Linux Appimage does not exist

[wmahfoudh]

No links to download the Linux appimage from https://github.com/LaserWeb/LaserWeb4-Binaries/releases

[yoyo42]

There are several issues about this already, going all the way back to 2018. I just read about LaserWeb and came to look for the same thing as you, but TBH it looks like all the devs lost interest in this project last year sometime and it's been dormant ever since. The Linux installer seems to have fallen away a long time before that. Shame.

See https://forum.makerforums.info/t/hi-all-its-time-to-take-a-nap/9090 for a goodbye message.

[alisabedard]

I have this issue too, of course. This is sad, as it is the only viable open source laser CAM. My computers are too old to run windows and I try to avoid proprietary software anyways, so I guess I'll try gcode tools in inkscape with universal gcode sender.

[bianchifan]

LaserWeb-v4.0.996 AppImage is still available ;)
https://github.com/LaserWeb/LaserWeb4-Binaries/releases/tag/untagged-4818330b6baa8213d4a7

[alisabedard]

Thank you for the link!

…

On Sat, May 16, 2020 at 5:41 AM bianchifan ***@***.***> wrote: LaserWeb-v4.0.996 AppImage is still available ;) https://github.com/LaserWeb/LaserWeb4-Binaries/releases/tag/untagged-4818330b6baa8213d4a7 — You are receiving this because you commented. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#33 (comment)>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/ACPMTRFDURFIKGBH6CBBIF3RRZNVDANCNFSM4MQVDSEQ> .

[dgoadby]

I am about to replace the controller in my ageing HPC laser and I have downloaded the sources to see what can be done. Assuming this account stays open then I will report/update here with my developments.

[povi2946]

linux binaries plz.

[trombik]

can someone test this? please note that the package is alpha. https://github.com/trombik/LaserWeb4-Binaries/releases/tag/v4.0.996-145-pre

[alisabedard]

On Devuan GNU/Linux, the main application window appears, but no UI elements do. It is a blank white window, though it is in the normal size of LaserWeb.

…

On Wed, Jul 15, 2020 at 12:14 PM Tomoyuki Sakurai ***@***.***> wrote: can someone test this? please note that the package is alpha. https://github.com/trombik/LaserWeb4-Binaries/releases/tag/v4.0.996-145-pre — You are receiving this because you commented. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#33 (comment)>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/ACPMTRFENTYJTBLV7J42YSLR3XIUZANCNFSM4MQVDSEQ> .

[trombik]

on my ubuntu VM, it works

there should be something missing. if you run the application from CLI, do you see anything?

> ./LaserWeb-linux-amd64-v4.0.996-145-pre.AppImage

[trombik]

note that, before launching the application on my ubuntu server, i need to install:

apt-get install libgtk-3-0 libx11-xcb1 libnss3 libasound2 libdbus-glib-1-2

they are usually installed by other applications as dependencies, but make sure you have them.

[trombik]

it worked on my VM because I have a working lw.comm-server. it should work without it. let me see what i am missing.

[alisabedard]

I ran the apt-get install, and I already had those packages. When launching LaserWeb, the only message is "Skip checkForUpdatesAndNotify because application is not packed". This is a screenshot of it: [image: sshot.png] And a screenshot of the executing terminal: [image: term.png]

…

On Wed, Jul 15, 2020 at 9:18 PM Tomoyuki Sakurai ***@***.***> wrote: it worked on my VM because I have a working lw.comm-server. it should work without it. let me see what i am missing. — You are receiving this because you commented. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#33 (comment)>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/ACPMTRB6QAKE5RK3QE5PAHLR3ZIOHANCNFSM4MQVDSEQ> .

[trombik]

i cannot investigate the issue further at the moment. the problem is the backend server invoked by the frontend does not run for some reason.

to work around it, you can download the backend and run it from the console.

> wget https://github.com/trombik/lw.comm-server/releases/download/v4.0.138/lw.comm-server-linux-amd64-v4.0.138.AppImage
> chmod +x lw.comm-server-linux-amd64-v4.0.138.AppImage
> ./lw.comm-server-linux-amd64-v4.0.138.AppImage

after that, run the frontend.

