Unicorn Hat unicornd won't start?

I can’t seem to get the unicornd daemon to run. The library_c doesn’t download with the install, or if it does the run script is nowhere to be found. There’s a unicorn file in sbin, but it doesn’t return any output or remain running. There’s no documentation (or at least google doesn’t know what to do with +unicornd). Where is the unicorn-hat GitHub project supposed to be installed?

I can’t find library_c on the system, so it’s a different download I’m guessing. Makefile seems to expect a specific path, but it doesn’t say what it is. I’m sure this is something really dumb on my part, but there’s not a lo of examples. I’m happy to fix that, but need to get it working to document it. ;-)

Any help appreciated muchly.

if it did download it would be here… /home/pi/Pimoroni/unicornhathd/

the gethub is here ,you can click the green box , to clone or download the folder with all the files.

Unicorn Hat or Unicorn Hat HD? I think its two different installers depending on which one you have.
Unicorn Hat https://github.com/pimoroni/unicorn-hat
Unicorn Hat HD https://github.com/pimoroni/unicorn-hat-hd

Thanks. I pulled the project and rebuilt the daemon on the target Pi. Still no love. No error, no process, no logs. Just nothing. Hmm…

My Linux skills are pretty basic to be honest.
What exactly is it your trying to accomplish?
And what install commands have you run?

I have the Unicorn Hat HD, all I did was run the one line installer,
curl https://get.pimoroni.com/unicornhathd | bash
Then ran a few of the python examples and made up my own test.py file to turn all the leds Red, then Blue, then Green. Just wanted to sure I didn’t have a dead LED. As near as I can tell everything is working Ok. I haven’t done anything with it after that though. I got sidetracked on other things, holidays etc.

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Ah sorry, I’m asking about the daemon, unicornd. It’s a unix socket provider written in C that exposes a simple API for Unicorn HAT interoperability. Here’s the GitHub project:

I’m connecting it to a Go app that monitors Azure data, but need the daemon to work- it’s why I picked the Pimoroni HAT instead of something else.

Ah OK, I was thinking you might be going the C route. Thats above my skill level to be honest.
Phil @gadgetoid might be the person to ask. Or maybe Sandy @sandyjmacdonald

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Thanks. Yes, it’s that C thing. What’s odd is the full install puts the daemon in …/sbin, so there’s a binary, but it doesn’t seem to do anything. I can sort out most things that explode in some way, but this is silent, arms-folded mode and harder to trace. 😉

A lot of this stuff, even the python stuff, for me anyway is along the lines of.
It worked, great, now I can have fun. =)
Or
It didn’t work, now what do I do lol. =(

I did exaggerate a little bit. Early on when I got my first Raspberry Pi it was like that.
Now more often than not I can fix it, eventually. Learning on the way. ;)

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Forgot to mention. I just got my hands on my first Arduino.
Looks like I’ll probably be learning some C or C+ at some point.

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Arduino… my dark secret. I’ve been cheating on my real computer with them for a year now. The Pi is so much better, it’s Linux, it has whatever tool-chain you could ever want… But better PWM, ADO, smaller and cheaper become attractive once you’re OK doing more work off-board. ESP32 is my current mistress for IoT sensing. Remote knowledge creation and robust UI/API however, is way better on the Pi. And the 3 A+? PFM.

I got an UNO and an MKR1000 WIFI for Christmas. Only just tinkering around with the UNO, getting a feel for it etc.
I have two 3B+'s, two 3B’s, a 3A+, two A+'s and a dozen or so Zero W’s. My Pi project pictures etc, most of it, is here if you want a look see.
https://1drv.ms/f/s!AjOYwiwlwDtpgUMsp2qnevKpGEHb

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Realized the other day you’ve graduated from tinkering to hobby when you have enough microcontrollers to keep them in a ziplock gallon bag in a drawer, instead of individual static bags in their boxes. Not careless by any means, but not quite as special. Like you I’m mostly Pi Zero W’s, but this 3 A+ is amazing and once there are more cases for it may be the thing.

Here’s a portable IoT rig I built to show on stage at CiscoDevNet & Interop. The proto boards are high current, high frequency PWM MOSFET controllers for HD video lighting, RTC and pushing MQTT over 3G. I ended up adding hidden 3-pin serial connectors in the edges of the cases for quick(er) access, and they app is Go in Docker, with build and deploy auto via GitHub hooks and Jenkins in AWS.

https://twitter.com/FerventGeek/status/981876685082591232

Pi’s rule. Now, If I can just get the Unicorn daemon working, I can hit it from Go too. 🚀

Nice builds. Really nice builds.
My portable weather clock is to date I think my most complex build. Electronically and Python code wise. It gets regular daily use too. Pi A+ in that one. Its all it needs really. I like the A+, 3A+ form factor for headless setups where your using a full size Hat. The only downside to the old A+ is no onboard WIFI or Bluetooth. I don’t really need it for what I’m using mine for though. I just wired in a RTC so they keep accurate time.

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