Getting apk from the official store

Utopiah · September 7, 2022, 8:05pm

Hi,

the official plugin store lists some plugins I’d like to use. Unfortunately it seems to require a desktop application for Windows or Mac which I do not use. I’m working solely with Linux. I also noticed that the source code of said plugin is available officially on Github but releases are only for the source code.

Consequently I opened an issue but I’m wondering if there is a more general solution.

craig · September 7, 2022, 8:15pm

Have you tried Wine?

If your camera is in developer mode (free), use can use adb from Linux on the apk for those applications with source code. The models V, X, and Z1 run Android internally.

Is your camera in developer mode?

Utopiah · September 8, 2022, 5:35am

@craig maybe my question wasn’t clear. When I browse to e.g Wireless Live Streaming | RICOH THETA Plug-in Store I get theta360://plugins/com.theta360.cloudstreaming/apk but what I would hope for is a https link with a .apk file.

craig · September 8, 2022, 1:31pm

I don’t know how to get the apk directly from the plug-in store.

Are you a photographer trying to install the plugins into your camera from Linux?

Or, are you a developer trying to build an application to install the plugin into the camera from Linux?

Utopiah · September 13, 2022, 2:17pm

Developer who doesn’t use Windows at all. I installed plugins before but had to rely on finding a Windows machine which I don’t find practical, especially knowing that adb works with developer mode enabled (just confirmed it using adb shell and scrcpy on Linux).

craig · September 13, 2022, 3:18pm

adb install will work from Linux.

You may need to upgrade the gradle plugin on Android Studio to build the wireless live streaming plugin

Seems to work from Linux install.

I’ll test the stream when I get back into the office.

Utopiah · September 13, 2022, 4:00pm

Thanks for providing the example but as I mentioned in the topic the question is specifically about how to avoid doing the build myself. I’ve done that before (all via CLI and containers to be reproducible, e.g https://twitter.com/utopiah/status/1532385731234123777 , not Studio with GUI required) but as said and asked in the issue Releases don't include builds · Issue #5 · ricohapi/theta-wireless-live-streaming-plugin · GitHub the hope is to directly get the distributed .apk, insuring it’s the same build and avoiding extra work.

craig · September 13, 2022, 4:18pm

I believe you are raising two different requests.

The simpler one, per the GitHub issue, is that you want the apk to be included in the release to make it more convenient to test for people with the RICOH THETA in developer mode. I’m assuming that this is because sometimes there are a lot of stuff that needs to be installed to build the plugin. This is easy to understand. We can pass the request on in a report to RICOH.

I do not think it will be possible to get the apk from the store. The API or process of how to install the plugins from the store haven’t been published. I don’t think it is even possible to install the plugins from the official RICOH THETA mobile app on iOS/Android, which would indicate that there is no easy way to install the plugins via WiFi.

I believe that your second request is to have a way to install the plug-ins on the store from Linux for testing or use.

If this is the case, there is a difference between:

request for an API, like a USB API, to install the plugin on the camera
request for a way to get the apk from the store to your Linux machine so that you can install it either manually with adb or with some type of custom application (like a bash script)

Can you clarify your request for the above points?

There is no solution, but I want to pass on your request in a report to RICOH to represent the voice of the community accurately.

Utopiah · September 13, 2022, 6:22pm

I think I found the solution : append apk to the URL.

Example : Wireless Live Streaming | RICOH THETA Plug-in Store becomes https://pluginstore.theta360.com/plugins/com.theta360.cloudstreaming/apk

Still, to clarify my perspective and hopefully address your points :

True I made some assumptions. I believed maybe incorrectly that Theta desktop application to install a plugin was “just” downloading it from the store via the provided URL then as a visual interface, possibly relying under the hood on adb, would only send the apk to the device. It might do more than that by e.g modifying a configuration file in order to add the installed application as a plugin. It might also do something similar for switching on developer mode.

Overall my underlying request is of course that everything available on other operating systems also work on Linux. This is important in general but I believe for Ricoh itself trying to value its developer ecosystem a way to bring a community of users often versed in development and thus with the capability of make that ecosystem grow.

