Difference between revisions of "ODROID"

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(Unresolved issues)
(Added Linaro Ubuntu 12.11; moved the issues Section below.)
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=== Useful How-Tos ===
 
=== Useful How-Tos ===
 
* [http://forum.odroid.com/viewtopic.php?f=52&t=81 Kernel recompiling process for the ODROID-U2]; it is necessary to do this if you ever wish to install external/out-of-tree drivers, as the "official package" is missing several critical kernel headers.
 
* [http://forum.odroid.com/viewtopic.php?f=52&t=81 Kernel recompiling process for the ODROID-U2]; it is necessary to do this if you ever wish to install external/out-of-tree drivers, as the "official package" is missing several critical kernel headers.
 +
 +
 +
=== Tested OS and versions ===
 +
* [http://forum.odroid.com/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=1193 Xubuntu 13.04]  for armhf architectures, released by HardKernel with their [https://github.com/hardkernel/linux modified Linux kernel, version 3.0.75]. The kernel can be recompiled for using 3D video acceleration but this would prevent USB video cameras to work, so it's useless for robot development (even more so since OpenCL can't be even used).
 +
* [http://forum.odroid.com/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=12 Linaro Ubuntu 12.11] with HardKernel's Linux kernel, version 3.0.60. Grab [http://dn.odroid.com/Ubuntu_U2/20130125/ this image] dated 25-01-2013 and then apply the latest point kernel point update (at the time of writing, it is version 3.0.63, dated 13-02-2013) following the instructions given on the thread's opening post.
 +
 +
'''All OSes have wireless networking issues, please read below for more information.'''
 +
 +
 +
=== Tested I/O devices ===
 +
 +
==== Monitors ====
 +
Monitors need a native HDMI interface to work with ODROIDs due to the strict requirements of the Exynos system-on-chip; for the same reason, external HDMI-to-DVI adapters are also '''not''' recommended, as you could result having a blank image screen ([http://odroid.us/mediawiki/index.php?title=Troubleshooting#My_Device_boots_.28The_alive_led_blinks.29.2C_but_it_doesnt_show_anything_on_the_display source] )
 +
 +
This is a list of monitors and TV screens with native HDMI ports that are known to work.
 +
* Sony KDL-32V4500
 +
* Samsung Syncmaster XL2370 HD
 +
 +
 +
=== Tested wireless communication ===
 +
 +
 +
=== Tested wired communication ===
  
  
 
=== Unresolved issues ===
 
=== Unresolved issues ===
  
==== Wireless Networking ====
+
==== Wireless Networking (all tested OSes) ====
 
Wireless communications seem to be very troublesome, as the network interfaces tend to lose or drop a lot of packages, both in RX and TX, to the point that a reliable SSH connection cannot be established. This happens at least with the "officially supported" wireless NIC (with a Realtek RTL8191SU chipset), even if the wifi signal strength is excellent.
 
Wireless communications seem to be very troublesome, as the network interfaces tend to lose or drop a lot of packages, both in RX and TX, to the point that a reliable SSH connection cannot be established. This happens at least with the "officially supported" wireless NIC (with a Realtek RTL8191SU chipset), even if the wifi signal strength is excellent.
 +
 +
A curious aspect of this issue is that only incoming packets get dropped a lot, while outgoing packets are very modestly affected.
  
 
This being said, the RTL8191SU adapter loses some packets along the way also while being connected to other computers, so maybe it's really not the best USB wifi adapter ''ever''.
 
This being said, the RTL8191SU adapter loses some packets along the way also while being connected to other computers, so maybe it's really not the best USB wifi adapter ''ever''.
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===== Realtek RTL8192CU =====
 
===== Realtek RTL8192CU =====
This chipset seems not to be even detected by the stock HK kernel, but it is possible to use it after recompiling the kernel, disabling the in-kernel module for the NIC, and integrating [http://www.realtek.com/downloads/downloadsView.aspx?Langid=1&PNid=21&PFid=48&Level=5&Conn=4&DownTypeID=3&GetDown=false&Downloads=true Realtek's official driver] for this chipset inside it (instructions are included in the package).
+
This chipset seems not to be even detected by the stock HK kernel (all versions of it), but it is possible to use it after recompiling the kernel, disabling the in-kernel module for the NIC, and integrating [http://www.realtek.com/downloads/downloadsView.aspx?Langid=1&PNid=21&PFid=48&Level=5&Conn=4&DownTypeID=3&GetDown=false&Downloads=true Realtek's official driver] for this chipset inside it (instructions are included in the package).
  
 
However, you still get a huge packet loss rate, even if you disable the power saving feature of the driver by loading the kernel module with
 
However, you still get a huge packet loss rate, even if you disable the power saving feature of the driver by loading the kernel module with
 
   sudo modprobe 8192cu rtw_power_mgnt=0
 
   sudo modprobe 8192cu rtw_power_mgnt=0
  
=== Tested OS and versions ===
 
* [http://forum.odroid.com/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=1193 Xubuntu 13.04]  for armhf architectures, released by HardKernel with their [https://github.com/hardkernel/linux modified Linux kernel, version 3.0.75]. The kernel can be recompiled for using 3D video acceleration but this would prevent USB video cameras to work, so it's useless for robot development (even more so since OpenCL can't be even used).
 
