[SOLVED] Crazyradio on Win7/virtual machine

[alex]

Hey guys,

just powered on my Crazyflie for the first time - everthing seems fine, motors are spinning up for a moment and LEDs are flashing!

But my Crazyradio shows some strange behaviour: Everytime I plug in the USB module, the red an green LEDs are flashing shortly and then stay dark completely. I installed the Win7 driver from the wiki.

I would like to use it in the Ubuntu virtual machine. What do I have to do to get the Crazyradio dongle running in the VM/on Win7? Except installing the Win7 driver and checking the USB dongle in the VM settings, of course.

Thanks again!

Alex

[atomicdog]

You shouldn't need to do anything but attach the crazyradio USB device in virtual box.
Device -> USB devices

The Ubuntu VM already has the driver so you only need the win7 driver if your running the program on windows.
I've gotten it to connect using the VM.

[marcus]

Hi alex,

But my Crazyradio shows some strange behaviour: Everytime I plug in the USB module, the red an green LEDs are flashing shortly and then stay dark completely. I installed the Win7 driver from the wiki.

This is normal. The red and green LED will light up when the dongle is powered and turn off once the USB dongle is enumerated. They will not light up again until you are communicating with the Crazyflie.

I would like to use it in the Ubuntu virtual machine. What do I have to do to get the Crazyradio dongle running in the VM/on Win7? Except installing the Win7 driver and checking the USB dongle in the VM settings, of course.

Like atomicdog wrote, you don't need to do anything else than to pass through the USB device to the VM. But by now the software/firmware for the Crazyflie inside the VM we provided is a bit old. So follow the instructions here to update to the latest versions.

[alex]

Thank you for your responses. Nonetheless the Crazyradio doesn't seem to wake up. I started the most recent PC Client version and tried to connect to the Crazyflie. But there's no reaction from the Crazyradio and therefore no Crazyflie can be found. Something is wrong obviously.

Is there any way to see wether the USB dongle is being recognized by the Linux running in the VM? Sorry, maybe I am missing some essential step!?


Edit: Just googled and typed "lsusb" in the console window. This is the answer:

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bitcraze@bitcraze-ubuntu:~$ lsusb
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 80ee:0021 VirtualBox USB Tablet
Bus 001 Device 021: ID 0489:e031 Foxconn / Hon Hai 
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub

This means that the Ubuntu doesn't notice the Crazyradio dongle, right? But I ticked it in the VM's options, so what's wrong?

Edit 2: There is an option in the VirtualBox settings to emulate an USB 2.0 usb controller. If I check that, I am told to install the VirtualBox additions in the guest OS to support it. Would this help in any way?

[atomicdog]

I tried the lsusb command and it doesn't show the crazyradio but I'm still able to connect to the copter.

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bitcraze@bitcraze-ubuntu:~$ lsusb
Bus 001 Device 005: ID 1915:7777 Nordic Semiconductor ASA 
Bus 001 Device 006: ID 80ee:0021 VirtualBox USB Tablet
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub

So when you press the connect button what does it show?
mine shows...

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radio://0/10/250K
debug://0/0 - Debugdriver for UI testing

Edit 2: There is an option in the VirtualBox settings to emulate an USB 2.0 usb controller.

If you're talking about the "Enable USB 2.0 (EHCI) Controller" check box I don't have it checked and it still works.

[alex]

My list simply shows

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debug://0/0 - Debugdriver for UI testing

No Crazyflie at all.

As said before, it seems like the VM doesn't recognize the Crazyradio - the lights flash shortly upon plugging it in but then stay dark. Is there a command to rescan USB devices in Ubuntu?

[tobias]

It might be the issue with the USB3 ports? http://forum.bitcraze.se/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=87.
If you have a USB2 port try plugging it into that.

[alex]

My notebook doesn't have USB3, but thanks for the tip.

I'm going to do some trial and error searching this evening. Don't hesitate posting other possible suggestions...

[marcus]

After inserting the dongle and then starting up the Bitcraze VM in VirtualBox, if you go to the menu Devices->USB Devices (in VirtualBox) what devices do you see?

[tobias]

If the Crazyradio is detected/enumerated and the driver is working the Crazyradio should blink the red LED a lot when it is scanning for Crazyflies. Can you see if it does that?