Shop OBEX P1 Docs P2 Docs Learn Events
BST w/ Linux Mint No propeller found — Parallax Forums

BST w/ Linux Mint No propeller found

rogersydrogersyd Posts: 223
edited 2013-01-13 13:21 in General Discussion
Hi all,
I have recently installed Linux Mint on a dual core celeron Zbox in my man cave, and am having an issue with BST detecting the propeller. I am by no means a Linux power user, but am getting the hang of it, slowly. There are number of threads and other sources that describe similar issues, but no solution has been found yet. If anyone has a good resource or advice to share I would be very grateful.

Here are some details.
:
* other usb devices work just fine, I have tried multiple propeller boards, BST returns "no propeller detected"
* manually selecting the "/dev/ttyUSB0" port in BST returns the same error
* ttyUSB0 does appear in /dev when the propeller is connected and disappears when i disconnect it.
* libftdi1 and libftddipp1 have both been reinstalled

* when i run lsusb from a terminal window i see the FTDI device as :
"BUS 03 Device 2 0403:6001"

* ls -al /dev/ttyUSB* returns
crw-rw---- root dialout 188, 0 Jan 13 -8:10 /dev/ttyUSB0

* cat /proc/tty/driver/usbserial returns:
usbserinfo:1.0 driver:2.0
0: module:ftdi_sio name:"FTDI USB Serial Device" vendor:0403 product:6001 num_ports:1 port:1 path:usb-0000:02:00.0-2

Thanks for any advice.

Comments

  • Heater.Heater. Posts: 21,230
    edited 2013-01-13 10:12
    I presume you are a member of the dialout group.
    What is on the other end, which Propeller board?
    I have had trouble in the past with bad USB cables, specifically those thin stretchy ones with the spool in the middle.

    I would be tempted to try finding the Prop with HomeSpun and/or SimpleIDE just as a check.

    http://propeller.wikispaces.com/Homespun+Spin+Compiler

    https://sites.google.com/site/propellergcc/documentation/simpleide
  • SRLMSRLM Posts: 5,045
    edited 2013-01-13 11:04
    Sometimes BSTC has trouble on my Ubuntu machine downloading to the Propeller. I don't know why, but sometimes it will do it on the first attempt, sometimes after repeated attempts, and sometimes not at all. I've found that the propeller-load from PropGCC always works, without a hitch (and it can load BST binaries).

    The only other issue that I've had was that I had to sudo chmod 666 /dev/ttyUSB* to give myself permission to access the port. This was before I added myself to the dialout group (as Heater suggested), and may be Ubuntu specific.

    I assume that if you open up a terminal program (cutecom, minicom, etc.) that you can connect to USB0? If you have a Prop plug, I'd make a loopback by putting a resistor (~10Kohm) between RX and TX, and using cutecom to make sure that you can communicate through the USB port.
  • rogersydrogersyd Posts: 223
    edited 2013-01-13 11:51
    Thanks Heater. I have tested multiple usb cables and boards including a ppdb, and a quickstart. No dice.
    I am a member of the dialout group, and homespun compiles the spin file just fine:

    Homespun Spin Compiler 0.31
    parsing Blinker2.spin
    compiling Blinker2.spin
    writing 32768 bytes to Blinker2.eeprom

    I will give SimpeIDE a shot as well. I had this all working on a puppy linux once. That was different hardware though. There could be something funky in the zantec bios I suppose. Out of ideas here, and (as a windows user) feeling a bit annoyed with linux.

    SRLM good advice thank you! I will give propGCC a shot as well. I do have a prop plug and I like that idea very much! Will indeed give it a shot.
  • rogersydrogersyd Posts: 223
    edited 2013-01-13 11:59
    OMG something magical has happened. LOL
    The last thing i did was apply the permissions to ttyUSB0 via the command prompt. I had added my user to the dialout group earlier via the permissions desktop gui, at least i thought i did that correctly... good grief. Thanks for both for the input. I have a lot to learn about Linx it seems, but I least i can keep spinning!
  • SRLMSRLM Posts: 5,045
    edited 2013-01-13 12:07
    rogersyd wrote: »
    OMG something magical has happened. LOL
    The last thing i did was apply the permissions to ttyUSB0 via the command prompt. I had added my user to the dialout group earlier via the permissions desktop gui, at least i thought i did that correctly... good grief. Thanks for both for the input. I have a lot to learn about Linx it seems, but I least i can keep spinning!

    When you add yourself to dialout (or any group), you have to restart for it to take effect.
  • Heater.Heater. Posts: 21,230
    edited 2013-01-13 13:21
    More precisely when you add yourself to a group it will not effect your current login so you only have to log out and back in again.
Sign In or Register to comment.