mc-Things

mc-Platform => mc-Platform General => Topic started by: rich on June 08, 2016, 08:53:23 am

Title: What if you have a Mac
Post by: rich on June 08, 2016, 08:53:23 am
Excited to get my mcThings, but wondering how I can use it if we are a Mac shop?
Title: Re: What if you have a Mac
Post by: mc-T2 on June 08, 2016, 09:22:14 am
Hi Rich!
Our software is not setup for Macs however, you can run windows on a virtual machine on a Mac and connect to mc-Studio and your modules. One of our engineers actually uses a Mac and runs a virtual machine. He uses Virtual Box: www.virtualbox.org and its just a matter of getting Windows so you can use the devices.
Title: Re: What if you have a Mac
Post by: blund on July 02, 2016, 05:11:27 pm
mc-T2: Would you please make a tutorial of how to configure the virtualbox and how to get your IDE to run?

I have tried to get it to work, but all attempts fails when your different softwares tries to load the FTD2xx.dll.
The dll files exists within the path but fails to load at Windows 10, running as a guest os?!..
Title: Re: What if you have a Mac
Post by: kristofferis on July 03, 2016, 01:33:16 am
What error message do you receive? Another user reported same issue but not in virtual machine.
Connecting the mcDongle to that machine solved the issue. Please try that, if it does not solve your issue, provide us with the error message that you receive.
Title: Re: What if you have a Mac
Post by: blund on July 04, 2016, 05:06:53 pm
I do not have a mcDongle, only the gateway..  Could that be it?

Here are some screendumps

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Title: Re: What if you have a Mac
Post by: kristofferis on July 04, 2016, 05:58:01 pm
Hello. I guess that you have tried to install the driver?
But it looks like same error that the other user reported, and it was solved when connecting the mcDongle.
Have you bought just a mcGateway? You need the mcDongle to update the firmware on you mcModules.

If you got your kit from the kickstarter campaign then look in your anti static bags, one if them will be the mcDongle.
Title: Re: What if you have a Mac
Post by: blund on July 05, 2016, 11:26:22 am
Thanks, didn't know the mcdongle were included.

Yes I have installed the drivers and things started to work when I connected the mcdongle.

After the OSX had detected it had something on the USB bus I had to choose the mcdongle in virtualbox usb settings.

After that everything worked. :)

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Title: Re: What if you have a Mac
Post by: blund on July 05, 2016, 11:38:25 am
Probably another topic, but:  How are mcdongle and gateway related and where to start, as a newbie, in the kickstarter package?

Have watched your movies but not really clear over how everything is supposed to work with each other... 

Found this thread that is somewhat a start but don't give much information of how you see your platform should work. And how the data flow is suppose to go. 

"Finding my way around McThings"
http://mcthings.createaforum.com/general-discussion/re-post-'finding-my-way-around-mcthings'/msg21/?topicseen#msg21 (http://mcthings.createaforum.com/general-discussion/re-post-'finding-my-way-around-mcthings'/msg21/?topicseen#msg21)

Is there any more details to find, as of now, or will it come in the future?
Title: Re: What if you have a Mac
Post by: kristofferis on July 05, 2016, 12:04:08 pm
Hello.
Great that you have it up and running.
The first thing to do is to update every product to the latest firmware. You will find the firmware and instructions on the download page.

In mcStudio there you will find some example codes just to get you started.

And you will find good information on mcThings YouTube channel and also in the documentation found in download page.

And if you need any more specific help just post that question on the forum and I could almost guarantee that you will get the help you need.
Title: Re: What if you have a Mac
Post by: blund on July 05, 2016, 01:24:21 pm
Ok thanks, will look around and use the forum more.
Title: Re: What if you have a Mac
Post by: blund on July 05, 2016, 01:25:35 pm
mcstudio crashes continously after a few minutes usage. I do not know if this is because of virtualbox or so, but here is the screendump.


[attachment deleted by admin]
Title: Re: What if you have a Mac
Post by: kristofferis on July 05, 2016, 01:28:21 pm
Did you click the gateway config button just before that error message?
it seems that you are trying to configure the virtual gateway, that is not supported.
Title: Re: What if you have a Mac
Post by: blund on July 05, 2016, 01:35:02 pm
Yes, it shows up when I do that.

But it also shows when I try to config the real gateway.


