Plan B was to run the Configuration software on my old netbook using a portable Linux distro from a USB drive. I've tried 3 different versions: Knoppix (possibly too old), Lubuntu 16.04.3 and Puppy Linux: Slacko 6.3.0. In each case I can't get "AudioMoth-1.1.1.AppImage" to do anything. I've checked that permissions are set and created the rules file but double clicking the icon does not work and there is no Run option in the context menu. The Appimage file was on the USB stick but I also tried copying it int bin and onto the desktop without any success. Linux utilities, browser etc all run properly.
Can any Linux Guru suggest a solution?
We should probably aim to support the 32-bit Ubuntu 16.04.5 Desktop which is the last supported 32-bit version of Ubuntu and should come with all the necessary USB HID and CDC drivers. I'll have to try to find a real 32-bit computer to try it out on.
Not quite as straightforward as I thought - I had assumed that a 32-bit app would run on a recent 64-bit build of Linux (as in all 64-bit versions of Windows) but it appears that this is no longer the case.
However, since Linux can be loaded from a USB drive on almost any machine - including Wintel & Mac, a 32-bit build of the configuration software would allow it to run on almost any computer that is not unreasonably antique so I hope that you will give serious thought to making a 32-bit AppImage available if it is reasonably feasible.
It will also be very good for the environment as it may help to prevent some perfectly servicable older laptops being sent to landfill! ;-)
Yes, we originally had mac, Linux and Windows as 64-bit versions. Added a 32-bit Windows version when someone requested it. Then realised that 64-bit Windows would run the 32-bit Windows build, so we removed the link to the 64-bit build.
We hadn't really thought of 32-bit Linux builds at that time. Nothing here is impossible. It's just a balance of where we should be spending our time and the gradual creep in the number of different builds that we have to maintain over time. My preference would be to do a better job of maintaining a smaller number of versions and encourage others to take on the support of other versions.
At the moment the next firmware and hardware releases, the corresponding 64-bit desktop tools, and updating the website are our priorities. Once the dust settles from that we'll also look at which 32-bit builds we can support as well. This will probably be in a couple of weeks time.
Alex
Peter Prince Jun 4: " the 32-bit installer functions on 64-bit systems, so now 32-bit is the default".
That was in answer to the enquiry " Is the 32 bit software still available ?" with no mention of the specific platform.
That is why I assumed that the Linux release would be 32-bit and consequently wasted a hell of a lot of time, download bandwidth and effort trying numerous Linux distributions before I realised that it wasn't!
Since you already build the Windows executable as a 32-bit app (it works perfectly on 32-bit Windows 7) - surely it shouldn't be a big deal to do the same for Linux, from what I assume is the same source code.
If the problem is AppImage then could it not be installed more conventionally?
It’s all open source and we’d encourage anyone who wanted to make their own configuration tools (a command line tool might be of interest to some), or to take on the support of versions for different operating systems (Raspberry Pi maybe).