Yes, providing the apk on all officials plugins would be a start but unfortunately that would mean only plugins made by Ricoh rather than others ones.

Overall I believe a mechanism that is both transparent to users and requiring little investment from Ricoh might be a good compromise to begin with. For this I would tend to think documented adb commands (assuming its sufficient) would be great.

craig · September 13, 2022, 8:16pm

Awesome! That is a nice find. Thank you for sharing it.

Also, thanks for the feedback.

BTW, there’s fairly good support for the USB API and live streaming on Linux.

I’ll expand the document to include other forms of development and add your tip about the apk with attribution to you.

For viewing images on the Linux desktop, I use this:

Installation information on Ubuntu 20.04 is here:

BTW, I just realized that the THETA X can download and install the plug-ins directly from the camera body without any computer or mobile phone. There may be a way to make the process easier on Linux in the future.

craig · September 14, 2022, 10:18pm

I put together the video below to help other people use the tip from @Utopiah

In my test, I had to use Vysor to set the permissions of the plugin before I could use it. Also, we might need to use the official mobile app or WebAPI or USB API to set the plug-in that will boot.

RICOH THETA Plugin Install from Linux: Dev Workflow Tip

Huang_Liang · September 27, 2023, 3:21pm

Since all plugins are moved to github, is there a way to download apk. Currently there is no way to install plugin on Theta X.

craig · September 27, 2023, 3:45pm

I can’t figure out how to download it. Perhaps someone else can figure it out?

Do you plan to install the plugins for adb?

Huang_Liang · September 27, 2023, 4:28pm

ADB is the only way to install the apk for Theta X, right?

craig · September 27, 2023, 5:27pm

I’m not sure if the plugins will install on the X. I was just wondering what your plans were.

Have you installed these plugins?

Huang_Liang · September 27, 2023, 5:34pm

Thanks for searching, the issue is you can not click install button on the page, either on desktop(tested on Mac and Ubuntu) or mobile browser. There is no way to install plugins.

Found possible apk, and trying Release v1.2.3 · ricohapi/theta-wireless-live-streaming-plugin · GitHub

Huang_Liang · September 27, 2023, 5:48pm

Tried “adb devices” on both ubuntu 22 and Mac, none device found on both.
Theta X is on live mode connect by usb.
For ubuntu libuvc-theta and libuvc-theta-example tried. ./gst_viewer said “Theta Not Found”.
lsusb printed THeta X correctly.

Any clue?

craig · September 27, 2023, 10:11pm

Oh, I see the problem now. The link to the desktop app is not on the new software download page. There used to be a link to a desktop app to install the plugins.

@jcasman can you find the desktop app on the RICOH site? I think people need the app to install plugins.

craig · September 27, 2023, 10:16pm

to stream to linux, this document may help.

For the device not found error, do you have two cameras on your computer? If there is only a single webcam, they change line 190 to /dev/video0

github.com

ricohapi/libuvc-theta-sample/blob/f8c3caa32bf996b29c741827bd552be605e3e2e2/gst/gst_viewer.c#L190


      
          
          	cmd_name = rindex(argv[0], '/');
          	if (cmd_name == NULL)
          		cmd_name = argv[0];
          	else
          		cmd_name++;
          
          	if (strcmp(cmd_name, "gst_loopback") == 0)
          		pipe_proc = "decodebin ! autovideoconvert ! "
          			"video/x-raw,format=I420 ! identity drop-allocation=true !"
          			"v4l2sink device=/dev/video1 sync=false";
          	else
          		pipe_proc = " decodebin ! autovideosink sync=false";
          
          	if (!gst_src_init(&argc, &argv, pipe_proc))
          		return -1;
          
          	res = uvc_init(&ctx, NULL);
          	if (res != UVC_SUCCESS) {
          		uvc_perror(res, "uvc_init");
          		return res;

Huang_Liang · September 28, 2023, 12:45pm

Thanks for your information, found the basic app for Theta X, it is here:

But can not connect to my apple silicon macbook. Will try a different laptop.