VoCore not responding over UART

sunlitazure
 
Posts: 8
Joined: Wed Dec 24, 2014 6:51 am

VoCore not responding over UART

Wed Dec 24, 2014 7:39 am

Hi, so I've been able to connect over wifi just fine but wanted to try connecting with the USB2TTL. So I hooked up my VoCore to the device that came with it using the pins shown in the diagram on this page http://vocore.io/wiki/index/id:14 and in the manual. I then changed my Prolific driver to 57600 8n1. Started up PuTTy (using Win 7), set connection type to serial, changed everything to those same settings and hit 'Open'. I hit enter in the console that popped up, then nothing happened. There's no sign that it's booting up or doing anything.

I've been trying to get this to work all day, I've tried attaching USB2TTL ground to different grounds on the VoCore. I've tried different combinations of settings in PuTTy and the driver. I've tried updating the driver and have looked all over this forum for different suggestions. Nothing is getting me a response from the VoCore.
One indicator that something isn't right is that the RXD light on the USB2TTL is fully on. At some point I was able to get it connected without that light being on but it still didn't respond.

I've ruled out there being any problem with the USB2TTL, and probably the driver because I'm able to loop the RXD and TXD pins and receive any response I send out. Also I know at least most of the VoCore is still working properly because I'm still able to use wifi and SSH into it just fine.

I'm a little worried I might have somehow fried something important on accident. Any suggestions on how to get it to work or ways to test if something is broken are welcome. Thanks in advance to any who respond.

Greenwire-Elektronik
 
Posts: 101
Joined: Thu Dec 04, 2014 6:31 am

Re: VoCore not responding over UART

Thu Dec 25, 2014 9:08 am

Did you configured the correct COM-Port? like COM7?

Second mistake could be that you connect pin vocore:TX with USB2TTL:TX - this is not working. you have to connect TX with RX. Also it is mandatory that GND is connected properly.
What LEDs are lighten if power is applied to vocore?

Rgds

Jonas
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sunlitazure
 
Posts: 8
Joined: Wed Dec 24, 2014 6:51 am

Re: VoCore not responding over UART

Sat Dec 27, 2014 3:54 am

Thanks for the response.
I ended up figuring it out. The problem ended up being a power issue. I was initially using the converter to power the chip, but later learned that it wouldn't be able to power both the converter and the VoCore. I also tried using batteries but I believe my charger or batteries are dying because I realized my recently charged batteries' voltage dropped significantly every time I connected them to the VoCore. Now I have it connected to a power supply and it's running beautifully.

I know I'll have a dozen more questions before I have the VoCore running as desired. Since every problem I've had so far has taken a full day each to resolve would it be fine if I ask them in this thread as needed? I don't want to clutter the forum every time an issue arises but it'd be nice not being frustrated for many hours at a time.

Greenwire-Elektronik
 
Posts: 101
Joined: Thu Dec 04, 2014 6:31 am

Re: VoCore not responding over UART

Sat Dec 27, 2014 8:31 am

sunlitazure wrote:Thanks for the response.
I ended up figuring it out. The problem ended up being a power issue. I was initially using the converter to power the chip, but later learned that it wouldn't be able to power both the converter and the VoCore. I also tried using batteries but I believe my charger or batteries are dying because I realized my recently charged batteries' voltage dropped significantly every time I connected them to the VoCore. Now I have it connected to a power supply and it's running beautifully.

I know I'll have a dozen more questions before I have the VoCore running as desired. Since every problem I've had so far has taken a full day each to resolve would it be fine if I ask them in this thread as needed? I don't want to clutter the forum every time an issue arises but it'd be nice not being frustrated for many hours at a time.


Sure u can do - you could also write me a PM, i will be online these days.
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noblepepper
 
Posts: 240
Joined: Sat Nov 29, 2014 3:22 pm

Re: VoCore not responding over UART

Sat Dec 27, 2014 7:16 pm

That's the whole point of this forum, to ask about problems and get solutions. This way others that run into the same issue can find answers.

Just be sure to see if your problem has already been found and solved here before posting.

sunlitazure
 
Posts: 8
Joined: Wed Dec 24, 2014 6:51 am

Re: VoCore not responding over UART

Mon Dec 29, 2014 1:28 am

Thanks again for the responses.

So I'm having another issue more or less related to this issue with serial communication. Putty's connections are rather inconsistent. Yesterday whenever I would connect over serial either putty would connect but I would get no response from VoCore, it would connect and the responses would be a jumble of weird characters, I would connect and get a jumble of weird characters but it would correct itself after a minute or two, or it would connect and everything would work perfectly. I could even close putty and open it again without changing any settings on anything and end up with a complete different result. In the cases where it wouldn't respond, when I closed putty I would get a long list of GLib-CRITICAL **: Source ID... errors. Then today I boot up MVware and Ubuntu, open putty and everything works perfectly first time. Is this an issue with using a virtual machine or does putty just have issues, or is it something completely different? Is there anyway to ensure I get a good connection every time? I'd even be willing to dual boot Ubuntu on my machine if it fixes that.

Another unrelated question I have is how can I transfer my compiled c program to the VoCore over serial? All the information I can find involves SSHing into VoCore. My only two options are doing it over serial, or finding a way to SSH into VoCore through my network using wifi. My setup is my VoCore connected to my PC via serial port. My PC connected to local network via Ethernet cable. My VoCore connected to local network using AP/STA mode to connect to wireless router.
I feel I should be able to use C-Kermit to transfer the program to it but the only information I can find is about replacing VoCore's image, not simply adding a file to it.

