RB-Quick Start Guide

RuggedBoard Features

Specifications

Before starting to work with RuggedBoard you have to understand the interfaces available with RuggedBoard.

Fig: RB Specifications

Block Diagram

Fig: RB Block Diagram

Setup your host System to work on RuggedBoard

Components Required

• RuggedBoard-A5D2x

• USB to microUSB cable

• A PC/Laptop (Windows or Ubuntu OS)

Linux Host

Installing Ubuntu

Host PC requires Ubuntu-16.x.x (LTS versions Recommended), 64-bit. To install Ubuntu, follow the below link. https://help.ubuntu.com/community/GraphicalInstall

After successful installation let us start working with Linux – Ubuntu OS

Step 1: Open an application on your computer called “Terminal” by pressing Ctrl + Alt + T

Fig: Ubuntu Terminal Window

Step 2: In terminal, type the following for testing of internet and press Enter.

ping www.google.com

Fig: internet checking log Terminal Window

Make sure your PC has internet connectivity. If there is no internet please connect to internet and the try again.

Step 3: Install minicom Serial terminal on the host PC to see RB Console.

sudo apt-get install minicom

Step 4: Connect the RuggedBoard to the HOST PC using USB cable provided inside the Box.

Configure Minicom Serial Terminal

Step 5: To find your Serial Port

dmesg | tail

You should see something like

[ 3158.820281] usb 2-1.3: FTDI USB Serial Device converter now attached to ttyUSB0

The port number (ttyUSB0) may vary based on your PC port availability.

If nothing such is shown in the terminal remove and reconnect the USB cable. Now try the command once again.

Step 5: To configureminicomto be used as a Serial terminal by using below command

sudo minicom –s 

Fig: Minicom Configuration menu

Step 6: Select "Serial port setup" and press the respective key as shown below to change the value.

Serialdevice : /dev/ttyUSB0 (Press “A” to modify the device and Press "Enter" to save it)
 
Baudrate : 115200 8N1 (Press “E” to modify the Baudrate and Press "Enter" to save it)
 
Hardware Flow Control : No (Press “F” to modify the Hardware Flow Control and Press "Enter" to save it)
 
Software Flow Control : No (Press “G” to modify the Software Flow Control and Press "Enter" to save it)

Fig: Minicom Configuration menu

step 7: Press the "Enter" on "Save setup as dfl", it will save the modified settings as default and press "Enter" on "Exit".

Step 8: Press “Enter” once the minicom terminal window shows up. It will ask you to enter login credentials if everything is successful. Type "root" as login username and press "Enter". There is no default password for RuggedBoard.

Fig: board login prompt

Windows Host

Step 1: Visit the link below to download suitable version of Putty terminal.

https://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/latest.html

Step 2: Install Putty with the default configuration.

Step 3: Connect the USB to micro-USB cable to a windows PC and RuggedBoard-A5D2x respectively.

Once the cable is connected, will be prompted with a USB connected sound on your host PC. But at this point you will not see any mass storage symbol in task-bar/File Manager.

Step 4: Go to Start Menu and Type

device manager

This will Launch device manager of your Host PC. Device manger shows all the device and Devices Connected on the PC.

Step 5: Look for COM port as shown in the image below. Mostly you should look for Ports (COM & LPT).

Your device will be displayed as USB Serial Port (COMx). Here x means the COM port number. In my case its COM8

Fig: Device Manager and Putty Configuration Window

Step 6: Open Putty.exe installed recently. Click on Serial and replace the COM port with your COM port shown in device manager seen in Step 5. Set the speed as 115200 and click “Open”.

Step 7: Press “Enter” once the terminal window shows up. Type “root” as login username and press enter. There is no default password for RuggedBoard

Fig: login to rugged board

WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux)

This section is under Development. Keep Following ...

How to write a python3 file and execute in RuggedBoard?

Goto the data directory and follow the steps as below

Glow and Toggle LED using Python3

Step 1: edit the file using vi command as below

root@rugged-board-a5d2x:~# cd /data/
root@rugged-board-a5d2x:/data# vi blinky.py

To follow these steps you have to understand how to work on the "vi" or "vim" text editor. "vi" is the an text editor available with almost all the Linux distribution including embedded Linux which is very powerful tool for coding and also lightweight. If you want to know how to use vim or vi editor you can follow the small tutorials from the link below:

https://www.tutorialspoint.com/unix/unix-vi-editor.htm

Step 2: Copy the code below and paste it on the "vi" Editor

#!/usr/bin/env python
'''
Copy and Paste the python code on to your vi editor
and save and exit the editor.
You can also use any other editor from your host PC
to write the code with .py extension and transfer the
python code file to the RuggedBoard. To transfer files
from host PC to RB will be show in the later upcoming
section named as "Transefering files from host PC to RB"
'''

# Author: Manivannan Sadhasivam <[e-mail]>
# Copyright (c) 2018 Linaro Ltd.
#
# SPDX-License-Identifier: MIT
#
# Example Usage: Toggles GPIO 23 and 24 continuously in an alternative pattern

import mraa
#import sys
import time

# initialise gpio 61
gpio_1 = mraa.Gpio(61)

# set gpio 61 to output
gpio_1.dir(mraa.DIR_OUT)

# toggle LED ON/OFF
while True:
    print("LED 1 is: ON")
    gpio_1.write(0)
    time.sleep(1)

    print("LED 1 is: OFF") 
    gpio_1.write(1)
    time.sleep(1)

If you want us to see the video demonstration of the work done here please visit the YouTube link below:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgMkalLnAn4rGRJ89FFdfSw

Step 3: Save the code and exit from Vi editor back to terminal. Use the commands from the tutorial link given above.

Step 4: Execute the blinky.py program you have recently written.

python3 blinky.py

If everything is correct you should see that the LED is blinking with the set interval of 1000ms (1 Second). Try changing the interval and run the program again.

Step 5: Press Ctrl + C to come back to the terminal or stop execution. Do some alteration in the program for other LEDs and run the program and enjoy.