Open Solo 2.5-RC2 is out

[Pedals2Paddles]

This is now outdated. Open Solo 2.5-RC3 is out now. Please see here: https://3drpilots.com/threads/open-solo-2-5-rc3-released.11940/



I just released OPEN SOLO 2.5-RC2! It is out in Solex now, and Tom is putting in Side Pilot as we speak.

This update fixes some installation vulnerabilities that were identified by beta testers with Green Cubes. It was on occasion failing to detect the green cube, and trying to install the 3DR firmware on it, which is not compatible. The scripts are now much more robust. It now has three different ways to detect the cube. And in the unlikely event something is wrong and it still can't, it will not try to install any firmware on the cube so nothing gets locked up.

Please see the -RC2 release notes for full detail on this update and on Open Solo in general: https://github.com/OpenSo…/documentation/releases/…/v2.5-RC2

If you have already installed RC1, please do actually upgrade to this. It will fix the install vulnerability, whether you experienced the issue or not the first time around.

For the few of you who are currently stuck with a locked up Green Cube, instructions on rectifying that coming soon. Not enough hours in the day.

 

[just_bruce]

Very very nice!

Would it be possible to add a detection of existing AC3.5.x installations on stock cubes (folks who have modified the PH2.0 for 5v signaling or, if they ever become available, level shifters) and not clobber the AC3.5 with 1.5.3? Or does it already do this and I have trouble with reading comprehension?

 

[Pedals2Paddles]

Very very nice!

Would it be possible to add a detection of existing AC3.5.x installations on stock cubes (folks who have modified the PH2.0 for 5v signaling or, if they ever become available, level shifters) and not clobber the AC3.5 with 1.5.3? Or does it already do this and I have trouble with reading comprehension?

The detection logic I wrote does actually detect that already. But it proceeds solely on the fact it is stock cube. It could easily be reworked to do what you're asking once such a modification is more mainstream. For the time being, there's only like 3 people using master on a stock cube, and it's against the advice of the developers.

 

[NightStorm]

I just released OPEN SOLO 2.5-RC2! It is out in Solex now, and Tom is putting in Side Pilot as we speak.

For the few of you who are currently stuck with a locked up Green Cube, instructions on rectifying that coming soon. Not enough hours in the day.

Way cool, and looking forward to unlocking my semi-green cube.
Amen on your last sentence: I had an arithmetic overflow on my yesterday.

 

[just_bruce]

The detection logic I wrote does actually detect that already. But it proceeds solely on the fact it is stock cube. It could easily be reworked to do what you're asking once such a modification is more mainstream. For the time being, there's only like 3 people using master on a stock cube, and it's against the advice of the developers.

Neat. Is it against the advice of the developers because of the micro-soldering required or for some other reason?

 

[Pedals2Paddles]

Neat. Is it against the advice of the developers because of the micro-soldering required or for some other reason?

I mean running master on the stock cube is against the advice of the developers due to the ground bounce thing that isn't otherwise addressed. If the level shifter thing comes to fruition, that will likely change.

 

[Saijin_Naib]

I just released OPEN SOLO 2.5-RC2! It is out in Solex now, and Tom is putting in Side Pilot as we speak.

For the time being, there's only like 3 people using master on a stock cube, and it's against the advice of the developers.

I'd like to be #4 (Though really, I'd be fine with just OpenSolo for the controller currently)

What are the gotchas to flashing via SFTP/SSH? If it's as simple as putting the flash files in the right place and doing a sudo reboot, I'm game. If there are permissions that need changing, etc. I'll obviously muck it up. If I could get my hands on the code Solex or SidePilot are using to prep/install the AC3.5.x firmwares on the Solos, I could write a shell script for it to semi-automate it for others that will not be flashing through those apps.

 

[fpvsteve]

I'd like to be #4 (Though really, I'd be fine with just OpenSolo for the controller currently)

What are the gotchas to flashing via SFTP/SSH? If it's as simple as putting the flash files in the right place and doing a sudo reboot, I'm game. If there are permissions that need changing, etc. I'll obviously muck it up. If I could get my hands on the code Solex or SidePilot are using to prep/install the AC3.5.x firmwares on the Solos, I could write a shell script for it to semi-automate it for others that will not be flashing through those apps.

I second this. Would love to have OpenSolo independent from Solex install procedure and the Arducopter FW version in order to decide by myself what to install ;-)

 

[Pedals2Paddles]

I'd like to be #4 (Though really, I'd be fine with just OpenSolo for the controller currently)

You cannot just put it on the controller. It will no longer be compatible with the Solo end. The buttons won't work. And it will be not function due to the version file mis-match. The same version of Open Solo must be installed on the controller and the Solo.

