Make the file executable
Download the COGS AppImage file from https://account.cogs.show/download/ and make the file executable either by changing the file properties in your file browser or in the terminal.
Once you have libfuse2 installed (see below) you can double click the file in your file browser or run the file as a program in your terminal.
File browser method
- Right click the COGS AppImage file and select "Properties"
- Set the file to be "Executable" (by all users if the option is given)
Terminal method
Assuming the AppImage file you downloaded is named "COGS-linux-arm64.AppImage" and has been saved to the "Downloads" folder.
chmod +x Downloads/COGS-linux-arm64.AppImage
Prerequisites for Debian-based distributions
e.g. Ubuntu, Raspberry Pi OS
Before running COGS you will need to install libfuse2. In a terminal type:
sudo apt update
sudo apt install libfuse2
# Or, on some other distributions, e.g. Ubuntu 24
sudo apt install libfuse2t64
You can now run the AppImage as a binary. (You can usually double click the downloaded file.)
On some modern Linux distributions you may see a SUID permission error. In this case you should add the --no-sandbox argument when running the COGS binary.
Prerequisites for other distributions
For other Linux distributions please refer to the AppImage user guide for help with setting up your Linux OS to run AppImage files.
Auto-starting COGS
To autostart COGS add a text file to .config/autostart/cogs.desktop in your home folder - on a Raspberry Pi it is usually /home/pi - that looks like this:
[Desktop Entry] Type=Application Name=COGS Exec=/home/pi/Downloads/COGS-linux-arm64.AppImage --no-sandbox
On the last line use the path to where you downloaded the COGS AppImage file. Note that filenames are case-sensitive on Linux so be careful to type this accurately.
Serial device permissions
Serial devices such as the ENTTEC DMX USB Pro and the Sonoff Zigbee dongle require the user running COGS to have access to read and write to the device.
On most Debian-based distributions such as Ubuntu and Raspberry Pi OS this can be achieved by adding your username to the dialout group.
sudo usermod -a -G dialout USERNAME