To create a new project click Manage Project within Reactor Home. 

Select Create new project on the projects pop up. 

There are two main parts of the project: Name and Description. 

Advanced brings with it additional project options.

It is also possible to import and export projects to more easily share between different Blue Pill devices. This option is available next to create new projects in the Manage Projects pop up. You can also right-click a project name to open a context menu, where you can select 'Export project'.

Import allows for a simple file upload. With the option to have the file name become the project name.

Export allows for the selection of what to include or exclude from the file. This can be the panels, devices, or configuration. This is specific project based and not for the entire Blue Pill. 

To change the details of the project click the project name within Reactor Home 

Or within any of the project detail boxes on the projects pop up.  

It is then possible to customize the name and description of the project. Press Save.   

Enabling Advanced view brings about extra options for editing the project outside of the basic details, the same as would be seen when creating a new project. 

In the layer configuration section, it is possible to access autosaved versions of the configurations. This is useful when a lot of changes have been made and it is necessary to roll things back a little. 

When in the Configuration section, click on the little clock symbol next to the layer to see previous versions.

Available versions are: every change from the last 24 hours and as 1 file per day for 10 days. 

It is also possible to add tags or comments to individual versions. When a tag or comment is added to the version, it will no longer be deleted based on the default time scale and will persist. 

Panels can easily be discovered by mDNS look ups on the same subnet the Blue Pill is on. This makes it very easy to discover and include a panel in the configuration. mDNS will usually search the current subnet, but with a correctly configured Blue Pill, panels on other subnets can easily be included too as long as the IP and port is known to the user.

Pressing SHIFT + the green Select button will allow for multiple panel selection. 

Panels can be picked from SKAARHOJs included library of products. Following a manual choice of panel, the user will have to enter the IP address himself including any constraints desired. See the Panel Details section for set up. 

Pressing SHIFT + the green Select button will allow for multiple panel selection.

Some legacy model UniSketch panels have not yet been added into our manual panel selection. These panels can still be added manually by selecting Enter Details Manually option in the Manually Added panels section. 

This will bring up the option to add the IP address and communication port for the Blue Pill device to connect to. 

The immediate view of a panel in the Home Screen show its name, connectivity status, mapping, and any available constant sets. There is also a small light bulb button for lighting up the panel for quick real world identification.  

Clicking on the panel name will open up the details. Here the general information about the panel, the settings, and the constraints can be seen and adjusted. By default the controller name will be the same as the model name, the ID will be auto generated in order, panels will per default be in the main group and the status will be active. A controller’s status needs to be active for use. 

Constraints are requirements regarding the panel. Here it is determined which models are allowed, which serials are allowed, which IP and port numbers can be used and if the panel is of the server or client type (Raw Panel protocol related). Empty constraint will allow any value, but consider that a configuration always maps functionality to hardware component IDs which will change with the panel model for obvious reasons, so it’s rarely a good idea to omit constraints such as the allowed models. 

By default our controllers connect using port 9923. It is important to include the port number, separated from the IP address by a colon (:), for example 192.168.11.124:9923 

From inside the panel details it is also possible to delete the panel, simulate the panel if it is not immediate available for testing, ping the panel, and adjust some general controller settings. 

The Panel Simulate option available in the panel details allows for an interactive simulation of the panel’s behaviors based on the configuration/mapping and devices without needing the physical panel available. Pressing Simulate will immediate relocate to the Simulator page for this panel, it is best to wait on simulating a panel until mapping has been selected and devices added. 

Multiple panels can be arranged in groups. This allows for an easy visual breakdown of controller set ups. To access the information, set the Home screen to show panels by opening the settings menus in the lower right corner of the packages page. 

In the settings pop up, enable Panel Groups.

 Enter the panel group set up by click the panel group name above the panel details.

Inside the group details it is possible to edit the group name, view the group as a table, or in an adjustable graphical view. Which group a specific panel is in can be set in the Panel Details, by default all panels start in the Main Group.

In Table view the basic information of the set up is given including the panel name, id, status, serial number, model, IP, Port, connection type, and change the default display settings for the group. 

In Graphical View it is possible to arrange the physical layout of the controllers as might be seen in the controller room. This view is used by both the Configuration (beta) page and the Simulator page for layout.

A panel that has established a connection with a blue pill will no longer display “Waiting for Blue Pill” or “Waiting for Raw Panel”. 

Searching on the network for devices will find many types by a combination of mDNS look-ups and other methods. However, not all devices can be discovered easily, but with those that can, it’s a simple click of a button to add it to the Blue Pill device collection. Following an Auto Discover some device details may still be needed to establish connectivity. See Device Details section for set up.

