Command Line Tool mE5BoardSettings#

The command line tool mE5BoardSettings allows to enable/disable Power over Camera Link (PoCL) via command line on frame grabbers that provide a PoCL on/off option.

These are the following frame grabbers:

mE5 marathon ACL
mE5 marathon VCL
mE5 marathon VCLx

mE5BoardSettings is installed together with the Basler Framegrabber SDK. You find the tool in the Framegrabber SDK installation directory, sub-directory bin (%BASLER_FG_SDK_DIR%/bin).

Why do I Need to Enable PoCL Support?#

Power over Camera Link (PoCL) support is disabled per default on the above mentioned frame grabbers. If you want to use PoCL on one of these frame grabbers, you must actively enable PoCL support on the frame grabber.

Info

Exception:

You don't need to enable PoCL when using

acquisition applets out of applet set version 1.x or
custom applets built with VisualApplets 3.0.4 or lower)

mE5 marathon ACL, or mE5 marathon VCL.

Overview#

The table below shows when you must enable PoCL and which tools are available under the respective circumstances:

Frame Grabber Model	Applet Set Version (Standard Applets)	VisualApplets Version (Custom Applets)	Framegrabber SDK Version	PoCL Enabling required for PoCL operation	Tool for Enabling PoCL
mE5 marathon VCLx	any applet set 1.0 or higher	3.1 (or higher)	5.6 or higher	yes, always for this board	Command line tool mE5BoardSettings, microDiagnostics
mE5 marathon ACLmE5 marathon VCL	2.0 (or higher)	3.0.6 (or higher)	5.5.1 or higher	yes	Command line tool mE5BoardSettings, microDiagnostics
mE5 marathon ACLmE5 marathon VCL	2.0 (or higher)	3.0.6 (or higher)	5.5. or lower	yes	Command line tool mE5BoardSettings
mE5 marathon ACLmE5 marathon VCL	1.x	3.0.5 (or lower)	any	no

If you use the Framegrabber SDK version 5.5.1 or higher, you can alternatively enable PoCL support on your board via the GUI tool microDiagnostics that comes as part of the Framegrabber SDK. For information how to do that, see the microDiagnostics user manual, section PoCL Support.

Prerequisites:

You use marathon Camera Link frame grabbers (mE5 marathon ACL, mE5 marathon VCL, or mE5 marathon VCLx).
Your cameras support Power Over Camera Link (PoCL).
You want to use
- acquisition applets from applet set version 2.0 (or higher)1 on marathon ACL/VCL
- acquisition applets from applet set version 1.0 (or higher) on marathon VCLx, or custom applets built with VisualApplets 3.0.6 (or higher). In applets built with VisualApplets 3.0.5 or lower, PoCL support is automatically enabled.
You have the Basler Framegrabber SDK (version 5.4 or higher) installed and working on your computer (Windows or Linux).

You must enable PoCL if you want to use PoCL in your system and use the following components together:

Frame Grabber Model	Applets	Built with VisualApplets
mE5 marathon ACL	Standard Applets 2.0 (or higher) Custom Applet	3.0.6 (or higher)
mE5 marathon VCL	Standard Applets 2.0 (or higher) Custom Applet	3.0.6 (or higher)
mE5 marathon VCLx	Standard Applets 1.0 (or higher) Custom Applet	3.1 (or higher)

Enabling and Disabling PoCL#

To enable or disable PoCL on your frame grabber via command line interface:

Close all applications using the frame grabber.
Open the command line interpreter (under Windows cmd.exe, under Linux in most distributions Terminal).
In the command line interpreter, go to the bin folder of your Basler Framegrabber SDK installation.
Enter mE5BoardSettings, followed by some parameters depending on the task you want to perform:
- Getting information about the settings of all boards in the system:
  
  Enter mE5BoardSettings without any parameters.
  
  The settings of all boards in the system are displayed. Example: In the follwoing image, you see one board (mE5 marathon VCL) with board index 0 is installed in the system. On this board, PoCL is disabled.
- Enabling and Disabling PoCL support for all boards in your system:
  
  To enable PoCL support, enter mE5BoardSettings -a -pocl enable -reconfigure.
  
  To disable PoCL support, enter mE5BoardSettings -a -pocl disable -reconfigure.
  
  -a stands for all boards in the system.
- Enabling and Disabling PoCL support for one board in your system:
  
  Enter mE5BoardSettings -b <board index> -pocl enable -reconfigure.
- Disabling PoCL support for one board in your system:
  
  To enable PoCL support, enter mE5BoardSettings -b <board index> -pocl enable -reconfigure.
  
