Serial Console?

hur · Jan 4, 2018

I searched, but could not get the answer, this may have been asked and answered. So I apologize in advance.

Has anyone figured out a way to attach a serial console to solo and controller?

Currently we need a working system to ssh.

fpvsteve · Jan 4, 2018

You tried PuTTY?

carpy · Jan 4, 2018

hur said:
I searched, but could not get the answer, this may have been asked and answered. So I apologize in advance.

Has anyone figured out a way to attach a serial console to solo and controller?

Currently we need a working system to ssh.

Use the USB connection.

hur · Jan 4, 2018

fpvsteve said:
You tried PuTTY?

Sorry I did not clarify myself. I meant is there a serial port on Solo that we can connect to via any client, putty would be one of the clients.

hur · Jan 4, 2018

carpy said:
Use the USB connection.

I dont understand. Could you please clarify.

Redcon1 · Jan 4, 2018

hur said:
I don't understand. Could you please clarify.

There is a micro USP port on the actual pixhawk cube itself. The pixhawk is on the underside of Solo's main board.

hur · Jan 4, 2018

Redcon1 said:
There is a micro USP port on the actual pixhawk cube itself. The pixhawk is on the underside of Solo's main board.

I appreciate the help, you mean I can see imx6 boot via pixhawk?

How do we access the controller?

cynfab · Jan 4, 2018

I have connected to the serial port on the iMx6 board, you will have to solder wires to the pins labelled "debug", that will not be all though.
Normally (is there any such thing?) when doing kernel work it is a good idea to have serial
console access, while this is possible with the Solo CPU, it is not convenient. There is a
console port which is labelled DEBUG on the CPU board. It is disabled in u-boot, and it shares
pins with the ADV7610 HDMI decoder. This can be disabled in the solo.dts file and a new solo.dtb
created then the serial can be enabled in the kernel. That is what I did.
Lots of work for only a bit of gain. Only necessary if you have a kernel that won't boot,
and don't mind digging into the Solo and soldering wires to it.
Or cutting a hole in the side of the Solo and chipping away the glue that secures the SD.
I bought a crashed Solo for just this purpose and it was well worth it.

If you really need serial access it is invaluable, if you don't, it is a royal PITA.

BTW, the stock u-boot can't be interrupted, you have to recompile u-boot with a few changes to the source and default configuration, but as u-boot works ok with the stock kernel, it's not really necessary unless you want to get kernel 3.14.x working as you need a newer version of u-boot for that.

Pedals2Paddles · Jan 4, 2018

If you want to SSH into the IMX, just connect with putty over the WiFi. IP 10.1.1.10 for the copter or 10.1.1.1 for the controller. user root, password TjSDBkAu.

Redcon1 · Jan 4, 2018

hur said:
I appreciate the help, you mean I can see imx6 boot via pixhawk?

How do we access the controller?

I'm sorry, I was just expanding on what carpy said about the USB port, I don't know to view the imx6 boot but I'm pretty sure that it isn't through the pixhawk.
There are a lot of smart people on here. Maybe if you were to expand on what you are trying to accomplish, someone may have already done it and could go step-by-step with you.

Redcon1 · Jan 4, 2018

See. They were all over it while I stepped away.

hur · Jan 4, 2018

cynfab said:
I have connected to the serial port on the iMx6 board, you will have to solder wires to the pins labelled "debug", that will not be all though.
Normally (is there any such thing?) when doing kernel work it is a good idea to have serial
console access, while this is possible with the Solo CPU, it is not convenient. There is a
console port which is labelled DEBUG on the CPU board. It is disabled in u-boot, and it shares
pins with the ADV7610 HDMI decoder. This can be disabled in the solo.dts file and a new solo.dtb
created then the serial can be enabled in the kernel. That is what I did.
Lots of work for only a bit of gain. Only necessary if you have a kernel that won't boot,
and don't mind digging into the Solo and soldering wires to it.
Or cutting a hole in the side of the Solo and chipping away the glue that secures the SD.
I bought a crashed Solo for just this purpose and it was well worth it.

If you really need serial access it is invaluable, if you don't, it is a royal PITA.

BTW, the stock u-boot can't be interrupted, you have to recompile u-boot with a few changes to the source and default configuration, but as u-boot works ok with the stock kernel, it's not really necessary unless you want to get kernel 3.14.x working as you need a newer version of u-boot for that.

Thank you that's the answer I was looking for.

hur · Jan 4, 2018

Pedals2Paddles said:
If you want to SSH into the IMX, just connect with putty over the WiFi. IP 10.1.1.10 for the copter or 10.1.1.1 for the controller. user root, password TjSDBkAu.

I am aware of ssh route, just looking to see if I can also go serial route.

hur · Jan 4, 2018

Redcon1 said:
See. They were all over it while I stepped away.

I agree

carpy · Jan 4, 2018

I would think the 3DR guys (support) use the accessory bay on the Solo to get to the debug console (/dev/ttyS5). But, since I haven't done it myself don't hold me to it.

https://dev.3dr.com/hardware-accessorybay.html

cynfab · Jan 4, 2018

The page you point to says that pins 9 and 24 point to the PixHawk2

Pin 9 SER5 TX (DEBUG) -->UART5 TX output from Pixhawk™ 2.
Pin 24 SER5 RX (DEBUG) --> UART5 RX input to Pixhawk™ 2.

hur · Jan 4, 2018

cynfab said:
The page you point to says that pins 9 and 24 point to the PixHawk2

Pin 9 SER5 TX (DEBUG) -->UART5 TX output from Pixhawk™ 2.
Pin 24 SER5 RX (DEBUG) --> UART5 RX input to Pixhawk™ 2.

Right, pin 1 and 2 are usb ports to imx6 I am not sure what those are for? Possibly standard USB

cynfab · Jan 4, 2018

The USB port on the accessory board is OTG capable so you can connect peripherals to it and it will power them (as long as the ID pin is set for host mode) or you can plug the Solo into a PC and have access to the file system as if it were a thumb drive.

Pedals2Paddles · Jan 4, 2018

cynfab said:
Pin 9 SER5 TX (DEBUG) -->UART5 TX output from Pixhawk™ 2.
Pin 24 SER5 RX (DEBUG) --> UART5 RX input to Pixhawk™ 2.

That is serial 5 on the pixhawk, no connection to the IMX. Until recently, serial 5 in ArduCopter on the pixhawk was only used for console output. However it was recently changed in master and 3.5.4 to allow Serial 5 to be used as a normal serial port just like 1-4. This is not what you'd want to hook up to for the IMX.