Pressing SHIFT + the green Select button will allow for multiple device selection.

If a device must be added manually, it’s easy to look it up in the list of supported models. Following a manual choice of device, the user will have to enter the IP address and other possible device detail information. See the Device Details section for set up. 

Pressing SHIFT + the green Add Device button will allow for multiple device selection.

When the Home screen is in Advanced mode, it becomes possible to add device pre-filtered based on the device core. Both methods of adding the device (discovered and manually) are still available.

Devices are presented in a nice overview with their connectivity status and IP address shown clearly.

Clicking on a device’s name in the Devices section will open up the details. Here the active status, IP address, Username and Password, Device Name, DeviceID, ModelID, and Description can be adjusted. (Details shown here are for a Canon CR-N500 PTZ camera, available detail options are device specific) . The device name and description are customizable. The device name will be the default name used by any camera selector for a display name. The status must be Active to control the device. The Ping button will open the ping tool to check the connectivity, stability, and latency on the connection to the device.  

Devices will be shown broken down into different groups based on their associated device core. Device cores are auto loaded onto the blue pill when a new core is selected via a device.

Clicking on the Device core  name associated with the devices will open additional details. 

The drop down allows you select from the default configurations Skaarhoj has made for the specific panel type and from your user generated configurations, create custom configurations, or remove configurations. Most often the needed default camera control configuration will be the Generic Control configuration. This one is designed to be the most flexible for adding multiple brands of cameras with extreme ease. 

 User generated or modified configurations will displays with an orange CUSTOMIZED label next to it. 

The final step is to fill in any setup tables, also known as constant sets. The constant sets are available based on the chosen configuration and should contain entries such as specific cameras for a PTZ controller, or the inputs for a video switcher etc. They are most common when working with PTZ cameras and routing panels, though may be available for additional device configurations. A detailed breakdown of using available constant sets tables can be found on our wiki page: https://wiki.skaarhoj.com/books/blue-pill-reactor/chapter/understanding-constant-sets

The setup tables will auto save and quickly appear on displays and enable the function. 

An example of a setup table would be a camera selector and can be seen below. These can be different depending on the selected configuration. From here the order on the camera selector row of the panel will be set as well as the desired name on the displays. 

There are a couple of ways to work with the camera selector. 

In the Panels Section, it is possible to click the ADD button next to the Camera Selector to select a device already in the device collection in the devices section or to add a new discovered or manually added device. Adding one with Discovered or Manually will require additional information added in the Devices section. Using a device from the current Device Collection will auto populate the Camera Selector, though it is still smart to click into the selector to double check the information is correct. 

It is possible in the click and drag the camera icons in the Panels section to rearrange the camera selector row on your panel. The order that is seen in the home screen will be the order on the panel. 

Clicking on the Camera Selector button will open the camera selector’s Constant Set box. In there are a variety of options, some of which are not available in the Panels section. These options are device and configuration specific so may vary. 

An example of a router inputs selector can be seen below. These can be different depending on the selected configuration and device. From here the order on the inputs/outputs row of the panel will be set as well as the desired name on the displays and button color. 

The Controller sections is full of many tools to allow for navigating through the configuration and even using a fully functional simulated version of the panels. 

Please note, this section may act or look different when the Tree section is open. 

Starting at the top of the page, there are a few different ways to interact with the interface. 

Graphical View Image and Color Guide:

The interactive graphical view displays the panels in the current project in their current state on a grid. The layout of the panels on the grid can be adjusted from the Panel Groups interface accessible on the Home page. 

Each hardware component of each panel is selectable from the graphical view to interact with, how that behaves is dependent on which mode you have enabled at the top of the Controller section.

Configuration Mode

In configuration mode clicking on one of the hardware components will open that up in the Inspector to the exact place if that hardware component has been created in the associated section of the selected configuration. If it has not been defined in the section for the configuration it will be greyed out.  

Right clicking on a hardware component will open an options menu, even if the component has not been created on the section. 

When adding a section a pop up window will be presented where it is possible to define certain details of the section.

Layer selection filter for the section creation tool, allows for the selection of any layer in the tree for the current project. 

Simulation Mode

In simulation mode, the graphical view works actually controls the panel and all connected devices. In this mode the entire graphical view will have a yellow dotted line around it. 

The individual components will also have indicators on them of their use. Below is a selection of hardware components in simulation mode. 

 Right clicking on a hardware component brings up different options then it does when in configuration mode. 

