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Docker

Makerverse is distributed as a multi-architecture Docker image, so it can run on nearly any computer.

Installing Docker

It is recommended to use the Windows / MacOS installers, when applicable. For Linux users, a few extra steps must be taken to grant the necessary permissions.

Note: these steps are already performed on the Raspberry Pi image.

Install docker:

curl -sSL https://get.docker.com | sh

And then grant your current user access to Docker, and start it:

sudo usermod -aG docker "$(whoami)"
sudo systemctl enable docker
sudo systemctl start docker

At this point, you probably need to logout (or quit the SSH session) and log back in again. You should have just given your current user (e.g., pi) access to Docker. To check that this is true, you can do docker container ls. Notice this time we did not use sudo. As long as it doesn’t give an error about permissions, your current user now has access to Docker.

Granting USB Access

On Linux (including Raspbian), you will also probably need to grant Docker access to your USB devices. Do a sudo nano /etc/udev/rules.d/49-makerverse.rules to create a file with the following contents:

KERNEL=="ttyUSB[0-9]*",MODE="0666"
KERNEL=="ttyACM[0-9]*",MODE="0666"

Unplug any USB ports connected to a machine, and then re-connect them. The rule we just added will now take effect forevermore, giving Makerverse access to the USB ports.

Launching Makerverse

Start by downloading the Source Code from the latest release (or clone the git repository). There is a launch script located at bin/launch. For most users, you should simply type bin/launch in the terminal to start the application.

If you have git installed, you can just copy-and-paste:

git clone https://github.com/makermadecnc/makerverse.git
makerverse/bin/launch

After a few minutes, you should be able to connect to Makerverse via port 8000 on the IP address of the computer. For example, http://localhost:8000 (when on the same computer), or http://192.168.0.100:8000 (if connecting to a computer with the IP address 192.168.0.100). Once this works, Linux users may optionally move on to the Linux Service section to run the application automatically.

Run Manually (Optional)

If you prefer to run the Docker image directly instead of using bin/launch, you should do the following:

  • Pull the makerverse/core image tagged :latest, :prerelease, or specific version number.
  • Use --privileged mode and -v /dev:/dev for USB access.
  • Mount your .makerverse config file at /home/node/.makerverse.
  • Mount your gcode files at /home/node/gcode.
  • Map the external port to 8000 (-p 8000:8000).

For example:

docker run --rm --privileged --name makerverse \
  -p "8000:8000" \
  -v /dev:/dev \
  -v "$HOME/gcode:/home/node/gcode" \
  -v "$HOME/.makerverse:/home/node/.makerverse" \
  -v "$HOME/makerverse:/home/node/makerverse" \
  "makerverse/core:latest"

Configuration

You can set the following environment variables to configure Makerverse on any Web Server:

  • MAKERVERSE_PORT: Which port to listen on (default: 8000).
  • MAKERVERSE_HOME: Where the settings files should be stored (default: $HOME).
  • MAKERVERSE_SRC_DIR: Where the Makerverse code is located (default: $HOME/makerverse).
  • MAKERVERSE_LAUNCH_METHOD: Use Docker or Node? (default: docker).

Updating

Each time the bin/launch script is run, it will automatically update the application by pulling the latest docker image. If you use the linux service, this happens each time you restart the service.

Shared Directories

Sometimes, you need to create a file or folder which Makerverse can access.

This is slightly complicated when using Docker:

  • The folder where Makerverse is located is called the “project path.”
  • Anything in this folder is “shared” with the Makerverse application.
  • However, while inside the Makerverse application, the path to the shared folder is /home/node/makerverse.

Project Path

When you run the bin/launch script, you should see something like this (example taken from a Raspberry Pi):

Makerverse:latest settings: /home/pi/.makerverse (project at: /home/pi/makerverse)

On a Mac, the project might be at something like /Users/zaneclaes/makerverse.

Inside Makerverse, you always use /home/node/makerverse to refer to the project path.

Example

For example, on your Raspberry Pi or Linux computer running Makerverse, you could run:

cd makerverse
mkdir -p commands

And then perhaps create a command script to turn on/off your shopvac.

If this script file were named shopvac.sh, you would reference it as /home/node/makerverse/commands/shopvac.sh.

Gcode Folder

In addition to the project path, Makerverse will look for a folder at $HOME/gcode which contains .nc (gcode) files.

Any files located in this directory will be available in the “watch directory” from Makerverse. Instead of uploading a new program, you can just use the drop-down to “Browse” for the existing programs in the folder.