No backend available

[zebraf1nch]

Hi

I have followed the Ubuntu installation guide (running zorin 17/Ubuntu 22.04), and can see inkscape-silhouette is installed when I checked in synaptic manager (did not use for install).

But when I open the Extensions->export menu in inkscape, there are no silhouette extensions.

In edit -> preferences -> system, the user extensions directory is: home//.var/app/org.inkscape.Inkscape/config/inkscape/extensions

Rather than, usr/share/inkscape/extensions
Although all the other installed extensions are located here.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

[dnlombard]

Your user extension directory will always be in somewhere in your home directory. So, something like
/home/_username_/path/to/directory

I assume that's what you meant with "home//.var/app/org.inkscape.Inkscape/config/inkscape/extensions"

The system extension directory is /usr/share/inkscape/extensions

So, where are sendto_silhouette.py et al. actually located?
In my non-Ubuntu system, they're in the User Extensions path identified by Edit->Preferences->System

[zebraf1nch]

@dnlombard
Thanks for your reply.
Apologies, you are correct that I mistakenly left out /username / in the user extension directory path, and thank you for clarifying the difference.

In response to your question:
sendto_silhouette.py et al (including ones installed with inkscape) are located in the system directory, i.e. /usr/share/inkscape/extensions/

[zebraf1nch]

I have added the files to the User extensions directory manually, which brings up the extensions menu under Extensions -> export -> send to silhouette.

However, If I click 'apply', to send it, I get the following error:

"No backend available"

Files are still in the System directory, which is where they installed with the Ubuntu instructions.

I did receive a pip parsing error/warning when installing pip : error parsing dependencies.
Could this be the cause?
Have I not taken all necessary files to the User extensions directory?

Any assistance is greatly appreciated.

[zebraf1nch]

Any suggestions from anyone please?
Sorry I am new to this, and have searched and searched and can't find a solution.
I would love to be able to use my silhouette again!

I uninstalled inkscape and reinstalled again, as per instructions.
I got a warning when installing pip that it would go to a local directory - would this have caused the issue?
Again, following the installation instructions put the extensions in the system extensions directory, but these do not load the export menu.
Manually copying the extensions in the user extensions directory results in the menu options loading, but when I try to run the machine through the export-> send to silhouette, I still get the error "no backend available"

Troubleshoot via python in terminal:

import usb.core
usb.core.find()
<DEVICE ID 1d6b:0003 on Bus 004 Address 001>

Any suggestions on how to correct this?

[dnlombard]

N.B., I have inkscape-silhouette installed in my user extensions directory and I have a pretty complete Python3 installation on my system. I just checked, and if the device isn't connected, you would have gotten an explicit message to that effect.

Are there any useful clues in the extension-errors.log file (which should be a sibling of your extensions directory)

What files are in your extensions directory? Mine has the *.py and *.inx files that are in the distribution.

HTH

dnl