What are the gotchas to flashing via SFTP/SSH? If it's as simple as putting the flash files in the right place and doing a sudo reboot, I'm game. If there are permissions that need changing, etc. I'll obviously muck it up. If I could get my hands on the code Solex or SidePilot are using to prep/install the AC3.5.x firmwares on the Solos, I could write a shell script for it to semi-automate it for others that will not be flashing through those apps.

Here the short version of what would need to be in your script. You need to mount the recovery partition to a temporary directory in the /tmp/ folder. Then delete the contents of it, which is the old golden image from 3DR circa 2015.

    umount /dev/mmcblk0p1 &> /dev/null
    mkfs.vfat /dev/mmcblk0p1 -n GOLDEN &> /dev/null
    mkdir -p /tmp/golden
    mount /dev/mmcblk0p1 /tmp/golden
    rm -f /tmp/golden/*.*

Then copy in the 4 files from the open solo tar.gz files. Using the distributable version of putty or something would probably do the trick for most of this. Then unmount the recovery partition. Tag it for factory reset. Reboot.

    umount /tmp/golden
    touch /log/updates/FACTORYRESET
    reboot

Loading some other version of ArduCopter, other than that which is baked into the Open Solo file system, is done by the usual method still. Drop the PX4 file in the /firmware/ directory and reboot. So if you have a stock cube, and you really want to run ArduCopter 3.5 or 3.6 on it, you can always load it yourself by doing this, just like always

What I will absolutely not do is have ArduCopter master versions install automatically on stock cubes through the scripts that I write for the masses of Solo users. No way. Saving 5 minutes for the 3 or 4 people who want to take that risk would be putting every other solo user at serious and unnecessary risk of doing it accidentally. Something I am not willing to be responsible for it. The few of you guys who want to do it are well versed in loading it in the usual manner, which is the way it will stay for the foreseeable future.

I second this. Would love to have OpenSolo independent from Solex install procedure and the Arducopter FW version in order to decide by myself what to install ;-)

There are so few opportunities for me to say this, so I am going to use this one... as the saying goes... PRs welcome

 

[XevetS]

I just released OPEN SOLO 2.5-RC2! It is out in Solex now, and Tom is putting in Side Pilot as we speak.

This update fixes some installation vulnerabilities that were identified by beta testers with Green Cubes. It was on occasion failing to detect the green cube, and trying to install the 3DR firmware on it, which is not compatible. The scripts are now much more robust. It now has three different ways to detect the cube. And in the unlikely event something is wrong and it still can't, it will not try to install any firmware on the cube so nothing gets locked up.

Please see the -RC2 release notes for full detail on this update and on Open Solo in general: https://github.com/OpenSo…/documentation/releases/…/v2.5-RC2

If you have already installed RC1, please do actually upgrade to this. It will fix the install vulnerability, whether you experienced the issue or not the first time around.

For the few of you who are currently stuck with a locked up Green Cube, instructions on rectifying that coming soon. Not enough hours in the day.

So I did the upgrade on both the solo and the controller to open solo v2.5-rc2 using SOLEX, no problem went smooth.
My questions are "in the solo app the version number is v2.5-RC1" "also when I boot the controller it states open solo v2.5-RC1 on the boot screen"? Did i miss something? I did this to 2 solo's with the same results.

 

[Saijin_Naib]

You cannot just put it on the controller. It will no longer be compatible with the Solo end. The buttons won't work. And it will be not function due to the version file mis-match. The same version of Open Solo must be installed on the controller and the Solo.

Here the short version of what would need to be in your script. You need to mount the recovery partition to a temporary directory in the /tmp/ folder. Then delete the contents of it, which is the old golden image from 3DR circa 2015.

    umount /dev/mmcblk0p1 &> /dev/null
    mkfs.vfat /dev/mmcblk0p1 -n GOLDEN &> /dev/null
    mkdir -p /tmp/golden
    mount /dev/mmcblk0p1 /tmp/golden
    rm -f /tmp/golden/*.*

Then copy in the 4 files from the open solo tar.gz files. Using the distributable version of putty or something would probably do the trick for most of this. Then unmount the recovery partition. Tag it for factory reset. Reboot.

    umount /tmp/golden
    touch /log/updates/FACTORYRESET
    reboot

Loading some other version of ArduCopter, other than that which is baked into the Open Solo file system, is done by the usual method still. Drop the PX4 file in the /firmware/ directory and reboot. So if you have a stock cube, and you really want to run ArduCopter 3.5 or 3.6 on it, you can always load it yourself by doing this, just like always

What I will absolutely not do is have ArduCopter master versions install automatically on stock cubes through the scripts that I write for the masses of Solo users. No way. Saving 5 minutes for the 3 or 4 people who want to take that risk would be putting every other solo user at serious and unnecessary risk of doing it accidentally. Something I am not willing to be responsible for it. The few of you guys who want to do it are well versed in loading it in the usual manner, which is the way it will stay for the foreseeable future.