Note: in this version of the OS, the lshw command seems to be partly broken, but this is resolved by calling it with
 
  sudo lshw -disable dmi
 
although this will prevent the detection of certain features of the board.
 
  
 +
=== Solved issues ===
  
=== Tested I/O devices ===
+
==== lshw glitches (all tested OSes) ====
 
+
With the stock kernel the lshw command seems to be partly broken, but this is resolved by calling it with
==== Monitors ====
+
  sudo lshw -disable dmi
Monitors need a native HDMI interface to work with ODROIDs due to the strict requirements of the Exynos system-on-chip; for the same reason, external HDMI-to-DVI adapters are also '''not''' recommended, as you could result having a blank image screen ([http://odroid.us/mediawiki/index.php?title=Troubleshooting#My_Device_boots_.28The_alive_led_blinks.29.2C_but_it_doesnt_show_anything_on_the_display source] )
+
although this will prevent the detection of certain features of the board. Another way of fixing this issue is to recompile the kernel by hand (see the how-to linked above).
 
+
This is a list of monitors and TV screens with native HDMI ports that are known to work.
+
* Sony KDL-32V4500
+
* Samsung Syncmaster XL2370 HD
+
 
+
 
+
=== Tested wireless communication ===
+
 
+
 
+
=== Tested wired communication ===
+

Revision as of 18:46, 20 May 2013

There are two ODROID U2 for development of small robots. Here are details and suggestions for their use.

Useful How-Tos


Tested OS and versions

  • Xubuntu 13.04 for armhf architectures, released by HardKernel with their modified Linux kernel, version 3.0.75. The kernel can be recompiled for using 3D video acceleration but this would prevent USB video cameras to work, so it's useless for robot development (even more so since OpenCL can't be even used).
  • Linaro Ubuntu 12.11 with HardKernel's Linux kernel, version 3.0.60. Grab this image dated 25-01-2013 and then apply the latest point kernel point update (at the time of writing, it is version 3.0.63, dated 13-02-2013) following the instructions given on the thread's opening post.

All OSes have wireless networking issues, please read below for more information.


Tested I/O devices

Monitors

Monitors need a native HDMI interface to work with ODROIDs due to the strict requirements of the Exynos system-on-chip; for the same reason, external HDMI-to-DVI adapters are also not recommended, as you could result having a blank image screen (source )

This is a list of monitors and TV screens with native HDMI ports that are known to work.

  • Sony KDL-32V4500
  • Samsung Syncmaster XL2370 HD


Tested wireless communication

Tested wired communication

Unresolved issues

Wireless Networking (all tested OSes)

Wireless communications seem to be very troublesome, as the network interfaces tend to lose or drop a lot of packages, both in RX and TX, to the point that a reliable SSH connection cannot be established. This happens at least with the "officially supported" wireless NIC (with a Realtek RTL8191SU chipset), even if the wifi signal strength is excellent.

A curious aspect of this issue is that only incoming packets get dropped a lot, while outgoing packets are very modestly affected.

This being said, the RTL8191SU adapter loses some packets along the way also while being connected to other computers, so maybe it's really not the best USB wifi adapter ever.

 root@odroid:~# ifconfig wlan6
 wlan6     Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr **:**:**:**:**:**
          inet addr:192.168.1.60  Bcast:192.168.1.255  Mask:255.255.255.0
          inet6 addr: fe80::ee1a:59ff:fe0e:f122/64 Scope:Link
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:453 errors:0 dropped:600 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:292 errors:0 dropped:7 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
          RX bytes:79264 (79.2 KB)  TX bytes:35116 (35.1 KB)
 odroid@odroid:~$ iwconfig wlan6
 wlan6     IEEE 802.11bg  ESSID:"MyWirelessNet"  Nickname:"<WIFI@REALTEK>"
         Mode:Managed  Frequency:2.437 GHz  Access Point: **:**:**:**:**:**
         Bit Rate:54 Mb/s   Sensitivity:0/0  
         Retry:off   RTS thr:off   Fragment thr:off
         Encryption key:****-****-****-****-****-****-****-****   Security mode:open
         Power Management:off
         Link Quality=100/100  Signal level=100/100  Noise level=0/100
         Rx invalid nwid:0  Rx invalid crypt:0  Rx invalid frag:0
         Tx excessive retries:0  Invalid misc:0   Missed beacon:0


Realtek RTL8192CU

This chipset seems not to be even detected by the stock HK kernel (all versions of it), but it is possible to use it after recompiling the kernel, disabling the in-kernel module for the NIC, and integrating Realtek's official driver for this chipset inside it (instructions are included in the package).

However, you still get a huge packet loss rate, even if you disable the power saving feature of the driver by loading the kernel module with

 sudo modprobe 8192cu rtw_power_mgnt=0


Solved issues

lshw glitches (all tested OSes)

With the stock kernel the lshw command seems to be partly broken, but this is resolved by calling it with

 sudo lshw -disable dmi

although this will prevent the detection of certain features of the board. Another way of fixing this issue is to recompile the kernel by hand (see the how-to linked above).