Installing OpenVino for Movidius NCS2 on Raspberry Pi 4

[DeXoN]

I've been pulling my hair out attempting to get Movidius NCS2 working on the Raspberry Pi, however all the instructions I could find fail at some point.

I've also tried Buster, Bullseye and 64-bit Bullseye OS's several times but no bingo.

The latest instructions I could find are on this Intel Support Page:

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000057005/boards-and-kits.html

Aside form several corrections during the build, it seemed to install ok on Buster but then failed when trying to verify by loading the models at the bottom of the instructions.

Where are the latest verified instructions that will actually work on a fresh Raspbian image?

[Hairul_Intel]

Hi DeXoN,

Thank you for reaching out to us.

For your information, the following instructions in https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000057005/boards-and-kits.html is the latest and validated steps for building Open Source OpenVINO™ Toolkit for Raspbian* OS and Intel® Neural Compute Stick 2.

On another note, which OpenVINO version did you clone from the GitHub repository, is it 2022.1.0?

Please share with us the error that you're facing when verifying the installation for further investigation from our side.

Regards,

Hairul

[DeXoN]

I beg to differ that the support article is 'validated'. As I said in the OP, those are the instructions that I've been following and THOSE INSTRUCTIONS DO NOT WORK.  I've tried it numerous times. (https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000057005/boards-and-kits.html) I'd appreciate if Intel could please update instructions that actually work from a clean fresh Raspbian buster on a Raspberry Pi 4 model B, because these instructions provided by Intel Corporation are full of errors, OUTDATED and non-functional.  

As for branches - I followed the document. It isn't clear which other branch out of 58 possibilities is best to use. For OpenCV the support document specifies  "branch 4.5.5-openvino-2022.1.0" that I can't even find on github. This is a great place to clarify and be specific about which branch to clone for opencv and again for openvino toolkit.

I tried 2022.1.0 because the master release documentation on github states: "Note: Intel® Movidius ™ VPU based products are not supported in this release, but will be added back in a future OpenVINO 2022.3.1 LTS update. In the meantime, for support on those products please use OpenVINO 2022.1."

Every install iteration takes a few hours, so it is important that the instructions are precise.

Here are some of the issues in the instructions (starting from a fresh image of Raspian Buster on a 8GB Pi 4B):

- sudo apt install build-essential lib-clang11-dev clang-11 clang-format-9

Can't find lib-clang11-dev. 

Fix: It seems it should be "libclang-11-dev".

-./bootstrap

Can't find openssl.

Fix: sudo apt install libssl-dev

- cmake -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=/usr/local ..

cmake not found

Fix:  sudo apt install cmake -y

Building openvino fails. The directory /home/<user>/openvino_dist doesn't exist when finished even though it was specified.

Finally, when trying to verify the installation using the instructions, the Myriad driver isn't found. 

[Hairul_Intel]

Hi DeXoN,

We apologize for any inconveniences caused and especially regarding the typo and missed out on listing some third-party dependencies. Thank you for pointing them out and sharing it with us.

For your information, the "branch 4.5.5-openvino-2022.1.0" you've mentioned is for installing OpenCV from source and is not from OpenVINO repository.

Could you share any screenshots regarding the errors you've faced so that we can investigate this issue further?

Regards,

Hairul

[DeXoN]

Dear Hairul:

Why on earth would you ask me to take screenshots of errors after I've told you twice now and shown you that your instructions do not work?

Obtaining screenshots would require me to sit through a few hours of the steps in your instructions that do not work!!!!

Isn't it Intel's responsibility to provide support for this product that we've purchased?

Who's job is it?  It's NOT MY JOB.  It seems to me you are trying to avoid work by passing it on to the consumer.

Someone at Intel should perform the install step-by-step starting from a clean and fresh image of Raspbian buster and update the instructions with a working process so that those of us who purchased this product can get it to work.

The best I can do is include a PDF of the standard output from the 'modified' installation instructions that are attempts to correct errors in the instruction set. See attached. Have fun.

As for your comment: "For your information, the "branch 4.5.5-openvino-2022.1.0" you've mentioned is for installing OpenCV from source and is not from OpenVINO repository."

But that is the branch shown in the instructions on the support page that you  gave me!

It's in the instructions if only you cared to read them.

I'm already annoyed by the fact that Intel would discontinue a product shortly after I bought it:

• The last order date for the Intel NCS2 was February 28, 2022. 
• Technical support will continue until June 30, 2023. 
• Warranty support will continue until June 30, 2024. 

