by the way, I noticed that version 1.9 is on github, does anyone know of a tutorial on how I can learn to compile the new version?

From merSDK wiki site it looks like it must be done under strict set of requirements: https://wiki.merproject.org/wiki/Pla...K_Requirements

before I throw myself into it ... Does anyone know if it is actually possible to compile on a 64 bit machine? (or maybe a raspberry pi?)