VTK Backplot on RPi 4

Good suggestion but it looks like another dead end. It appears that libgl1-mesa-swx11 has been deleted from the repos or at least there is no installation candidate for buster. It's too bad because everything else works, just not the gcode_graphics. Until this is resolved, I don't see how anyone can use an rpi4 for linuxcnc.

Yes it does. Maybe because it's a software implementation of opengl instead of using a GPU?

No idea. I'm going to install the whole outfit on a laptop and see if I can sort any of this out. The vtk backplot works on the rpi with qtpyvcp so maybe it's possible to use vtk with qtvcp. If that turns out to be a huge project, then I give up because it is not my area of expertise.

I have some good news. After many many attempts to get OpenGL working with VTK back plot I have a working version.

VTK6.3.0 uses the legacy rendering backend. This would be the most compatible but I have not been able to build this against Qt5 at all.

VTK7.1 is now working with OpenGL legacy backend and works with both the fake and full OpenGL KMS drivers. Much smoother indeed.

I'm just in the process of working on VTK8.3 to enable GL ES functionality, hopefully this will fix some issues I have with a new widget for QtPyVCP which uses some OpenGL functionality that fails on the RPi.

I can share the updated deb package for VTK7.1.


Scott

I've published the new VTK7.1.1 deb package and updated instructions.

scottalford75.github.io/LinuxCNC-on-RPi/...20for%20QtPyVCP.html

Tested on RPi 3B and 3B+. Appreciate an RPi 4 tester.

Thanks

Scott

So some further developments, here's a screenshot of Scott's new vtk package running on a RPi4 running qtvcp with a gcode file of over 280000 lines. It seems to run fairly well but I have more testing to do. It's weird that while I was porting the vtk backplot to run on qtvcp, it didn't show the gcode preview image, but it does on the pi. It was the same behaviour when running probe_basic so I don't think I broke anything. Anyway, it would appear we are making some headway in the Pi4 department.