But these responses are unacceptable. Please fix the problem instead of passing it on to the consumer.

Regards,

DeX

[Rayzed]

I've got the same exact issue, I thought I could solve it. Stayed up all night pulling hair for Myriad nowhere to be found, openvino-dev installation has conflicting dependencies but normal Openvino runtime and toolkit has Myriad missing so idk what im supposed to do now.

[Hairul_Intel]

Hi Rayzed,
For your information, MYRIAD devices are not supported for OpenVINO 2022.3.0 release (latest). For support on MYRIAD device, please use OpenVINO 2022.1.

Additional information regarding MYRIAD support for respective OS:

Windows or Ubuntu system:

• Binary package (OpenVINO 2022.1) includes MYRIAD plugin.
• PyPI package (OpenVINO 2022.1) does not include MYRIAD plugin.

Raspbian OS:

• Binary package (OpenVINO 2022.1) includes MYRIAD plugin.
• Open Source (OpenVINO 2022.1) includes MYRIAD plugin.
• PyPI package for OpenVINO is not available on Raspbian OS.

Please open a new thread if you require further assistance on this issue and we'll be happy to assist you.

Regards,
Hairul

[DeXoN]

Hairul

However, Intel states in the articles below the following: "The Intel® Distribution of OpenVINO™ toolkit will continue to support the Intel NCS2 until version 2022.3, at which point the Intel NCS2 support will be maintained on the 2022.3.x Long-Term Support (LTS) release track. "

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/developer/articles/tool/neural-compute-stick.html

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000093181/boards-and-kits.html?wapkw=movidius%20neural%20compute%20stick%202%20ncs2%20

So that's contradictory to what you said. (What are we to believe?)

You're repeating to us instructions that do not work after we've both told you the instructions do not work.

Besides, Rayzed never said he used 2022.3, did he? 

I tried it once with 2022.3 (due to the contradictory notices) and several times with 2022.1. Neither releases works.

The fact is the installation doesn't work using the instructions that you posted in response to my question:

"For your information, the following instructions in https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000057005/boards-and-kits.html is the latest and validated steps for building Open Source OpenVINO™ Toolkit for Raspbian* OS and Intel® Neural Compute Stick 2."

Why don't you start with a clean and fresh Raspbian image on a Raspberry Pi 4 model B and go through your instructions to update them with a working set?

It would also help if you could make an accompanying video, but just a written instructions that actually work would be great.

Thanks

DeX

[DeXoN]

Hi, Rayzed

Yes, I'm super annoyed by this. I purchased two of these NCS2 sticks and they've so far just wasted a lot of my time and nothing is working.

Now Hairul wants me to go through the broken installation instructions again to show him error messages! Can you believe it?

Instead of taking the time to perform an installation and updating the documentation, he wants me to do it!

%$#@!

It's as if Intel has simply dropped this product and those of us who purchased it are left stuck with a white elephant.

I'm already annoyed by the fact that Intel would discontinue a product shortly after I bought it:

• The last order date for the Intel NCS2 was February 28, 2022. 
• Technical support will continue until June 30, 2023. 
• Warranty support will continue until June 30, 2024. 

However, based on the responses I've received they're not offering technical support at all. 

If this doesn't get addressed then I will write letters of complaint to the Corporate Board:

Investor Relations
2200 Mission College Blvd.
RNB 4-148
Santa Clara, CA 95054

I don't know of any other way to file complaints about the treatment one receives as consumer from employees of these big companies.

I will write a letter and send it today with screenshots included.

[Peh_Intel]

Hi DeX,

 

First and foremost, we would like to clarify that there has been a miscommunication/gap with respect to Hairul's request, from the statement -

“Could you share any screenshots regarding the errors you've faced so that we can investigate this issue further?”

Please allow me to explain what our request actually means. We were asking to share the screenshot to understand the error you observe on your side that is blocking you to make progress on this setup. While this was being done, we started testing on our side with the same instruction set on Raspberry Pi to verify the errors. We did not intend to request you to start from scratch and share screenshots from every step.

From the pdf file you shared with us, we could identify that the blocking step for you is similar to the screenshot below.

 

We have also performed the tests on our end using Raspberry Pi, and we will update the article with corrected instructions accordingly.

Thank you for pointing out the corrections required.

Based on our test results, we encountered same error while using C++ sample application. From the logs we understand that Intel® Neural Compute Stick 2 is being detected and MYRIAD plugin is loaded successfully. However, we cannot deny that there is an unexpected behavior happening while running C++ application as shown in the image above and we have escalated this to the engineering team for further analysis.

