RoboRIO Deployment from Linux

RoboRIO-Tutorial.md

RoboRIO Deployment from Linux

Using open-ds and the proper radio configurations, you can deploy to the RoboRIO from Linux!

This might be useful for team members who mostly program on Linux, if you have vision/coprocessor code that is easier to develop on Linux but you also need to work on robot code, or if you want to set up a Raspberry Pi or other ARM64 system as a lab computer to do programming.

Networking setup

1. Connect power to the roboRIO
2. Plug a Power-Over-Ethernet splitter into the radio's left port, and connect the power cable to power and the other cable to the roboRIO (by plugging in a normal Ethernet cable)
3. Plug an Ethernet cable into the radio's right port and the other end into your computer (you may need a USB-to-Ethernet adapter if you're doing this from a laptop)

WPILib Installation

Download the latest version of WPILib.

• v2024.2.1 x86_64
• v2024.2.1 arm64

Extract the tarball and run WPILibInstaller (inside the extraction directory). It will guide you through the steps to install WPILib.

Using the system VS Code/VSCodium (optional)

To use the system VS Code, open VS Code, open the Extensions tab, click the three dots, and click "Install from VSIX...". Choose ~/wpilib/2024/vsCodeExtensions/vscode-wpilib-2024.1.1.vsix.

Driver Station (open-ds) Installation

Note: open-ds is not the official driver station and may have missing features

To install open-ds, please install a JDK or JRE for Java 8 or later.

On Debian and Ubuntu, please install:

sudo apt install default-jdk

On other distros, consult your package manager documentation or package manager search tool.

If your distro does not provide a JDK, you can download a JRE from Eclipse Temurin (AdoptOpenJDK).

Now, you can download the JAR for open-ds from GitHub Releases. I will provide an updated JAR, a .desktop file, and a complete installer in the future, but for now, you can use the following command to launch the JAR:

java -jar open-ds-v0.2.4.jar 

Phoenix Tuner X installation (optional)

(these instructions assume Ubuntu or Debian)

(this will install the Android version of Phoenix Tuner X)

First, install the Android rootfs and userspace libraries:

sudo apt install curl ca-certificates -y
curl https://repo.waydro.id | sudo bash
sudo apt install waydroid -y
sudo waydroid init
waydroid prop set persist.waydroid.multi_windows true
waydroid session stop

Now, download and install Phoenix Tuner X:

wget https://github.com/ethanc8/someblobs/releases/download/phoenix-tuner-x-2024.6.1.0/Tuner.X_2024.6.1.0_apkcombo.com.apk
waydroid app install "./Tuner X*.apk"
waydroid app launch com.ctre.phoenix_tuner

TODO

If any of you want to help me with this, please leave a comment!

• Support other ways to connect to the RoboRIO
  • Direct via USB
  • Direct via Ethernet (plug in to RoboRIO)
  • Direct via RS-232 serial port (via USB adapter or GPIO)
  • Wi-Fi to router
• Test on arm64 systems
• Support flashing the RoboRIO (my notes)
• Support configuring the radio
• Determine other features supported by FRC Game Tools
• Start maintaining open-ds
• Make an installer for the Linux Game Tools
• Port to Android