[trombik]

progress so far:

in my fork, CI is implemented in GitHub Actions so that my fix will not be evasive. however, some scripts in package.json are broken because node modules are updated. the CI builds the code for different targets in a unified CI steps. the CI produces binaries for Linux amd64, macos amd64, Windows 64 bit, and Windows 32 bit. i also noticed that macos binary is no longer available in the release page. it was said in some issues that the majority of users are Windows user. Linux users are not alone in this context.

as reported here, the binary does not work because the bundled lw.comm-server does not run. the server process does not log anything because the server process logs to console, but, probably because the application is GUI, the log is not available. to investigate further, I need to modify the code, which I would like to avoid at the moment because the developer does not like many changes at once.

standalone lw.com-server in my fork is working. if you have nodejs installed on your machine, node server.js should work. if you are familiar with packaging, you should be able to write a package. however, that will not be acceptable solution because of Windows users.

the binaries are built in an interesting way. the code in this repository provides GUI interface. the GUI application invokes lw.conn-server, which is in another repo, and runs an HTTP server process that serves static files in yet another repository. you need to deal with three build processes. lw.comm-server claims that it is independent from frontend, but the build process is tightly coupled, probably because Windows user cannot deal with web server and nodejs.

package.json in all of the repositories needs love. see npm audit output. in my fork, many dependencies are updated while trying to fix serialport.

i cannot find any tests in three repositories. npm run test is just a wrapper of echo no test. upgrading dependencies will be fun.

i am working on fixing build process so that others can help fixing the build. if you are curious, see https://github.com/trombik/lw.comm-server/tree/windows-build

[trombik]

@jefbed would you follow the instruction and report the result?

https://github.com/trombik/lw.comm-server/blob/windows-build/doc/Build.md

you should see something like:

vagrant@default-ubuntu-1804-amd64:~/lw.comm-server$ node ./server.js 
 
***************************************************************
        ---- LaserWeb Comm Server 4.0.136 ----        
***************************************************************
  Use  http://127.0.1.1:8000 to connect this server.
 
* Updates: 
  Remember to check the commit log on
  https://github.com/LaserWeb/lw.comm-server/commits/master
  regularly, to know about updates and fixes, and then when ready
  update accordingly by running git pull
 
* Support: 
  If you need help / support, come over to 
  https://plus.google.com/communities/115879488566665599508
***************************************************************

[alisabedard]

It is working now following your steps. A few clarifications based what I had to do: yarn is known as yarnpkg on Devuan, npm needs to be listed as a dependency, and 'yarnpkg build' has to be run twice to achieve a successful build under Devuan. For now, I'll use a script to start the server before the LaserWeb appimage. Thank you for your work on reviving this project.

…

On Thu, Jul 16, 2020 at 9:56 PM Tomoyuki Sakurai ***@***.***> wrote: @jefbed <https://github.com/jefbed> would you follow the instruction and report the result? https://github.com/trombik/lw.comm-server/blob/windows-build/doc/Build.md you should see something like: ***@***.***:~/lw.comm-server$ node ./server.js *************************************************************** ---- LaserWeb Comm Server 4.0.136 ---- *************************************************************** Use http://127.0.1.1:8000 to connect this server. * Updates: Remember to check the commit log on https://github.com/LaserWeb/lw.comm-server/commits/master regularly, to know about updates and fixes, and then when ready update accordingly by running git pull * Support: If you need help / support, come over to https://plus.google.com/communities/115879488566665599508 *************************************************************** — You are receiving this because you were mentioned. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#33 (comment)>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/ACPMTRB5323HCNILZTA5OVDR36VUVANCNFSM4MQVDSEQ> .

[trombik]

the bug mentioned has not been fixed yet. you still need to run the server manually. this build includes major updates in its dependencies. as such, I do not know it works or not. please test it with your machine because serialport, the core library in lw.comm-server has been updated to 9.x from 6.x. electron is now 9.x instead of 1.6.x.

https://github.com/trombik/LaserWeb4-Binaries/releases/tag/v4.0.996-152-pre

[trombik]

I tried to update serialport but gave up because the lw.comserver API does not abstract anything. the changes in serialport affects the front-end as well. I cannot fix it unless someone with knowledge of reactjs help the project. the front-end has same issues in the dependencies. the v4.0.996-145-pre tag in my fork is the last known working tag.