Just for your information, we have also tested Python demo with OpenVINO™ Toolkit 2022.1 and Intel® Neural Compute Stick 2, which works fine. We don't observe errors when we test the Python demo, Please refer to image below.

Please accept our sincerely apologies at this moment. 

We will update you as soon as we have any information from engineering team about the C++ Sample application.

Sincerely,

Peh

[DeXoN]

Hi, Peh

Thank you for responding. I'm glad to hear there is a team working on fixing this issue.

A) 2022.3 vs 2022.1 - Support of NCS2?

Please note that I would like clarification on whether OpenVINO 2022.3 supports Movidius NCS2. As I stated earlier, there are conflicting documents on the Intel Website, openvino.ai, and github.

For example: https://docs.openvino.ai/latest/openvino_docs_install_guides_installing_openvino_raspbian.html have instructions to install 2022.3.0

B) INSTALLATION ON RASPBIAN NOTES

I've now tried the installation more than 30 times with

- Raspbian Buster -32

- Raspbian Bullseye -32

- Raspbian Bullseye -64

On Buster I had to upgrade Python3. On Bullseye I had to install Python2.7 alongside Python3.

Between different attempts I also changed the versions of openCV, pip, python, gcc, cmake, etc. Sometimes I merely installed another version of python alongside the existing one.

Here are some notes from my attempts that your engineering team might find helpful:

- None of the installs I tried worked correctly.  Most of my installation attempts failed with errors somewhere during the installation. A few (seemed to) install without errors, but then fail when testing using the benchmark app.

- I could never get model optimizer to work.

- On Bullseye-64, the python version installed without errors, but the runtime executable worked while the python version failed.

(This is exactly the opposite of what your engineering team found according to your message above.)

-  I had to update the second step in the instructions as follows:

sudo apt install build-essential libclang-11-dev clang-11 clang-format-9 libssl-dev -y

(Correcting libclang-11-dev spelling and installing openssl.

- Please note OpenCV can now be installed from the Pi repository using:

sudo apt install python3-opencv

(This would save over an hour of build time.)

- In the screenshots that you've sent, I see the user pi. Please note that it is no longer necessary to do a headless installation of Raspbian the old way (touch ssh and so on). The standard Raspberry Pi "Imager" application now features an advanced setup by pressing a gear icon to specify the host name, user name, WiFi network, SSH, and locale settings before writing the image to the ssd card. This makes headless install of Raspbian much quicker than before.

- OpenVINO appears to be far more uptight about the exact cmake, gcc, python, opencv, pip, etc. versions than stated in the official requirements.

- I'm curious why openVINO runtime (for raspbian and debian/Ubuntu) and the openVINO development tools (for debian/Ubuntu) cannot be provided as repository packages instead of having them compiled from source.

- OUTDATED DOCUMENTATION

The Movidius NCS2 documentation on the intel website are very outdated.

Besides the latest support instructions https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000057005/boards-and-kits.html,

the documentation on https://docs.openvino.ai are also not working, for example https://docs.openvino.ai/latest/openvino_docs_install_guides_installing_openvino_raspbian.html

Other examples:

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/developer/videos/get-started-with-intel-neural-compute-stick-2-on-raspbian.html

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/developer/articles/guide/get-started-with-neural-compute-stick.html

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/developer/articles/tool/neural-compute-stick.html

Thank you again. I look forward to the updated instructions to get the NCS2 working on the Raspberry Pi 4B.

DeX

[DeXoN]

Has there been any progress on this???

[Peh_Intel]

Hi DeX,

You can refer to Release Notes for Intel® Distribution of OpenVINO™ Toolkit for the details of updates.

The statements below can be found in Release Notes.

• Depreciation Notice: Intel® Corporation has discontinued the Intel® Movidius™ Neural Compute Stick 2.
• 2022.3 LTS will be the last version of OpenVINO to support the Neural Compute Stick 2.
• Use OpenVINO 2022.1 until 2022.3.1 LTS is released.

For your information, starting from 2022.1, the Debian packages listed in storage.intel.com do not include MYRIAD plugin (libopenvino_intel_myriad_plugin.so), which is needed to inference on Neural Compute Stick 2 (NCS2). The Debian packages only include the CPU plugin for ARM CPU.

Thanks for bring out this matter. We realize that there is a need to remove Step 5 or add disclaimer (MYRIAD plugin has been removed) in Documentation.