  To disable PoCL support, enter mE5BoardSettings -b <board index> -pocl disable -reconfigure
  
  Instead of <board index>, enter the actual board index of the board you want to enable PoCL support on, for example:
  
  mE5BoardSettings -b 0 -pocl enable -reconfigure if you want to configure board 0 in your system.

After successfully enabling or disabling PoCL support, you get the following message:

Ok; Board reconfigured; Close all applications using the board.

Close all applications using the board.

Info

If you're using virtual COM Ports using the Basler ClSerCOM Wrapper, you always need to re-start the host computer at this point to activate the feature.

This isn't reflected in the messages output by the command line tool mE5BoardSettings.

If the configuration failed, for example, because crash protection has been activated on the board, you get the message:

Ok; Warning: Failed to reconfigure board; Powercycle required to activate board features.

In this case, power cycle your computer. After power cycling, PoCL is (de-)activated on the frame grabber.

Syntax at a Glance#

You call mE5BoardSettings in the command line tool by its name: mE5BoardSettings

The following parameters are available:

-all or -a

-board <board-index> or -b <board-index>

-pocl enable|disable

-reconfigure

You have the following commands available:

Calling the tool	Specifying the boards	Setting the PoCL Support	Starting Reconfiguration
mE5BoardSettings	-b <board-index>	-pocl enable	-reconfigure
mE5BoardSetting	-b <board-index>	-pocl disable	-reconfigure
mE5BoardSetting	-board <board-index>	-pocl enable	-reconfigure
mE5BoardSetting	-board <board-index>	-pocl disable	-reconfigure
mE5BoardSetting	-a <board-index>	-pocl enable	-reconfigure
mE5BoardSetting	-a <board-index>	-pocl disable	-reconfigure
mE5BoardSetting	-all <board-index>	-pocl enable	-reconfigure
mE5BoardSetting	-all <board-index>	-pocl disable	-reconfigure

For <board-index>, enter the actual index number of the board you want to enable/disable PoCL support for. The index numbers of your frame grabber boards are displayed, for example, in microDiagnostics.

If you use -a or -all (instead of -b <board-index> or -board <board-index>), all frame grabbers in the system will be set at once.

For activating your settings, you must reconfigure the FPGA on your frame grabber, therefore the parameter -reconfigure is added at the end of the command line.

If you call the tool without specifying any parameters, the current settings of all boards in your system are displayed.

Output Messages#

The Command Line tool mE5BoardSettings displays the following messages:

Message	Meaning
`Ok; Board reconfigured; Close all applications using the board`	You have successfully enabled or disabled PoCL support and the FPGA on the board has been reconfigured. You must close all applications using the board and reopen them to get the change displayed in the applications.
`Ok; Reconfiguration or powercycle required to activate feature`	The PoCL support has been successfully enabled/disabled. However, you didn't add parameter `-reconfigure` at the end of the command line. As your settings get only active after FPGA reconfiguration, reconfigure the FPGA or power cycle the host computer.
`Ok; Warning: Failed to reconfigure board; Powercycle required to activate board features`	The PoCL support has been successfully enabled/disabled. However, reconfiguration failed (for example, because crash protection has been activated on the board, see Crash Protection. You must power cycle the host computer.
`Ignored: Feature already enabled`	If you try to overwrite a setting with exactly the same value, you get this message. The frame grabber is already configured as you want it to be.
`Ignored: Board feature not supported by board type`	The selected frame grabber board is no Camera Link board, therefore PoCL can't be used.
`Warning: Board features not supported by firmware; Ok`	The applets (including the firmware) flashed onto the board have PoCL support activated by default. This is so for acquisition applets sets version 1.7 or lower and for all custom applets built with VisualApplets version 3.0.5 or lower. For the use of these applets, you don't need to set PoCL support at all. However, as soon as you flash standard applets of version 2.0 or higher, or applets built with VisualApplets 3.0.6 or higher, your PoCL settings on the board will become relevant. The message outputs as `OK`, since the PoCL support has been successfully enabled/disabled.
`Warning: Board features not supported by firmware; Ignored: Feature already enabled`	The applets (including the firmware) flashed onto the board have PoCL support activated by default. This is so for acquisition applets sets version 1.7 or lower and for all custom applets built with VisualApplets version 3.0.5 or lower. For the use of these applets, you don't need to set PoCL support at all. However, as soon as you flash standard applets of version 2.0 or higher, or applets built with VisualApplets 3.0.6 or higher, your PoCL settings on the board will become relevant. The frame grabber is already configured as you want it to be. Therefore, your attempt to overwrite the setting with exactly the same value is ignored.