 The bottom section of the Controller section is a navigation tool to move around the configuration of each panel. 

When creating a new page a pop up prompt will low for the setting of the page name and whether or not the page will be transparent or not. A Transparent page will allow for lower pages or layers in the tree to have their hardware component settings visible or available when on the new page, unless the hardware component is configured on the current layer. 

Right clicking on one of the page will also preset a number of options. 

The Inspector is where all the hardware components have their configurations assigned and adjusted. The Inspector section can give a very simple start to getting the configuration going or can be made more complex to create more complex workflows. 

Create Behavior

When first configuring a hardware component the Inspector interface the interface will appear as below. This is the Create Behavior Interface.  

Looking at the top of the section:

Below the upper section, the Create Behaviors will be available either per individual device or grouped per device core depending on how the toggle is set.  Below the devices have been grouped by their device cores. 

Expanding one of the cores, system, or navigation menus the individual parameters become become selectable. 

Not every parameter, system setting, or navigation tool is available as a Create Behavior. For those that are not they will need to be self configured. To select an different parameter, select Choose other Parameter. 

Full Inspector

Moving in past the simplified Create Behavior interface, the hardware component configurations possibilities become virtually endless in the full inspector.

Starting with the top section of the Inspector 

The Feedback section is about how the hardware component looks in terms of OLED display or LED color. There are two types of feedback, Default and Conditional. The default feedback is the main look of the OLEDs and LEDs. The conditional feedback is used when specific Active If conditions are used to change any part of the default feedback. The feedback can be as detailed as desired with no specific field mandatory except Index and Active If for the conditional feedback. 

 The Event Handlers are used to set exactly how the hardware component operates and performs the action for the parameter.

 Handler Types

Within each type of event handler, there is the Event Preprocessor section for a more advanced configuration of how a hardware component should act by transforming its hardware component type. 

The options available with each preprocessor is dependent on the overall event handler type. 
 

More information on Event Preprocessors coming soon.

Variables are used in many different ways and in many places within a configuration. The basic idea of a variable is it is an adjustable

There are two types of variable: Range and Options.

A range variable is to be used with any number value from X to Y defined by the user. 

 An options variable is to be used with any defined text string with independently set labels. 

Event Scripts 

 More details coming soon

coming soon

The most advanced way to build or edit configurations would be via the full JSON editor. This is technically a different page from the Configuration page, however it is only accessible via the configuration page. 

For users with a background in JSON, this could be the easiest and fastest way to work with our configurations. For most users, it is best to leave this section untouched as every character can effect the functionality of a configuration. 

The JSON editor can be found by clicking on the Edit Raw links in the Tree on the layers with Include Files. The JSON available via these links is the Include File layers. 

The JSON editor opens on its own web browser page. From here it is possible to do a few different things. 

Taking a look at the top section of the page. 

The middle section of the page contains the available different Snippets or include files within the selected configuration. 

The bottom section is the JSON editor tool. Each line is numbered for easy reference and differentiation. The right hand side of the editor is a miniature version of the editor to quickly jump down to different sections for navigation. 

Located in the Settings on the Configuration page are some tools for use when working on the configuration page. 

These tools can be opened by click on the cog wheel in the lower right corner of the page. 

 The available tools are as follows:

On the Simulator page, an interactive graphical display of each panel is present. The current mapping of each controller is visible. What is seen in the simulator will be reflected on any attached panels and will control any attached devices. Devices will be effected even if the panel is being fully simulated and is not physically present.

It is possible to simulate both the panel and the device from a stand alone Blue Pill to get an idea of what that mapping is like and what actions are available. Some data is not able to be simulated as it relies on the connected device for details.

In the Configuration page, it is possible to toggle between simulation and configuration modes to test the work in progress. While in simulation mode, it is not possible to add to the configuration on the Configuration page.

The following Packages are needed for Blue Pill operation. 

hardware-manager  is the application that facilitates access to the hardware features of the Blue Pill. On an RCP Pro with Blue Pill Inside the hardware-manager application creates the Raw Panel based access to the hardware components of the RCP Pro (so even when Blue Pill runs natively on a controller like RCP Pro, it is still using a network socket to talk to the hardware on the panel, so in that way it is no different from connecting to external panels!).

system-manager is the system management UI for skaarOS.

Reactor is what most will generally think of as the Blue Pill. This is the platform where panels, devices, and configurations are added.