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Title: Re: What if you have a Mac
Post by: blund on July 05, 2016, 01:35:48 pm
note: I had to configure NIC into bridge mode to be able to get windows to find the gateway, as a guest os inside virtualbox.
Title: Re: What if you have a Mac
Post by: kristofferis on July 05, 2016, 01:39:35 pm
Please update the mcGateway to the latest version, both update with USB stick and with mcDongle.
You use very old software right now.

Latest firmware today is:
Gw version: 0.6-359
LpLan Version: 0.7-404
Title: Re: What if you have a Mac
Post by: blund on July 05, 2016, 04:13:51 pm
That brings me on to the next topic: How do you update the gateway!
Not much that goes well today :)

I have followed the steps in the pdf. Formated usb to FAT32 and put the bin fil on it. Plugged it into the gateway and tried to do the resetting sequence.

It reboots, but obviously it does not load the new firmware..    Is there any way to debug it?
Title: Re: What if you have a Mac
Post by: kristofferis on July 05, 2016, 04:57:00 pm
There were some issues with the update from USB, a lot of USB sticks reports a high max current consumption and in that case the mcGateway closed the negotiation.
This should be fixed in the latest bootloader and I think that the latest shipment from mcThings was updated to that version.
But I guess you have the old one, then you need to test with another USB stick.

Make sure that you download the correct file, do not change the name of the file.

Hold the button during boot until the LED blinks three times then release it. The LED should now be on for maybe 5-7 seconds, that means mcGateway is updating the firmware if the LED starts to blink within this time, then mcGateway does not accept that USB.
Title: Re: What if you have a Mac
Post by: plains203 on July 06, 2016, 12:10:39 am
I have sometimes had to do the reset procedure twice before it would update. Not sure why, maybe I didn't have the button held as well as I thought I did.
Title: Re: What if you have a Mac
Post by: blund on July 06, 2016, 12:47:19 pm
After have tried several different USB sticks I managed to update the firmware.

mcStudio is much more stable now.

Thanks :)
Title: Re: What if you have a Mac
Post by: kristofferis on July 06, 2016, 12:49:38 pm
Thats great  :)

Let us know if you run into any issues. We will do our best to help.
Title: Re: What if you have a Mac
Post by: cedric on July 30, 2016, 04:51:05 am
Hi,

I also do not have access to a Widows machine so have installed Virtualbox with windows.  How did you get the Macbook to pick up the device.  I do not get FTDI mcBoot as an USD device, so then can't link to to Virtualbox as you have done.

Thanks
Title: Re: What if you have a Mac
Post by: cedric on July 30, 2016, 04:58:11 am
I am running Windows in Virtualbox on my Macbook.  Neither, my Mac and hence also Windows pick up the mcDongle.  How do I set this up?

Thanks
Title: Re: What if you have a Mac
Post by: blund on July 30, 2016, 06:57:33 am
Hi,

If you connect the dongle to you mac with the USB cable and run this command in the console: system_profiler SPUSBDataType

Do you then get something like this in the result?

        mcBoot:

          Product ID: 0x6015
          Vendor ID: 0x0403  (Future Technology Devices International Limited)
          Version: 10.00
          Serial Number: MC8AAAA
          Speed: Up to 12 Mb/sec
          Manufacturer: FTDI
          Location ID: 0x14100000 / 5
          Current Available (mA): 1000
          Current Required (mA): 90
          Extra Operating Current (mA): 0



If not then I think you need to install the ftdi drivers for OS X.  If the OS X does not find the device I don't  think you can map it into the Virtualbox.
Title: Re: What if you have a Mac
Post by: cedric on July 30, 2016, 07:29:21 am
Hi,

Thanks for the reply.  I get this when I run the command:

    USB 3.0 Bus:

      Host Controller Driver: AppleUSBXHCILPTH
      PCI Device ID: 0x8c31
      PCI Revision ID: 0x0005
      PCI Vendor ID: 0x8086

        Apple Internal Keyboard / Trackpad:

          Product ID: 0x0274
          Vendor ID: 0x05ac  (Apple Inc.)
          Version: 6.24
          Serial Number: D3H5426CRX1FTV4AQ3PS
          Speed: Up to 12 Mb/sec
          Manufacturer: Apple Inc.
          Location ID: 0x14400000 / 3
          Current Available (mA): 1000
          Current Required (mA): 500
          Extra Operating Current (mA): 0
          Built-In: Yes

