Announcing Deckard: StreamDeck support for LinuxCNC

I've been working on a new project that adds native StreamDeck support to LinuxCNC.  This allows creating control buttons that both control HAL logic, as well as respond to it and show status.

I made a quick video to show the basic functionality.



The project is of course open source (GPL3) and available on GitHub .  I would say it's early days, but it's there if anyone has a StreamDeck and wants to play around with it.

cheers,
Steve

 

 

Some folks may not have seen the StreamDeck before.  It's commonly used by live streamers to control their live streaming setups, or in video and audio production work.  It's essentially a macro pad that gives you a number of physical buttons, with the capability of putting graphics on a display area behind each button.  It's like a touchscreen in a way, but it gives the experience of tactile buttons.

They are not really built for a harsh industrial environment like many machine shops, but I think in cases where regular keyboards and touchscreens are surviving, these would be fine too.  The older models can often be picked up used for small money.  Mine is an older "Streamdeck XL" with 32 buttons, and there are also smaller ones available.  There are also newer models with knobs, though my project does not support these yet.
 

Seems quite expensive for what it is on my side of the world. I would rather buy an industrial wireless pendant/MPG for similar money.

rodw wrote:

Seems quite expensive for what it is on my side of the world. I would rather buy an industrial wireless pendant/MPG for similar money.
 

Agreed, they are expensive at full retail price.  I found my 32-button "XL" models steeply discounted for $100USD brand new, originally purchased for an unrelated R&D project.  I see them on the used market fairly often as well.  If I didn't already have them sitting on a shelf, I probably wouldn't have gone down this path either, but it was a fun little project.

 

tommylight wrote:

For a moment there i thought is said SteamDeck !
Enter the HMI users in droves now...

Hmm, I think SteamOS is based on Linux, so why not?  
 

rodw wrote:

Seems quite expensive for what it is on my side of the world. I would rather buy an industrial wireless pendant/MPG for similar money.
 

That's kind of like saying "I'd rather buy a dump truck than a Ferrari", They're not really serving the same purpose.

That said the StreamDeck is a bit too expensive for what it actually is, those buttons aren't individual LCDs it's actually 1 common size LCD panel with clear windows as buttons. The buttons themselves are conductive rings pressing against a PCB or membrane. Kind of like if a Nintendo controller but with punched out rings as buttons. I don't know that there's anything special about that device itself other than some software. Like the button images are just icons on an LCD screen.

Besides being made of consumer grade plastic, the construction probably it would probably work out OK in a shop, the way the button layer is constructed it's probably fairly well sealed.

The implementation here is pretty cool, seems like a good idea. I don't know anything about StreamDeck software but I wonder how hard it would be just to implement something like this on a just a basic LCD with a custom button overlay panel....software wise

tommylight wrote:

Arch Linux to be exact, and there once was a how to on installing LinuxCNC on Arch.
Add a USB-C to ETH adapter and oh joy ... leme try to convince my little brother that i need a SteamDeck for work !
 

My friend was maintaining the AUR package for LinuxCNC for a while because I was using LinuxCNC+Arch for something but that was 2.8 IIRC. Somebody else is maintaining it now @ 2.9 and it looks like it was updated about a month ago so assuming it works there shouldn't really be anything to it, Just install it via pacman or pamac. Arch always has RT kernels ready so It should be fairly easy. I generally just use Debian for machine stuff so I can't say I've used the 2.9 AUR package

 That said the StreamDeck is a bit too expensive for what it actually is, those buttons aren't individual LCDs it's actually 1 common size LCD panel with clear windows as buttons. The buttons themselves are conductive rings pressing against a PCB or membrane. Kind of like if a Nintendo controller but with punched out rings as buttons. I don't know that there's anything special about that device itself other than some software. Like the button images are just icons on an LCD screen.

Correct, it is just a small LCD behind the button grid, which is really a cost-effective and pretty clever way to do it.  There are companies that make keys with displays in them, but the costs are pretty absurd.  On the upside, you could locate the butons individually on a control panel rather than being limited to a single grid of buttons. 

Besides being made of consumer grade plastic, the construction probably it would probably work out OK in a shop, the way the button layer is constructed it's probably fairly well sealed.

It's actually pretty solidly built, for a piece of consumer/semi-professional gear.  The clear buttons feel more like polycarbonate than acrylic, which is good since acrylic tends to craze and crack when exposed to coolant. 

The implementation here is pretty cool, seems like a good idea. I don't know anything about StreamDeck software but I wonder how hard it would be just to implement something like this on a just a basic LCD with a custom button overlay panel....software wise

Building something similar from scratch is really not that hard from a software/firmware standpoint.  I think it would be a fair amount of work to replicate similar hardware so it looks as nice and functions as reliably, but not impossible.