The overview page shows which packages are currently installed and in which version; whether they are running or not. In this screenshot the Blue Pill has device cores for BMD Atem, Canon XC Protocol, BMD Camera Control, BMD Smartview, NetIO Power Socket, and Panasonic PTZ cameras. They are all stopped except the BMD Atem and Canon XC packages. An installed core will generally stop running when there are no devices that use it currently in the devices section for project. This is designed to save processing power while allowing for packages to be loaded onto the Blue Pill for later use. 

Not much different from the list of installed packages, are the available packages. This list is growing all of the time as we add new integrations.

When connected to the internet the needed package for a device core will generally auto install when a device associated with it is selected via the devices section of the Home screen.Installing new packages requires internet access as they are pulled from an online storage with applications we have published. 

Please note, prerelease updates are only available when using the Show Pre-Release toggle at the top of the page.

If working in a offline environment, it is possible to manually upload a device core package from a file on your computer. This is done from the Upload and install package button at the bottom of the Packages page. 

All of our current stable release and prerelease of our cores are available on our website devices.skaarhoj.com.

Clicking an installed package brings opens the settings page of the package.

From the Package/Core Settings page it is possible to see the current status, stop or restart, and set Auto start. This can be a helpful tool if the core is not acting properly.

 All connected devices to the package are not visible by default, they can be seen, along with their current settings, by clicking on Show Config anyways in the Warning box. While it is possible to update them from this page, it is advised to add and adjust them from the Home page, as the data is synced from there.

 On the the left the package logs can be seen and downloaded. This can be used for troubleshooting and may be requested by the support or development team for diagnostics.

Clear Config Directory will delete everything that was saved onto the Blue Pill by that specific package and return it to its default settings. This can sometimes be useful if the device core packages is not running properly. 

Clearing the Config Directory for the Reactor package will erase all projects on the device. It is suggested to export any needed project before clearing the config directory of that package. 

It is also possible to completely Uninstall a package from this page. Doing so will not remove previously connected devices, but will cause them to be disconnected.

When setting the Blue Pill into advanced mode, filtering options become available for the core logs. 

Updating packages or reverting to older versions of packages is simple.

Generally Updating or Downgrading a device core package requires internet connectivity to our servers, however we do offer an offline update method. 

Packages with updates available with updates available with have a green UPDATE TO X.X.X button next to the current version. Pressing the update button will update that individual package. Pressing the Update All button on the top will run all available package updates. 

Please note, prerelease updates are only available when using the Show Pre-Release toggle at the top of the page.

To revert back to a previous version of a package click on the drop down in the Versions column and select the desired version. 

It can be necessary to manually upload a package file from your computer, this could be because the panel is used in an offline workflow or because support has sent a package file for the customer to test. This is done from the Upload and install package button at the bottom of the Packages page. 

All of our current stable release and prerelease of our cores are available on our website devices.skaarhoj.com.

devicecore-connector is a bridge used on this particular Blue Pill that will make the device cores on it available to the outer world. This is used when for an architecture where separate Blue Pills run the device cores locally to load balance or manage network latency - or in the simple case of Blue Pills with SKAARHOJs series of extension cables which bridges connectivity to legacy serial systems (RS-422, RS-485, RS-232 and analog voltages for lens control etc.). In those cases, having a device core run locally on that Blue Pill is not only necessary because it needs to talk directly to UARTs, but it also means that single-master serial devices (and, this is what most of them are…) are available for multi-master access via the device core TCP interface.

More Special Packages and details coming soon...

Most of our devices cores do not require any special permissions or licenses to use. They can be installed when needed as your needs change. However there are some packages that do require a Skaarhoj assigned license. These generally involve using a 3rd Party Panel in your Blue Pill workflow.

If you are unsure if the package you need requires a license or license fee please reach out to support@skaarhoj.com. 

Some examples of licensed packages are:

Device Core Link

TCP Link for Atem

HID Devices

StreamDeck

X-Keys

The licensed packages can all be downloaded and installed but have a run time of 10 mins. This allows for our customers to test the packages to see if they will meet their needs before needing to purchase the license. To continue the testing, restart the device core package, wait 1 minute, then you can use it again for another 10 minutes. 

The overall System Information is displayed in this section including the Installed OS Version number for the main components, the serial number, the current IP information, the MAC address, and all assigned licenses to the device. There is the option to Identify the unit, by having the small led next to the ethernet port light red for 30 seconds, reboot the unit, or update operating system. 

In Advanced Mode there is the option to perform a hard reset of the Blue Pill. 

Please note, doing a Reset will erase all installed packages, IP configuration, and any projects. This will return the Blue Pill to factory settings. It is not possible to recover any lost information after a Reset which is why it is  hidden in Advanced Mode.