        Bluetooth USB Host Controller:

          Product ID: 0x8290
          Vendor ID: 0x05ac  (Apple Inc.)
          Version: 1.19
          Speed: Up to 12 Mb/sec
          Manufacturer: Broadcom Corp.
          Location ID: 0x14300000 / 5
          Current Available (mA): 1000
          Current Required (mA): 0
          Extra Operating Current (mA): 0
          Built-In: Yes

I also downloaded and installed the FTDI drivers and it made no difference.  I got the same result
Title: Re: What if you have a Mac
Post by: blund on July 30, 2016, 07:58:57 am
Ok, then I do not have that many more ideas...

I had a real struggle getting things to work, but I think this driver was the one who made OS X recognise the device:

 http://www.ftdichip.com/Drivers/D2XX/MacOSX/D2XX1.2.2.dmg
Title: Re: What if you have a Mac
Post by: kristofferis on July 30, 2016, 11:41:03 am
Just to verify, when you connect the mcDongle, do you see a green LED turned on?
Title: Re: What if you have a Mac
Post by: cedric on July 30, 2016, 11:43:36 am
Yes the green light comes on.  I followed the instructions to install the D2xx driver, but still it does not get picked up.
Title: Re: What if you have a Mac
Post by: cedric on July 31, 2016, 01:49:40 am
I have still not managed to get it to work.  Has anyone got this working on a Mac running El Capitan?
Title: Re: What if you have a Mac
Post by: mc-John on July 31, 2016, 01:57:50 pm
Did you look into this document and video?

http://www.ftdichip.com/Support/Documents/AppNotes/AN_134_FTDI_Drivers_Installation_Guide_for_MAC_OSX.pdf
https://www.reddit.com/r/arduino/comments/3o9ww1/how_to_install_ftdi_drivers_for_os_x_el_capitan/

Title: Re: What if you have a Mac
Post by: blund on December 07, 2016, 12:12:06 pm
I got it to work under El Capitan, but after the upgrade to Sierra everything stopped working.

No device is found in osx. Nor does install directions from the FTDI site or the Adafruit instructions for VCP work...

As long as the os x doesn't recognise the usb device, there is nothing that virtualbox may attach to either.. I am stuck.

Is there anyone working on this or is the decision between buying a PC or moving on to another product?
Title: Re: What if you have a Mac
Post by: mc-John on December 07, 2016, 05:47:56 pm
See  https://forum.arduino.cc/index.php?topic=427825.0
Title: Re: What if you have a Mac
Post by: blund on December 07, 2016, 06:36:33 pm
Can't say that removing the FTDI drivers made any difference..  Still nothing is recognised on the USB bus.


Bus 020 Device 002: ID 05ac:0274 Apple Inc. Apple Internal Keyboard / Trackpad  Serial: .....
Bus 020 Device 005: ID 05ac:8290 Apple Inc. Bluetooth USB Host Controller
Bus 000 Device 001: ID 1d6b:LPTH Linux Foundation USB 3.0 Bus