Yes, we do agree with you that further action is required from our end to remove those outdated articles or replace with an updated article.

Currently, we are still investigating this matter. Please allow us to take some time to come out with an updated article. In addition, we appreciate your time and effort in sharing all your findings (e.g. typo, missing dependency, OpenCV installation) with us. 

Regards,

Peh

[Hari_B_Intel]

Hi DeX

I appreciate your patience. 

We are debugging and trying to get a workaround to fix this issue, so we might take some time to respond.

From what we have observed, Debian Bullseye 64-bit is currently working, as we verified on our end.

I have for you here the updated and verified article you can use as your reference. 

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000094846/boards-and-kits.html

Feel free to reach out to us if you encounter any issues. 

Thank you  

[DeXoN]

I appreciate the update. We also got it partly working for Raspbian Bullseye 64 (as I reported earlier).

Unfortunately, we had to abandon Bullseye 64 since it is currently the least supported in the field, due to the deprecated legacy camera stack, as well as existing python libraries for cameras and existing camera tools not working under the 64-bit Raspbian Bullseye.

It is crucial to get Movidius working on 32-bit Buster and Bullseye.

I look forward to seeing the updated instructions to get Movidius NCS2 working with openvino and opencv.

[Hari_B_Intel]

Hi DeX

Thank you for being so patient while we were working on getting the OpenVINO up on 32-bit Debian OS.

Here is the updated and verified article for 32-bit Debian OS you can use as your reference.

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000057005/boards-and-kits.html

To build the OpenVINO toolkit on 32-bit Debian OS, you should have a host machine with Docker Container installed.

Once the cross-compiling OpenVINO toolkit is successfully built, you can transfer to Raspberry Pi with 32-bit Debian OS.

Feel free to reach out to us if you encounter any issues.

[DeXoN]

Thank you for the update, but there are several issues.

1) Some of the instructions are incorrect because they require sudo, which isn't indicated correctly in the article. 

2) Several steps are missing for transferring the tar.gz file to the raspberry pi, and how it was mounted under /mnt isn't explained.

Transfer the OV_ARM_package.tar.gz to the target device (Raspberry Pi 4 32-bit Buster)

cp -rf build/OV_ARM_package.tar.gz /mnt/<device_name>

3) Extracting the OV_ARM_package.tar.gz doesn't work with the given command because the openvino directory doesn't exist. The "-C" option doesn't create the directory.

Extract the OV_ARM_package.tar.gz package

sudo tar -xvzf OV_ARM_package.tar.gz -C ~/openvino

4) A step is missing before building the source code, because Raspbian Buster doesn't automatically come with cmake installed. It has to be installed.

Compile the Sample code 

cd openvino/samples/cpp

./build_samples.sh

5) After fixing the above issues to follow the steps, the last steps cannot be completed because the benchmark_app.py is does not exist.

6) There is no benchmark_tool directory under /home/pi/openvino/tools/

Run the benchmark_app Python application:

source /home/pi/openvino/setupvars.sh

cd /home/pi/openvino/tools/benchmark_tool

python3 benchmark_app.py -i ~/Downloads/person.jpg -m ~/Downloads/person-vehicle-bike-detection-crossroad-0078.xml -d MYRIAD

If the application runs successfully on your Intel® NCS2, the nGraph module correctly binds to Python.

[Hari_B_Intel]

Hi DeXoN, 

Thank you for your patience and time in reviewing the article. We have made some amendments to the article based on your feedback. 

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000057005/boards-and-kits.html

1. Added "sudo" to some of the steps

 2. we added the instruction on how to mount the USB thumb drive and copy over (please note that there are multiple ways to copy over the package to target Raspberry Pi, such as scp -rf <package_name> <target username@ip:~/file_location>)

3. Our mistake, so added the line to create a new folder before untar the package 

4. for this part, added "sudo apt install cmake -y"

5. for this part, we have verified that the benchmark_app.py is not in the directory or included in the package, so we have removed the step for executing benchmark_app.py. 

if you need to use benchmark_app for python, you can manually copy: openvino_contrib/openvino_contrib/modules/arm_plugin/build/openvino/tools/benchmark_tool to the target device and execute from there. 

Hope this information help

[Peh_Intel]

Hi DeXoN, 

We have not heard back from you. I hope everything works well for you.

This thread will no longer be monitored since we have provided an updated article. If you need any additional information from Intel, please submit a new question. 

Regards,

Peh