Installation

Getting started is easy! Follow the installation steps below based on your operating system.

To install the package globally using pip, run this command in your terminal:

pip install pypalmsens

Windows

• Install Python version 3.10 or newer
• Install .NET Framework 4.7.2
• Install device drivers (see the Compatibility table):
  • If you installed PSTrace or Multitrace, drivers are already installed
  • For standalone installations, use the driver installer.

Linux and macOS

• Install Python version 3.10 or newer

• Install .NET Runtime 9.0 or newer. You can typically find the required runtime (e.g., dotnet-runtime-9.0) in your package manager.

  • Installation guides for Ubuntu
  • Installation guides for Debian
  • Installation guides for Fedora
  • Installation guides for Red Hat
  • Installation guides for Raspberry Pi and other ARM computers
  • Installation guides for macOS

• Optional: Install FTDI d2xx drivers

  • For a list of compatible devices, see the Compatibility table.
  • If you are using a Raspberry Pi 4 or 5, you will need the ARMv8 driver.
  • See the FTDI setup guide for detailed system setup instructions.

System Permissions

To avoid permission errors (like "can’t open device "/dev/ttyACM0": Permission denied"), ensure your user is part of the dialout group:

groups
# pi adm dialout ...

If your username is missing from the list, add it using this command:

sudo usermod -a -G dialout $USER

FTDI Device Setup

Some devices have an FTDI chip that needs additional drivers. To see if your device needs the FTDI drivers, see the Compatibility table.

1. Install the drivers

Download and install the D2XX drivers. See the link for full instructions. You can use this command sequence for a typical Linux system:

tar xfvz libftd2xx-$PLATFORM-$VERSION.tgz
cd $PLATFORM
sudo cp libftd2xx.* /usr/local/lib
sudo chmod 0755 /usr/local/lib/libftd2xx.so.$VERSION
sudo ln -sf /usr/local/lib/libftd2xx.so.$VERSION /usr/local/lib/libftd2xx.so

And update the linker cache:

sudo ldconfig -v

2. Configure udev rules

Second, set up udev rules. udev manages permissions of the device to be accessible to non-root users and groups.

Set up udev rules to grant access permissions to your device to non-root users and groups.

Add the following lines to /etc/udev/rules.d/50-ftdi.rules:

ATTRS{idVendor}=="0403", ATTRS{idProduct}=="6015", RUN+="/bin/sh -c 'rmmod ftdi_sio && rmmod usbserial'", MODE="0666"
ATTRS{idVendor}=="0403", ATTRS{idProduct}=="6011", RUN+="/bin/sh -c 'rmmod ftdi_sio && rmmod usbserial'", MODE="0666"
ATTRS{idVendor}=="0403", ATTRS{idProduct}=="d180", RUN+="/bin/sh -c 'rmmod ftdi_sio && rmmod usbserial'", MODE="0666"
ATTRS{idVendor}=="0403", ATTRS{idProduct}=="d181", RUN+="/bin/sh -c 'rmmod ftdi_sio && rmmod usbserial'", MODE="0666"

Restart udevadm to load the new rules:

sudo udevadm control --reload
sudo udevadm trigger

RuntimeError: Failed to create a .NET runtime (coreclr)

This error usually means the .NET runtime was not installed correctly. If you encounter this error, please review the installation instructions above.

The error message might look something like this:

RuntimeError: Can not determine dotnet root
...
RuntimeError: Failed to create a .NET runtime (coreclr) using the
                parameters {'runtime_config': '/home/pi/palmsenssdk/python/src/pypalmsens/_pssdk/mono/runtimeconfig.json'}.

Virtual Environments

We recommend using virtual environments to isolate your project dependencies. Use tools like venv or Conda to manage different Python versions and packages.

venv

The venv module is part of the standard library and therefore a common way to set up an environment.

For Windows:

python -m venv .venv
.venv/Scripts/activate.ps1
python -m pip install -e .[develop]

For Bash:

python -m venv .venv
. .venv/bin/activate
python -m pip install -e .[develop]

Conda

If you prefer Conda, use these commands:

conda create -n pypalmsens python=3.14
conda activate pypalmsens
pip install pypalmsens

Visual Studio Code

VS Code also supports virtual environments. In combination with the Python, Python Debugger and Pylance extensions, VS code makes it easy to create virtual environments and load your python dependencies.

See the VSCode documentation for how to set this up.

Compatible devices and firmware

The PalmSens SDK is based on PalmSens core version 5.12.

The table below lists the minimum supported firmwares versions and required drivers.

You can update the firmware using a recent version of PSTrace on a Windows PC See the chapter 'Updating firmware' in the PSTrace user manual for more information.