$ kextstat | grep -i ftdi


$ kextstat | grep -i usb
   38    1 0xffffff7f81423000 0x4000     0x4000     com.apple.driver.AppleUSBHostMergeProperties (1.1) 01547475-6C58-324B-B81D-F74389BB00FF <4 3 1>
   39   14 0xffffff7f810d7000 0x69000    0x69000    com.apple.iokit.IOUSBHostFamily (1.1) 39E90AC4-0FCA-3CBD-80B2-3CBCD82940DC <35 7 6 5 4 3 1>
   40    3 0xffffff7f8117c000 0x9a000    0x9a000    com.apple.iokit.IOUSBFamily (900.4.1) 365596E4-A771-3427-B576-DB02D03FAEFE <39 12 7 5 4 3 1>
   41    0 0xffffff7f8141e000 0x5000     0x5000     com.apple.driver.usb.AppleUSBHostPacketFilter (1.0) 9888F9CD-B7EE-3A9D-8530-6FA4C167B26C <39 7 6 5 4 3 1>
   56    1 0xffffff7f812e0000 0x40000    0x40000    com.apple.driver.usb.AppleUSBXHCI (1.1) E5F9850E-A1A1-305F-854D-48B46C08B2EC <39 11 7 5 4 3 1>
   57    0 0xffffff7f81326000 0x25000    0x25000    com.apple.driver.usb.AppleUSBXHCIPCI (1.1) C9F96ADF-2D43-3DC1-BBBE-FEDBF682FF08 <56 39 12 11 7 5 4 3 1>
   67    0 0xffffff7f81427000 0x8000     0x8000     com.apple.driver.usb.AppleUSBHostCompositeDevice (1.1) 30502C8D-F4B2-345F-B8F0-F8C54CAD7F46 <39 5 4 3 1>
   68    0 0xffffff7f825d6000 0x8000     0x8000     com.apple.driver.usb.networking (5.0.0) 74394A72-1E87-363E-8CFD-182BD8C9362E <39 5 4 3 1>
   70    1 0xffffff7f812d5000 0xb000     0xb000     com.apple.driver.usb.IOUSBHostHIDDevice (1.1) 0548123A-013B-3C74-86A8-33DF73E9CBBB <39 31 5 4 3 1>
   74    0 0xffffff7f8269b000 0x2000     0x2000     com.apple.driver.AppleUSBTopCaseDriver (103) 5C8E7CE7-6DA5-365E-867F-1502AF506EEF <73 72 70 39 31 6 5 4 3 1>
   78    1 0xffffff7f81148000 0x2d000    0x2d000    com.apple.iokit.IOUSBMassStorageDriver (131.1.1) 91153C74-5D56-340F-B268-C883F80E0EA8 <77 39 16 6 5 4 3 1>
   80    0 0xffffff7f827d3000 0xc000     0xc000     com.apple.driver.AppleUSBCardReader (404.20.1) 25332CB1-E971-33EF-AD2B-A9C3EA267CDA <79 78 77 39 16 5 4 3 1>
  116    1 0xffffff7f818eb000 0x23000    0x23000    com.apple.iokit.IOBluetoothHostControllerUSBTransport (5.0.1f7) 4D685D10-DBB0-37B7-B2E9-E0C878FD22A9 <115 114 39 12 11 7 6 5 4 3 1>
  117    0 0xffffff7f8190e000 0x8000     0x8000     com.apple.iokit.BroadcomBluetoothHostControllerUSBTransport (5.0.1f7) 3B511DE7-A2C2-3A04-AB7A-F0469573DD45 <116 115 114 39 12 11 7 6 5 4 3>
  144    1 0xffffff7f81444000 0x3000     0x3000     com.apple.iokit.IOUSBUserClient (900.4.1) 7215D7B9-EA20-384F-800E-749BDE9E32B6 <40 38 7 5 4 3 1>
  145    0 0xffffff7f84646000 0x8000     0x8000     org.virtualbox.kext.VBoxUSB (5.0.30) A4785347-3EE0-3451-878B-624AB0BF17AC <144 142 40 7 5 4 3 1>
Title: Re: What if you have a Mac
Post by: mc-John on December 08, 2016, 10:17:48 am
I don't have the hardware to reproduce it.
Most embedded platforms, like ours, use FTDI chips to talk over USB. As you can see Arduino users have the same problems. Your best bed I think is to google the problem further.
The only thing I can say is that we use both the COM port interface and the D2XX API

 
Title: Re: What if you have a Mac
Post by: blund on January 24, 2017, 03:28:18 pm
As final status: Not even a clean install of mac os x Sierra v10.12.2 does solve the problem. FTDI chipset is not recognised by the OS X. Nor get I the drivers to work.

That renders that you will not be able to forward that device to any virtual machine. And therefore not able to update the firmware.

But you are able to run the IDE in the windows guest os and connect to the gateway and code as usual over the network.  Just not do anything that requires firmware upgrades.

Have you any plans to leave the FTDI chipset and go with another manufacturer, eq Silicon Labs?

I have done a lot of research at the internet and spent a lot of hours trying to get things to work with mac and FTDI, but rarely had any success.  You are not the first kickstarter project I have supported which I just cannot use because of FTDI problems.

Feels hard to be required of bying a windows PC just to be able to work with platforms like yours. Especially when it does not have to be like that.


You have a great idea and it could have been a really great product!

Regards.
Title: Re: What if you have a Mac
Post by: mc-John on January 31, 2017, 06:59:48 pm
This will be solved over time. The cloud version will be able to update the devices with the Gateway. The problem is that you have to update the devices once with the FTDI dongle. After that the dongle is not required.