I copied a folder from pc to UNO Q through App Lab. the folder size is around 1.8GB and have approx. 30k files. after coping the data, the applab crashes with error out of memory. i tried restarting pc and UNO Q but it still crashes whenever i open that specific app in Applab.
Is this a known limitation with App Lab handling high file counts or large directory sizes?
One critical thing to note is that only App Lab is crashing, while the Arduino UNO Q board itself keeps running perfectly.
As I understand it, all files and folders related to an app are stored in the eMMC. I'm curious why you tried to copy your own files or folders onto the UNO Q, as that appears to have caused the problem. This is precisely why every system provides Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), which we should learn and follow before attempting such operations.
I am actually developing a face recognition project, so transferring a custom dataset directly to the board's eMMC is required for the system to function locally.
It looks like App Lab just isn't optimized for transferring large batches of files yet and crashes when trying to index them all at once.
Could you please show an exact error message? You wrote the issue is the "Out of memory" error. How it connected to large files count?
The memory corresponds to RAM and the folder sizes corresponds to disk capacity.
There is no text error log to copy because the entire app crashes, looking exactly like a webpage crash.
When I open the app, it just keeps loading for a long time:
And then it completely crashes:
the app only contains the default folders and my large folder. I haven't even gotten a chance to run any code yet. so i am assuming it is happning because of large files count.
One critical thing to note is that only App Lab is crashing, while the Arduino UNO Q board itself keeps running perfectly.
Then where did the "out of memory" error come from?
I haven't run into this exact issue, but 30k files in a single folder sounds like a pretty heavy workload for App Lab. It might be worth trying with a smaller subset first to see if the app opens normally. If that works, then the problem is probably related to the file count or memory usage rather than the data itself. Curious to hear if you find a solution, as it could help others facing the same issue.
One of the first things I would check, is did the board run out of space?
Can you open up a Serial window on your Windows machine and have it connect up to your Q?
Typically on the Q, you can do it with the button near lower left
I typically do it using A windows app KiTTy (derived from PuTTy).
And I use the df command to see the different sections.
The two main lines I look at are those whoes title are (Mounted On)
is / and /home/arduino
On my Q4 I am up to 91% full currently on the home directory for the user arduino...
With KiTTy, I have configured and saved configurations for different boards, etc.
For my Q4 it is pretty simple:
I can simply put in the name of the board, in this case Uno-Q4
In this case I have configured it also to automatically log me in. user name arduino
and my password...
(And I save away the configuration...
as i said in my previous replies, its the App Lab which is crashing not the Arduino board
yes, i can access my Q on CMD over shh connection even after the App lab crashed.
i am using 4 32GB model and only 57% is full
/dev/mmcblk0p69 18764188 10178616 7802476 57% /home/arduino
In my opinion, the reason for app lab crashing is because it is trying to load all the files and folder while it should only index the files.
Thanks for your report @amitf. I wasn't able to reproduce the crash you described, but I did find that I was able to produce a severe performance impact by opening an App that contains 30k 0 byte files.
I submitted a report about this to the Arduino App Lab developers. I'll post an update here if I receive any news from them on the subject.
It might be that our different results are only a matter of my PC having more available RAM than yours.
I'll share this minimal App I created:
1451529.zip (5.6 MB)
If you import that App via Arduino App Lab, does it also produce the same crash as your real App?
This experiment is useful as it could help us understand whether App size is a relevant factor, or if it is solely the number of files.
Yes, the app you shared also crashes the app lab in my PC.
Yes, Mine PC have only 4GB ram, and the appLab took 2GB space just to open the 5MB app you shared and then it crashes.
Thanks for taking the time to perform the experiment I proposed and share your results! This is useful information because it means we don't need to consider App size as a factor. Furthermore, it is more efficient for the developers to perform investigations and validations using an app that is only hundreds of bytes in size, rather than having to shuffle around a 1.8 GB App.
The developers are working on a fix for Arduino App Lab's current inefficient handling of files, so that it will be able to support Apps that contain many files.
As I said above, we do want to support Apps that contain a large number of files. However, I think it would be worth examining whether this is actually required for your specific project. A dataset is required to train a model, but it doesn't make sense for your App to perform that training. Your App should instead only use the model that was generated from that dataset. With this approach, there is no need for the dataset to be stored inside the App.
For training the model, I would suggest you check out Edge Impulse:
Arduino App Lab has very good support for using models you create via the Edge Impulse platform.
Thanks for the suggestion! Edge Impulse is great for object or face detection, but implementing full face recognition with it is quite difficult.
Because of that, I have shifted my project to using pre-trained facial recognition models like SFace. I have already managed to get SFace running on my Arduino Q, and it is working great so far.
Also, I noticed one more minor bug in App Lab: if you try to change the icon of any app, it throws a "Name already in use" error. To successfully change the icon, you are forced to change the app's name as well. Not a big concern but I thought it would be worth passing along to the development team!
Nice! I'm glad it is working for you.
Thanks for your report. I confirm the bug and have notified the Arduino App Lab developers.
I'll provide instructions you can follow to change the icon without needing to change the App name:
- Open the individual App you wish to change the icon of.
- Near the top left hand corner of the view, you will see a "breadcrumb" that contains the icon and App name. Click on the icon where you see it there.
An emoji picker will open. - Select your preferred new icon from the emoji picker.
The picker will close and the icon of the App will be changed.