Licenses

See next sections for detailed information.

Some specialized device cores or applications require a license (and possible license fee) to use outside of a short test period (usually 10 mins). All licenses assigned to a Blue Pill can be seen under the system information section. Each Blue Pill device will come with at least one assigned license for its general operation. For standard Skaarhoj panels that will be the "base" license. This may be different for more specialized panels. 

Licenses can be assigned by the Skaarhoj support team. Please reach out to support@skaarhoj.com for information on any specific license and if there is an applied license fee. 

After a license is assigned by the support team, it may be necessary to refresh the Settings page a few times to see the assigned license. 

Internet access is needed for the Blue Pill device to touch the Skaarhoj server to register an assigned license. If that is not an option, please let the support team know. 

There are two options for setting the IP configuration of the Blue Pill, DHCP or Manual. To switch to Manual IP Configuration, toggle off DHCP, enter the desired IP network information, and press save.

By default the IP is set to DHCP, if DHCP is not available on the network a fallback IP address of 192.168.10.99 will be used. 

Please note, changing the IP information will cause the web interface to lose connection as the IP address has been re-assigned.

By enabling the "Do not use for internet Access" toggle, you can turn off general internet connection to the Blue Pill device on networks that have general internet access. 

When Internet access has been restricted the ethernet cable icon in the top right corner of the screen will  have changed from green to red. 

Please note, internet access is needed to install, update, or revert packages. For offline updating please check out the Updating Software section of our Wiki.  

There are multiple ways the Blue Pill can interact with WiFi. There is the IP Settings for when the Blue Pill is connected to a WiFi network, the Access Point to enable a local access point to connect to the Blue Pill, and Connection Settings to connecting the Blue Pill to a local WiFi network. 

WiFi is not intended as the main way to use the Blue Pill. Blue Pill is encapsulated in metal and the reach of the WiFi antenna will be very short, so consider it for very localized access, but sufficiently useful to connect to the WiFi of a camera just next to the Blue Pill device. Or to enable the WiFi access point for mobile device management.

IP Settings

There are two options for setting the IP configuration of the Blue Pill, DHCP or Manual. To switch to Manual IP Configuration, toggle off DHCP, enter the desired IP network information, and press save.

By default the IP is set to DHCP, there is no fallback static IP address for WiFi.

Please note, changing the IP information will cause the web interface to lose connection as the IP address has been re-assigned.

By enabling the "Do not use for internet Access" toggle, you can turn off general internet connection to the Blue Pill device on networks that have general internet access. 

Disable WiFi

Enabling the Disable WiFi feature will disable all wireless features from the Blue Pill device. 

Access Point Settings

Used to access the Blue Pill via an internal WiFi to establish a connection and set the needed network information for regular connection. In this section the Access Point can be enabled/disabled and the password set. The web interface is then accessed at the IP address: 192.168.4.1  By default the password is skaarhoj.  See the Getting Started section for more information.

Connection Setting

Used to connect the Blue Pill to the local WiFi network. Pressing Scan will search for available networks. Clicking a network that appears after a scan will allow for the entering of the needed password to establish the connection.

Please note connecting the Blue Pill to both the wired and wireless networks for internet access can cause instability in the connection. 

The logs are used mainly by the development team to help debug any problems. Each device core has its owns logs section but it is can all be seen in the systems logs section. Clicking the drop down will allow for the filtering of specific device cores/packages.

Frequently when writing to support, they will request the logs to be sent along with other information. The full panel logs can be dowloaded from the Logs section of the Settings page. 

Enabling Remote Support mode will allow the SKAARHOJ support team to remotely access the Blue Pill. By default this is disabled for security reasons as it gives SKAARHOJ access to your network.

Please note, wired internet access needs to be enabled for support to access the Blue Pill.

USB-A switches between the Micro USB port (on by default for service such as connection to the SKAARHOJ firmware application or re-flashing the entire unit in severe cases) and the USB-A port which is used, for example, by our FrameLink application to grab and utilize frames for thumbnail display in panels. See the Thumbnail Presets section for more information about the FrameLink application.

Please note, when USB-A is enabled, the USB-Micro port is disabled.

Date and Time allows for setting the current date and time on the Blue Pill. This can sometimes be needed for the device to check NTP when connecting to our servers for updates.

Cloud has not yet been implemented and is coming soon. 

Authentication allows for the setting of a username and password to restrict access to the Blue Pill web interface. By default the Username is admin and the password is skaarhoj This feature can also be disabled.