IT!

I released the software GGCGen   version 1.0.5. GGCGen provides a graphical user interface for the creation of opentrons API version 2.0 (APIv2) compatibe Python scripts (opentrons protocols). The backend pyotronext is used for translation to G-code and robot control , see here for details.  The "opentrons API" for Python by Opentrons Labworks Inc . is an open protocol standard that can be used to control lab robots. One problem of Opentrons original implementation is the tight integration with their hardware and the rest of Opentrons software framework. To overcome this limitation, GGCGen and pyotronext provide a more flexible and customizable framework written in Python that can be easily configured to control any robot that understands G-code (Marlin dialect) using the same protocol standard. Copyright (c) 2020 DerAndere

I released the software pyotronext version 1.0.5. pyotronext can interpret opentrons protocols and control lab robots (e.g. DIY cartesian pipetting robots made from a 3D-Printer). Opentrons Labworks Inc. develops the open source opentrons API version 2.0 (APIv2) as well as a tool to convert JSON files that have a similar format as Transcriptic's Autoprotocol standard. The opentrons Python APIv2 allows easy and flexible scripting. Using the Python package pyotronext, you can run Python scripts that use the opentrons APIv2 and send G-code to a lab robot that runs my modified Marlin firmware ( Marlin2ForPipetBot ). pyotronext can also export the generated G-code to file. pyotronext serves as a backend for my Graphical G-code Generator and robot control software GGCGen .  Copyright (c) 2020 DerAndere

I made a video tutorial that explains how to design knitting patterns that can be scaled to arbitrary size using the open source programs Inkscape v0.92 and  GIMP 2.10.10 . It may be especially interesting to the community of the All Yarns are Beautiful (AYAB) project . This page was moved to https://derandere.gitlab.io/scalable-knitting-patterns-inkscape . You will be automatically redirected to https://derandere.gitlab.io in about 6 seconds.     Copyright DerAndere 2019 - 2020  

I am proudly presenting a working prototype of my pipetting robot "PipetBot-A8".  Of course it is an ongoing project and there are many things to improve, but the device is doing what I want and its precision is already quite good. Here is a link to the video . After I finally managed to fix most issues with my robot control software GGCGen, it is ready for testing. I uploaded an introductory video that showcases the Graphical G-code Generator . Visit the page "PipetBot-A8" on this blog for details. Brought to you by DerAndere.

GGCGen - Graphical G-code Generator GGCGen - the Graphical G-code Generator and lab robot control software comes with an intuitive graphical user interface (GUI) for automatic creation of G-code.  This website was moved to https://derandere.gitlab.io/pipetbot-a8/ . You will be automatically redirected to https://derandere.gitlab.io in about 6 seconds. Copyright 2018 - 2020 DerAndere

GIMP 2.10.6 introduces vertical text layers and comes with improved performance. Recently, the GNOME foundation received a 400,000 $ donation and they sent a quarter of that money to GIMP. Hopefully this financial support will help to finally make GIMP useable in a productive environment. Currently, color management is still broken. But the space invasion project made the underlying General Graphical Library (GEGL) fully color-managed and the developers of GIMP try to make use of this and make GIMP fully color managed, too. This development takes place in the GIMP 2.99 development version ( git master branch of GNOME/gimp). For the time being, stick to the second big open-source image manipulation software, Krita , whenever possible (the text tool needs to be overhauled). Krita 4.11 has support for Python 3 scripting, vector, filter, group, and file layers. You can nondestructively work on layers with masks. Krita supports full color management through LCMS for ICC and OpenColor IO fo...

Hey folks,  In order to make my blog more readable and at the same time make the source code more accessible to developers and profit from version control, I removed a lot of raw-code from the pages of this blog and made the step to use public repositories on https://gitlab.com . I am currently maintaining two Gitlab groups: https://gitlab.com/RobotsByDerAndere and https://gitlab.com/DataAnalysisByDerAndere . I also changed some of the used libraries, so most of my projects on Gitlab are now open source under the terms of the permissive MIT License!

Finally, the GNU Image Manipulating Program (GIMP) 2.10.0 has been released. The open source software GIMP can now be considered for productive work and makes professional image manipulation available for everyone. It supports high bit depth (up to 32 bit precision) and color management. Most importantly, GIMP now gives access to radiometrically correct adjustment of contrast / levels / curves, color mixing and blending ( these operations have to be performed in a linear working space , i.e. in a color working space which has a tone reproduction curve with a gamma of 1.0 at all densities). GIMP is cross-platform software which means it is available for Microsoft Windows, Linux and Apple iOS. In my oppinion, this achievement is worth a donation to the developers by every user of GIMP. GIMP can now be regarded as a serious competitor for Adobe Photoshop.

Great news: The source-code for the synthesizer Zyn-Fusion was published. Now it can be built from source as explained on my blog on the page "music". Zyn-Fusion is the latest version of the powerful synthesizer ZynAddSubFX with the modernized graphical user interface " Fusion" . It works as a stand-alone as well as a VST-plug-in.