Greenwire-Elektronik
 
Posts: 101
Joined: Thu Dec 04, 2014 6:31 am

Re: VoCore not responding over UART

Mon Dec 29, 2014 9:35 am

sunlitazure wrote:Thanks again for the responses.

So I'm having another issue more or less related to this issue with serial communication. Putty's connections are rather inconsistent. Yesterday whenever I would connect over serial either putty would connect but I would get no response from VoCore, it would connect and the responses would be a jumble of weird characters, I would connect and get a jumble of weird characters but it would correct itself after a minute or two, or it would connect and everything would work perfectly. I could even close putty and open it again without changing any settings on anything and end up with a complete different result. In the cases where it wouldn't respond, when I closed putty I would get a long list of GLib-CRITICAL **: Source ID... errors. Then today I boot up MVware and Ubuntu, open putty and everything works perfectly first time. Is this an issue with using a virtual machine or does putty just have issues, or is it something completely different? Is there anyway to ensure I get a good connection every time? I'd even be willing to dual boot Ubuntu on my machine if it fixes that.

Another unrelated question I have is how can I transfer my compiled c program to the VoCore over serial? All the information I can find involves SSHing into VoCore. My only two options are doing it over serial, or finding a way to SSH into VoCore through my network using wifi. My setup is my VoCore connected to my PC via serial port. My PC connected to local network via Ethernet cable. My VoCore connected to local network using AP/STA mode to connect to wireless router.
I feel I should be able to use C-Kermit to transfer the program to it but the only information I can find is about replacing VoCore's image, not simply adding a file to it.


First of all - What image do you have installed on the VoCore?
The symbol problem on serial connection might be a wrong connection parameter (eg wrong speed, you have to adjust 57600 8n1).

When your VoCore is connected to Ethernet - why are you not using ssh? with scp you could easily transfer the stuff u need. In fact i would not recommend using serial connection longer than needed - it is a real pain to even make a proper connection with this small vias.
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sunlitazure
 
Posts: 8
Joined: Wed Dec 24, 2014 6:51 am

Re: VoCore not responding over UART

Mon Dec 29, 2014 7:16 pm

I haven't changed or updated VoCore's image at all, so it has the image it came with. Is it recommended I update the image from the factory one? I've made sure all the connection settings are correct. I find through windows I can connect over serial pretty consistently, but not Ubuntu for some reason. Since you don't recommend I use serial any more than needed I'll go ahead an use SSH for everything I can.

I did finally figure out how to SSH over my home network using AP/STA mode. Turns out when STA is enabled it sets a static IP of 192.168.1.103. So instead of using the usual 'SSH root@192.168.61.1' I need to use 'SSH root@192.168.1.103'. That seems to work decently, though it occasionally hangs up and I need disconnect and reconnect power to the VoCore or else I get a connection refused error. I can live with that I guess.

I've finally successfully transferred my file and C library to my VoCore using scp as per your suggestion. Though now when I try to run my compiled c program I get a syntax error. This seems to imply it still isn't using the C library as it should. I'm following this tutorial http://forum.vocore.io/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=71&sid=0880025ec989a08def68899dfae73dd3. Do I need to change some files to point to the library or something? This is my first time really doing anything with Linux so I'm finding all of this to have a steep learning curve.

Greenwire-Elektronik
 
Posts: 101
Joined: Thu Dec 04, 2014 6:31 am

Re: VoCore not responding over UART

Mon Dec 29, 2014 9:15 pm

Good to here that there is progress!
ssh/scp is the right choice. Your connection problems - i have to be honest, i haven't looked into AP/STA mode yet. Are you sure you have no iptable problem?
I followed that HowTo to compile and transfer my stuff, it works fine. Could you doublecheck this with your configuration?
If you have the right configuration, you could share your c-file and the compiled version and i give it a try on my Vocore.

Hope i didn't missed a point, it is late for me :)
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sunlitazure
 
Posts: 8
Joined: Wed Dec 24, 2014 6:51 am

Re: VoCore not responding over UART

Tue Dec 30, 2014 2:33 am

Ok, so the only difference between my and his configuration is that to compile c I have to use mips-openwrt-linux-gcc instead of mipsel-openwrt-linux-gcc. It would seem both this tutorial and the tutorial I linked use 'openwrt/staging_dir/toolchain-mipsel_24kec+dsp_gcc-4.8-linaro_uClibc-0.9.33.2' where I have 'openwrt/staging+dir/toolchain-mips_34kc_gcc-4.8-linaro_uClibc-0.9.33.2'. I have no idea what this is. Is it possible the factory image of VoCore doesn't support what I have? How do I download the first one for my development environment. I followed the steps in the tutorial exactly to set up my environment.

The forum won't let me attach the files so here's links to dropbox: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/75986522/HelloWorld this is the compiled binary
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/75986522/HelloWorld.c and the c file.

As for the connection issues, I have by some miracle figured out that using encryption on the VoCore AP seriously screws up SSH. The second I disable wpa2-psk encryption on it SSH over wlan starts working perfectly. What I don't get is that using SSH over my network doesn't require I connect to the AP at all, so why does it make such a big difference? I have an issue leaving it unencrypted because it leaves my home network wide open.

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