MonitorSync Support for Linux (Wayland) and possibly MacOS

[Minlor]

In short, the module which is currently used dxcam only supports Windows, we should find another module or implement something to add support for other operating systems, I think it also wouldn't be too big of a problem if we use different modules for different operating systems but it could also cause issues.

Also this Issue is created to move the conversation about this from #4 to this issue

[mbsck]

Hi,
so I found this comparison https://kylefu.me/2023/02/18/python-fast-screen-capture.html, which I referenced in #4
It shows the speeds and use-cases of dxcam, mss, etc. With dxcam being the fastest solution.
For Linux (x11) + MacOS mss has similar function calls to dxcam. Therefore, I think one can add support for it quite easily into your tool.

I can test the mss case tomorrow with my Mac and if it works make a pull-request. It should then work identically under Linux (x11).

My desktop runs Wayland so I can try to find a solution akin to what @TukanDev commented in #4

Wayland would need something that supports screencopy protocol or what was it called i think just raw pipewire would work but its hard to find a package for that (im speaking from experience as i spent 3 days looking for rust crate for all i wanted with screenshots and i found like 2 options that fit the bill) so i can imagine python being way worse haha.
As wayland is becoming slowly more and more the default slowly I would recommend finding something that works on wayland too!

[TukanDev]

Hi, so I found this comparison https://kylefu.me/2023/02/18/python-fast-screen-capture.html, which I referenced in #4 It shows the speeds and use-cases of dxcam, mss, etc. With dxcam being the fastest solution, and for Linux (x11) + MacOS mss has similar function calls to dxcam and one can add support for it quite easily into your tool.

I can test the mss case tomorrow with my Mac and if it works make a pull-request. It should then work identically under Linux (x11).

My desktop runs Wayland so I can try to find a solution akin to what @TukanDev commented in #4

Wayland would need something that supports screencopy protocol or what was it called i think just raw pipewire would work but its hard to find a package for that (im speaking from experience as i spent 3 days looking for rust crate for all i wanted with screenshots and i found like 2 options that fit the bill) so i can imagine python being way worse haha.
As wayland is becoming slowly more and more the default slowly I would recommend finding something that works on wayland too!

Whoa seems python really lacks good options when even people who do tests just slap macos results on linux and say mss is best one there is and even then they forget wayland. Here i thought rust was bad with options.
If I was a python person I would very gladly spent time to write a cross platform package for this but sadly I am not a python person.

[mbsck]

@TukanDev I think there is work being done on mss right now to make it completely cross-platform.
It already works on both MacOS and Linux (x11) as well as Windows and they already have an issue concerning wayland support BoboTiG/python-mss#155 (even if it is a bit stale).

However, looking at the benchmark I sent earlier, it still seems quite a bit slower than dxcam, so that might remain the best option under Windows.

I will try to find some more benchmarks (or do some myself) as they are usually quite user and computer dependent, and perhaps there is a way to speed up mss somehow (or the person who made the benchmark used it poorly, will try to find that out in the coming days).

[Minlor]

I'm thinking about possibly implementing different solutions for different operating systems, I don't know if that would be the best approach but it would allow for the best performance on each system in a way

@TukanDev I think there is work being done on mss right now to make it completely cross-platform. It already works on both MacOS and Linux (x11) as well as Windows and they already have an issue concerning wayland support BoboTiG/python-mss#155 (even if it is a bit stale).

However, looking at the benchmark I sent earlier, it still seems quite a bit slower than dxcam, so that might remain the best option under Windows.

I will try to find some more benchmarks (or do some myself) as they are usually quite user and computer dependent, and perhaps there is a way to speed up mss somehow (or the person who made the benchmark used it poorly, will try to find that out in the coming days).

[mbsck]

I think that is probably for the best. For Windows, I think things can stay as they are with dxcam, and for Unix (X11) mss might be best. For Unix (Wayland) another solution needs to be found. Perhaps with additional dependencies (outside of python) required… So a bit more user input during the installation required?

[mbsck]

Was a bit busy the last few months, so, finally, pull-request #16 is a starting point for Unix support.

For now, sync.monitor works and lumisync itself again runs under Unix (X11) .
Making music.sync and the gui work as well is work in progress right now.

[Minlor]

Was a bit busy the last few months, so, finally, pull-request #16 is a starting point for Unix support.

For now, sync.monitor works and lumisync itself again runs under Unix (X11) . Making music.sync and the gui work as well is work in progress right now.

Great! Thank you so much for the updates, sadly I didn't get much time to work on the project due to just a bunch of issues at work and some other things I'm working on

[mbsck]

Awesome new README, just a short side-note. The (so far partial) Unix/X11 support applies for both Linux using X11 and MacOS. I actually (mostly) tested it on MacOS.

I have more time again now and am looking into Wayland support these days. I have found a way to take screenshots on it via the XDG Desktop Portal, will update soon.

[Minlor]

Awesome new README, just a short side-note. The (so far partial) Unix/X11 support applies for both Linux using X11 and MacOS. I actually (mostly) tested it on MacOS.

I have more time again now and am looking into Wayland support these days. I have found a way to take screenshots on it via the XDG Desktop Portal, will update soon.

Thank you and also that's amazing to hear! 😄 on the other hand I'm looking to possibly replace DXCAM on windows due to it no longer being maintained from what I see so using it on the latest version of python is causing some issues I have found https://github.com/Zaatra/Rapidshot so far but I haven't fully looked in to it yet or what's it like since it doesn't seem like a popular project so far so I don't know how well maintained it will be