Linect: A MS Kinect Linux Driver

Note : Driver still in development.

This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or any later version.

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.

Author: Arturo Casal

Driver based on the stk11xx driver by Nicolas VIVIEN, and the libfreenect library by OpenKinect Team.

Table of contents :

1. Requirements

2. Compilation

3. Usage 4.1 Option "freemotor" 4.2 Option "freeled"

4. Motor and led control

5. Test v4l2 cameras

6. License

1. Requirements

Kernel 2.6.21 or higher Kinect device model 1414

2. Kernel module Compilation

   To build the kernel module : $ make

   To install the kernel module :

   make install

   Clean building : $ make clean

3. Usage

   3.1 Option "freemotor" module (boolean)

   default: freemotor=0

   $ modprobe linect freemotor=1

   If freemotor=0, the driver will reset the motor position to its default on startup (middle). If freemotor=1, the driver won't reset the motor position.

   3.2 Option "freeled" module

   default: freeled=0

   $ modprobe linect freeled=1

   If freeled=0, the driver will use the led to indicate the device status. If freeled=1, the driver won't use the led.

4. Motor and led control

Each Kinect device connected will have a directory at /proc/linect/X/, where X is the device ID.

There you will find:

• "led": set led status (char and raw entry)

  Values: 0=off, 1=green, 2=red, 3=yellow, 4=blink yellow, 5=blink green, 6=blink red yellow

  Usage: bash => $ echo 2 > /proc/linect/1/led (set led red) c => char val = 2; df = fopen("/proc/linect/1/led", "a"); fwrite(&val, 1, 1, df);

• "motor_char": set motor degrees (char entry)

  Values: [0, 62], 0=down, 31=middle, 62=up.

  Usage: bash => $ echo 47 > /proc/linect/1/motor_char (set motor to +16º)

• "motor_raw": set motor degrees (raw entry)

  Values: [0, 62], 0=down, 31=middle, 62=up.

  Usage: c => char val = 2; df = fopen("/proc/linect/1/motor_raw", "a"); fwrite(&val, 1, 1, df); //(set motor to -29º)

• "accel_char": get accelerometer info (char entry)

  Values: [0, 62], 0=down, 31=middle, 62=up.

  Usage: bash => $ cat /proc/linect/1/accel_info

• "accel_raw": get accelerometer info (raw entry)

  Values: [0, 62], 0=down, 31=middle, 62=up.

  Usage: c => short xyz[3]; //(2 bytes each) df = fopen("/proc/linect/1/accel_raw", "r"); fread(&xyz, 2, 3, df); printf("Accel values x=%f y=%f z=%f ", (double)xyz[0]/(9.80665819), (double)xyz[1]/(9.80665819), (double)xyz[2]/(9.80665*819));

To convert the accelerometer values to device axis values : double dvalue = value / (9.80665*819);

5. Test v4l2 cameras

To use mplayer:

VGA Color Camera $ mplayer tv:// -tv driver=v4l2:width=640:height=480:outfmt=rgb24:device=/dev/video0

Depth Color Camera (synthetic) $ mplayer tv:// -tv driver=v4l2:width=640:height=480:outfmt=rgb24:device=/dev/video1

6. License

The linect kernel module is distributed under the GPL licence.