VMLink is the ADLINK Edge tool of choice for visualising camera feeds and inference results. This guide explains how to install VMLink on Ubuntu 18.04 LTS and NVIDIA Jetpack systems.

Registering for an Account

Before you can download and install VMLink it is first necessary to register for an account on https://vmlink.io/. To create an account:

  • Click on the LICENCE MANAGER button in the top right-hand corner of the page.

  • Click the SIGN UP button.

  • Enter your details.
  • Read and accept the EULA and Terms & Conditions.
  • Click the CREATE ACCOUNT button.

  • An email will be sent to the address you registered with asking you to confirm your address. If this email does not appear in your Inbox please check your Junk Mail folder.

  • After confirming your email address you will be able to log in with your registered email address and password.

To download a copy of VMLink login to the License Manager at https://vmlink.io/ and from the navigation bar select Software > Download.

Note: If you do not see the navigation bar you may need to make the web browser window wider.

To download a release click on the Ubuntu 18.04 button next to the release. ADLINK recommend downloading the latest available release.

VMLink will then be downloaded by your web browser in zip format.

To install VMLink:

  • Extract the provided ZIP file to the local file system.
  • Open the Terminal app and navigate to the directory where the ZIP file was extracted to.
  • Run the following command to install VMLink (do not run as sudo):

$ ./artifacts/vmlink-install.sh

After installation finishes, a VMLink shortcut will be placed on your desktop. Initially, the shortcut will appear as follows:

To launch VMLink double click the shortcut. When the application is first launched you be warned that the VMLink shortcut has not been marked as trusted. Click Trust and Launch to mark the shortcut as trusted and launch VMLink.

The VMLink shortcut icon will change and the VMLink main window will appear.

Initially, the apps will be unavailable to launch due to having no license. In the next section, the process for applying a license to VMLink will be explained.

Note: If VMLink does not successfully launch at this point this could be due to out of date user configuration files being left over from a previous installation. This issue can be resolved by running the following command in the Terminal app:

$ rm -r $HOME/.vmlink

New users of VMLink are able to register for a free trial license for the Streamer and Media Library apps which can be applied to a single VMLink installation. To acquire the trial license:

  • In VMLink click the key icon in the top right-hand corner of the app window.

  • Find the Request Key section and click the clipboard icon to copy the license request string.

  • In the VMLink License Manager web application navigate to Licenses > Add Machine.
  • Provide a name for the machine and paste the Request Key from VMLink into the Request Key box.
  • Click the ADD MACHINE button to register the machine running VMLink.

  • In the VMLink License Manager navigate to Licenses > Policies.

  • Click the CREATE TRIAL POLICY button to register for a VMLink trial license.

  • Navigate back to Licenses > Machines.
  • Click on the name of the machine to which you would like to apply the trial license.

  • Under the Available Policies section click the ASSIGN button next to the Trial policy to apply a trial license to the machine.

  • The license will now be assigned to the machine.
  • To apply the license to the VMLink installation click the GET KEY button to view the license key.

  • To copy the license key to the clipboard click the COPY button.

  • In VMLink open the license settings window and locate the Verify section.
  • Click the Update button

  • Paste the license key into the text box and click Save.

  • VMLink will now be shown as licensed.

  • The licensed applications will now be available to launch.

Discover and Show Streams

Now that VMLink has been registered, click the Launch button in the Streamer section of the main window. This will open the Streamer view where it will show all discovered camera streams on the ADLINK Data River. The image below shows an example with a single camera source.

VMLink Streamer showing the available streams to connect to
VMLink Streamer showing the available streams to connect to

Click the Launch Stream button to open the camera stream and view the feed in real-time.