Lighting Project is pleased to announce that version 0.9.4 of OLA has 0 Coverity Scan defects. Coverity Scan will continue to run on all code checkins and will detect any new bugs.

[2] https://scan.coverity.com/
[3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Static_program_analysis

Open Lighting Project at USITT 2015

Sean Sill & Simon Newton will be presenting a session [4] on OLA at the upcoming USITT conference (March 18th-21) in Cincinnati [5]. Titled “The Open Lighting Project. Open Source software for the Entertainment Industry”, the session looks at the use of FOSS software in the theatrical market.

[4] http://bit.ly/1BoPKRj
[5] http://www.usittshow.com/

Open Lighting Architecture at the Embedded Linux Conference.

Matt Ranostay will be presenting “Open Lighting Architecture: Blinky Lights!” [6] at the Embedded Linux Conference [7] in San Jose, March 23 – 25.

[6] http://bit.ly/1EWjUz9
[7] http://events.linuxfoundation.org/events/embedded-linux-conference

LightKey Controller

LightKey [8] is a Next Generation Lighting Control application for Mac. A combination visualizer & console, it provides a polished interface to control shows.

LightKey uses OLA under the hood and in doing so supports many different USB devices and DMX-over-Ethernet protocols. The LightKey installer contains a binary version of OLA or advanced users can configure LightKey to connect to an existing OLA daemon.

LightKey is in beta testing, if you would like an invite please email [email protected].

[8] http://lightkeyapp.com

New PLASA RDM Standard in Public Review

E1.37-5 is a new draft standard that adds new Parameter Messages for use with RDM. The draft standard can be downloaded from the PLASA TSP website [9], along with the review instructions & feedback form. The review period runs January 5 to March 3, 2015.

The draft standard contains Parameters to describe a device’s DMX profile as well as new parameters to describe manufacturer-specific PIDs.

This review cycle is the first and only opportunity to suggest new Parameters. If there is functionality you’d like to see added to RDM, please submit comments.

[9] http://tsp.esta.org/tsp/documents/public_review_docs.php

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This issue of Open Lighting Project News was edited by Simon Newton and John Musarra.