Install QtDMM on Debian

I have always rather enjoyed plugging test equipment into a PC and capturing the readings. Way back in my early days of using GNU/Linux I had a lot of fun with a program called QtDMM. I still have my old £15 bargain-bin Tenma 72-6870 which worked almost flawlessly with QtDMM on Ubuntu, back in 2008. So I was curious to see if QtDMM was still out there? and if QtDMM would run on a modern GNU/Linux. Well I’m delighted to report, yes, and yes to both questions. Unfortunately QtDMM is not currently in the Debian repositories. So you have to build it for source

Fortunately, however, in this instance, building from source proved to be very straightforward. This guide describes how to obtain the current QtDMM source from GitHub, install the required build dependencies, compile it from source, produce both a Debian package and an -AppImage, and install the resulting *.deb file. The setup I used was:

• Debian 14 (testing) – though it should work with any modern Debian 13 too.

• KDE Plasma 6

• Qt 6

• Git repositories stored under ~/gits

• QtDMM source repository: https://github.com/tuxmaster/QtDMM.git

The resulting *.deb can then be installed using Debian’s package manager. You can also build an AppImage as a portable alternative. However, I have not included installation of the AppImage as part of this how to, basically because AppImages will work without installation.

Install the build dependencies

Start by installing the required development packages:

sudo apt install build-essential cmake pkg-config qt6-base-dev qt6-serialport-dev qt6-tools-dev libhidapi-dev

These provide the compiler, CMake build system, pkg-config, Qt 6 development files, Qt SerialPort support, Qt development tools and HIDAPI development files. The important QtDMM-specific packages include:

qt6-base-dev qt6-serialport-dev qt6-tools-dev libhidapi-dev

If the build complains about another missing dependency, install the corresponding Debian development package and rerun the build.

Get the QtDMM source code from GitHub

I keep my personal Git repositories are kept in a directory called “gits”. Yours may be elsewhere.

~/gits

Create the directory if necessary:

mkdir -p ~/gits

Change into it:

cd ~/gits

Clone the QtDMM repository:

git clone https://github.com/tuxmaster/QtDMM.git

Enter the source directory:

cd ~/gits/QtDMM

Check the source tree

Before building, it is useful to check that the repository is clean and see which revision is being built:

git status git log -5 --oneline

To make sure an existing checkout is up to date:

git pull

Then check again:

git status git log -1 --oneline

This is particularly useful when building directly from the current GitHub source rather than from a downloaded zipfile or release tarball. Though to be honest, like most people, I skipped that bit and went straight to building the package! 🙂

Build the Debian package

QtDMM provides a build script which can create the Debian package as part of the compile process. From the QtDMM source directory:

cd ~/gits/QtDMM ./compile.sh pack

The build will compile QtDMM and create the distribution packages under:

~/gits/QtDMM/packages/

Inspect the resulting files:

ls -lh packages/

You should find a QtDMM *.deb package there. You can inspect the Debian package before installing it:

dpkg-deb -I packages/*.deb

This is useful for checking the package metadata and dependencies.

Build the AppImage (optional)

The same source tree can optionally also produce an AppImage. From:

~/gits/QtDMM

run:

./compile.sh appimage

The build script creates the AppImage and places it in the packages directory.

Check the result:

ls -lh packages/

You should now have both a Debian package and an AppImage. The exact filenames depend on the current QtDMM version. The AppImage does not need to be installed through apt. It is simply a portable build of the application and can be retained as a fallback or portable copy. This howto does not cover installing or configure the AppImage.

Install the Debian package

My preferred installation uses the *.deb package. Use apt rather than manually using dpkg:

sudo apt install ./packages/QtDMM-*.deb

Using apt install for a local .deb has the advantage that apt can resolve any Debian package dependencies required by QtDMM.  If the package filename contains a version number, the wildcard will select the QtDMM .deb in the packages directory.

Verify the installation

After installation, check where the executable was installed:

which qtdmm

You can also ask the shell to locate it:

command -v qtdmm

If necessary, list the files installed by the Debian package:

dpkg -L qtdmm

The exact package/executable naming can be checked from the package information if required.

You can then start QtDMM from the KDE application launcher or from a terminal:

qtdmm

For troubleshooting, QtDMM also supports a debug mode. This can be useful when diagnosing serial-device or DMM communication problems:

qtdmm --debug

Hopefully by now you should be able to connect a compatible meter, Hit the little menu “hamburger” icon within QtDMM, select your meter and play. You may also find that if you particular meter isn’t listed, a selecting similar meter of the same brand may work for you.  But if that still doesn’t work for you, here are some other troubleshooting tips…

Troubleshooting: serial-port permissions

When using a USB-to-serial adaptor, Linux will commonly create a device such as:

/dev/ttyUSB0

or:

/dev/ttyACM0

Check the device:

ls -l /dev/ttyUSB* /dev/ttyACM* 2>/dev/null

A typical USB serial device may look like:

crw-rw---- 1 root dialout ... /dev/ttyUSB0

Normal users generally need access to the dialout group.

Check the current user’s groups:

id

If dialout is not listed, add the current user:

sudo usermod -aG dialout "$USER"

Then log out and back in so that the new group membership is applied to the desktop session. Check again:

id

The output should now include:

dialout

Do not run QtDMM as root merely to get around serial-port permissions. Giving the normal user appropriate access to the serial device is the preferred solution.

Troubleshooting: useful serial-device checks

If QtDMM cannot communicate with the meter, first establish that GNU/Linux can see the adaptor. List USB serial devices:

ls /dev/ttyUSB* /dev/ttyACM* 2>/dev/null

Check the device permissions:

ls -l /dev/ttyUSB0

Test read and write access:

test -r /dev/ttyUSB0 && echo "read OK" test -w /dev/ttyUSB0 && echo "write OK"

Check the current serial settings:

stty -F /dev/ttyUSB0 -a

Check whether another process has the port open:

fuser -v /dev/ttyUSB0

or:

lsof /dev/ttyUSB0

If these show that the device exists and the current user can read and write it, the Linux device-permission side is working and any remaining problem is likely to be related to the serial settings, DMM protocol or QtDMM itself.

Rebuilding after updating the source

If the QtDMM source has been updated, first enter the repository:

cd ~/gits/QtDMM

Update it:

git pull

Then rebuild the Debian package:

./compile.sh pack

Or rebuild the AppImage:

./compile.sh appimage

Or build both:

./compile.sh pack ./compile.sh appimage

The resulting packages will again be placed in:

~/gits/QtDMM/packages/

To install a newly built Debian package:

sudo apt install ./packages/QtDMM-*.deb

Removing the Debian installation

Because QtDMM was installed as a Debian package, it can be removed normally through apt.

First check the installed package name:

dpkg -l | grep -i qtdmm

Then remove it using the package name shown:

sudo apt remove qtdmm

If the package has a different name, substitute that name in the apt remove command.

The source lives at:

~/gits/QtDMM

It is independent of the installed package and can be retained for future rebuilding, or simply deleted. It’s up to you, though personally I like to keep the source code if I can

Conclusion

Basically, that’s it. Franky I was surprised at how simple and straightforward the process was. Enjoy.

Links

• QtDMM on Github
  https://github.com/tuxmaster/

 

 

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