There are so few opportunities for me to say this, so I am going to use this one... as the saying goes... PRs welcome

Thank you for that! I just want to be on OpenSolo with my stock cube, especially after the work you did for the button functions and cleanup of code/failure modes. Have the changes to the ESC failure/recovery system gone in yet? I was reading on the GitHub that someone had made it much faster to respond (about 20deg deviation from level instead of oftentimes a complete flip). That's important to me as well.

I will try to write a competent script and submit it for your approval. For myself, it'll just be going into a macro I can use in Token2Shell, but I will certainly make a BAT for putty/other users if I can get it right.

Thanks again for your stellar efforts.

 

[Pedals2Paddles]

So I did the upgrade on both the solo and the controller to open solo v2.5-rc2 using SOLEX, no problem went smooth.
My questions are "in the solo app the version number is v2.5-RC1" "also when I boot the controller it states open solo v2.5-RC1 on the boot screen"? Did i miss something? I did this to 2 solo's with the same results.

Yes, totally fine. I did not make any changes to the controller. So it is still on RC1.

 

[Pedals2Paddles]

Thank you for that! I just want to be on OpenSolo with my stock cube, especially after the work you did for the button functions and cleanup of code/failure modes. Have the changes to the ESC failure/recovery system gone in yet? I was reading on the GitHub that someone had made it much faster to respond (about 20deg deviation from level instead of oftentimes a complete flip). That's important to me as well.

I will try to write a competent script and submit it for your approval. For myself, it'll just be going into a macro I can use in Token2Shell, but I will certainly make a BAT for putty/other users if I can get it right.

Thanks again for your stellar efforts.

Open Solo is totally compatible with the stock cube already. Please go ahead and install it. If you have a stock cube, it will install 3dr ArduCopter 1.5.3 on the cube. If you have a green cube, it will install ArduCopter master 3.5.3 on the cube. That's the only difference between stock and green cubes with open solo. Everything else is the same.

 

[Saijin_Naib]

Open Solo is totally compatible with the stock cube already. Please go ahead and install it. If you have a stock cube, it will install 3dr ArduCopter 1.5.3 on the cube. If you have a green cube, it will install ArduCopter master 3.5.3 on the cube. That's the only difference between stock and green cubes with open solo. Everything else is the same.

I don't have SidePilot nor Solex, so I was waiting for Windows/other install instructions, which you kindly provided just above for me. I'll attempt the install a bit later on tonight. Thanks again!

 

[XevetS]

Yes, totally fine. I did not make any changes to the controller. So it is still on RC1.

Thanks Matt for all the hard work where can I donate? I'm serious...

 

[IrishmanPDX]

Thanks Matt for all the hard work where can I donate? I'm serious...

I second that, either a beer fund or a Bella fund!

 

[Pedals2Paddles]

I second that, either a beer fund or a Bella fund!

Don't let Bella hear that. She'll start looking at me assuming the drone means she's getting salmon jerky!

 

[USMC86]

Matt-
I know you dedicate an enormous amount of your free time improving Solo and helping us upgrade our drones- Thank You.
My question - I have the Green Cube and HERE - can I install it now using your video released last week?
Thanks again!

 

[Pedals2Paddles]

Matt-
I know you dedicate an enormous amount of your free time improving Solo and helping us upgrade our drones- Thank You.
My question - I have the Green Cube and HERE - can I install it now using your video released last week?
Thanks again!

You're welcome.

Just follow the complete instructions from the provided link. The video is good too, it just doesn't cover the noted difference in automatic reboots described in the release notes.

After open solo is installed and working, you can install the green cube safely. If you don't mind, I would like to use you as a test case for that. Put the green cube in and boot up. Assuming it boots normally, grab the 3dr-solo.log and python_stdere.log file from the solo and send them to me. I need to see what it looks like pre-firmware. Once I give you the ok, you just factory reset the solo, and re-pair when it's done.

 

[Saijin_Naib]

This may be a stupid question based upon a fringe/stupid scenario, but what happens with the autodetection routines when someone has a "Black" (3.3V) Cube instead of the Green Cube (5v)? Is there some hardware identifier that differentiates it from the Green Cube so that the appropriate firmware gets loaded?