As anybody who has read anything I have posted on PIXLS.US will have noticed, I am a slow learner… so I just realised that the shiny new SpyderX Pro I just purchased is not supported in Linux. Can I calibrate the monitor while it is connected to a windows computer and copy the resultant calibration profile ( a .icc file ?) to Linux? Will Linux be able to read it OK? What else is going to be a problem, especially those of the ‘Catch22’ variety?
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That’s not true. I have a datacolor SpyderX Pro and it works nicely using Debian.
I use the latest DisplayCAL (3.8.9.3) and, this you do need to do, the latest Argyll (2.1.2) both are downloadable as deb packages. You do need the latest Argyll, older version do not support the SpyderX Pro (my out of the box debian version is too old).
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Ah, excellent news; thank you for the guidance.
I made my erroneous assertion on the basis of what datacolor said on the side of the box.
I’m not aware of very much hardware that goes out of its way to advertise Linux compatability, though most hardware is compatible, even if it’s via reverse-engineered drivers. This article gives a good general guide to display calibration. I used these instructions to set up my SpyxerX
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Be warned that if you’re using a more “fresh” distro, DisplayCAL might be a bit tricky to install due to Python 2 being EOL’d.
I think I’m going to change my mind slightly about whether it is supported or not - depending on the meaning of ‘supported’. When I use this word I mean that the software works ‘out of the box’ or very nearly so. This may be asking too much:
Since reading this post about Argyll a few hours ago I have been attempting to install it - and failing at the first hurdle. The copious and well written installation guidance within the documentation states that the SpyderX depends on the ‘system-bell’ for communication with the user and recognises that this system function doesn’t work in some Linux installs. It goes on to describe a necessary fix to a startup script within directory etc/rc.local, which does not exist in my install of Mint 20. The documentation explains how to test the system bell by invoking an echo command. This test fails on my system, even though I have full sound support operational in my Linux install.
A search within the mint community for a solution to enable the system bell has so far (about 2.5 hours of reading) failed to reveal any solution to this issue, so for me, it looks like a show stopper for the time being. This doesn’t really feel like ‘working out of the box’ - and I haven’t even got near installing the deb files.
There is always a Catch22 when trying to install applications in Linux which are not in the standard distribution - as is the case with version 2.1.2 of Argyll. And these easily defeat the non-technical end-user who just wants to do something simple.
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Yeah, Linux is great but there too many different distros…
I’m not a Mint user, nor have I ever played with it, that said:
I don’t remember anything about system bells to be honest.
I deleted the old argyll that was already installed(!!), downloaded the latest 64 bit Argyll version (from here), and unpacked it in /opt. This creates /opt/Argyll_V2.1.2 and all argyll related is put in that dir.
Start DisplayCAL, it won’t be able to find argyll: Tell it where to find argyll (/opt/Argyll_V2.1.2).
You should be good to go.
Hope this helps.
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Oh dear! Another show stopper for me: not only is there not a version of DisplayCAL for Ubuntu 20.04 (which my system, Mint 20, is using), but I have also previously encountered the issue with Python2 and was unable to solve it.
This makes the use of SpyderX in the Linux environment really ‘not supported’ and impractical for someone with my technical prowess.
So, to return to my original question: is it possible to calibrate the monitor under Windows but use the calibration profile in Linux ?
Did you check the link I gave? There should be no need to use DisplayCAL at all. I don’t
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@LateJunction … and, in case you need additional info, check out
https://torger.se/anders/photography/argyll-display.html
Have fun!
Claes in Lund, Sweden
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I used that article indeed to calibrate/profile my monitor with a X-rite device. Argyll is command line-only but for me it works very well, better than the X-rite software. Same for printer calibration, that article can also be found on the site of Anders Torger.