We have added a new installation method for our applications that should delight Linux users. You can now install the VirtualHub, the command line library, the Yocto-Visualization, the Yocto-BridgeCalibration, and the Yocto-Discovery using apt-get.
For those who do not know it, APT (Advanced Package Tool) is a package manager used by Debian and all distributions that are based on Debian. Such as Ubuntu or Raspbian, for example.
The advantage of APT is that it allows you to install very easily an application and its possible dependencies. Most of the time, you only need to run the "apt-get install" command with the name of the application. The package manager takes care of the rest: It downloads the correct .deb file, decompresses it, and copies the files into the right place in the filesystem.
Concretely, the apt-get utility queries different APT repositories and searches for the most recent package that matches the architecture of the machine.
The APT Repository of Yoctopuce
In order to install our tools using apt-get, we must first add our APT repository to the list of servers that are queried.
To do this, we must install the GPG key of our server with the following command:
wget -q -O - https://www.yoctopuce.com/apt/KEY.gpg | gpg --dearmor | sudo tee -a /usr/share/keyrings/yoctopuce.gpg > /dev/null
And then add our repository to the list of servers used by apt-get
echo "deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/yoctopuce.gpg] https://www.yoctopuce.com/ apt/stable/" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/yoctopuce.list
You need to perform this operation only once per machine. When the repository is added, it is possible to install and update any Yoctopuce application on your machine using apt-get like the other standard packages.
Install the VirtualHub
Thanks to this repository, it is possible to install the VirtualHub more easily. Indeed you just need execute the following commands:
sudo apt-get install virtualhub
The apt-get update command forces replay of all APT repositories. It is not mandatory, but in this way we are sure that apt-get uses an updated package list.
The command that actually installs the VirtualHub is apt-get install virtualhub. If the VirtualHub is not yet installed it downloads the correct .deb file and installs it. Otherwise it checks if an update is available and installs it.
The VirtualHub is available for the following platforms:
- Intel 32 bit (i386)
- Intel 64 bit (amd64)
- ARM soft float (armel)
- ARM hard float (armhf)
- ARM 64 bit (arm64)
- big-endian MIPS (mips)
- Little-endian MIPS (mipsel)
If you subsequently wish to uninstall the VirtualHub, you must use the apt-get remove command followed by the package name:
Note that all apt-get commands require root privileges. For this reason, all commands begin with sudo.
Install the command line library
It is also possible to install the precompiled binaries from the command line library. The procedure is the same as for the VirtualHub but you have to use the package named yoctolib-cmdlines
sudo apt-get install yoctolib-cmdlines
The command-line binaries are available for the following platforms:
- Intel 32 bit (i386)
- Intel 64 bit (amd64)
- ARM soft float (armel)
- ARM hard float (armhf)
- ARM 64 bit (arm64)
Note: Unlike .zip files on our website, the yoctolib-cmdlines package does not contain source files.
Install the Yocto-Visualization, Yocto-Discovery, and Yocto-BridgeCalibration tools
The Yocto-Visualization, Yocto-Discovery, and Yocto-BridgeCalibration utilities that were already published as .deb files have also been added to the APT repository. They can therefore be installed using apt-get
The package name for the Yocto-Visualization is yoctovisualization
sudo apt-get install yoctovisualization
The package name for the Yocto-Discovery is yoctodiscovery
sudo apt-get install yoctodiscovery
And of course, the package name for the Yocto-BridgeCalibration is yoctobridgecalibration
sudo apt-get install yoctobridgecalibration
These three tools are available only for Intel and ARM processors:
- Intel 32 bit (i386)
- Intel 64 bit (amd64)
- ARM hard float (armhf)
- ARM 64 bit (arm64)
Conclusion
Thanks to this APT repository, we hope to make life easier for all Linux users. In addition to directly copying files to the right place, apt-get automatically determines the architecture of the machine and installs the correct version of the application. The procedure is the same whether you are on a real PC, a Raspberry Pi or a Jetson development board.
Note that we took this opportunity to add support for aarch64 (also known as arm64) platforms for Yocto-Visualization, Yocto-Discovery, and Yocto-BridgeCalibration.