[Dprglist] Non-Robot Activities While Doing Robots

[Doug Paradis]

Rud,
Hackaday.com recently had an article of how to solder an antenna connector to the Rpi 2 to improve wifi. 
Regards,
Doug P.

Sent from my iPhone

> On Dec 22, 2021, at 12:18 PM, Rud Merriam via DPRGlist <dprglist at lists.dprg.org> wrote:
> 
> 
> Last night's virtual meeting touched on the non-robot activities we do while working on robots. Here's my weekend. and into this week, saga.
> 
> I've been working on the C++ code for the RVR and also pushing my understanding of C++20 and earlier standards. My goal is to mount a Pi on the RVR. Previously I resurrected a Pi 3B using the latest 'lite' Pi OS. I only need the command line version for the moment. It worked and I could remote debug / run code on it from my PC. 
> 
> I tweaked the code with some new C++20 capabilities. One was to add a semaphore to protect the main data dictionary from races on updating and reading the data. Tried it on the Pi and it wouldn't run. I'm using GCC-11 on the desktop while the Pi is GCC-10. 
> 
> First problem was library incompatibility. My code didn't work with the older libs on the Pi. Okay, fall back to GCC-10. Second problem is while GCC-10 has a lot of C++20 it doesn't have all. It is missing the new semaphores. That mean't I couldn't use '-10 for my compiler. At least without changing my code.
> 
> That started an exploration on how to get GCC-11 on the Pi. On the Ubuntu 20.04 desktop I had hacked GCC-11 it onto the system using packages from Ubuntu 21.04. Now such path on the Pi. Searching the Pi Forums I found a script for building GCC-11 on the Pi. On a Pi-4 that can take only hours while on a Pi3B it is nearly a day. Started trying to get that to work on Friday. Finally gave up on Monday when it simply wouldn't build. Also tried cross compiling the Pi version on the desktop. May have gotten it to work about the same time I decided to give up on Monday. It would have meant another day or two getting it moved over to the Pi. 
> 
> After looking at alternative OSes I decided on Ubuntu 21.04 Server. Got it working on the Pi3B without too many hassles. It runs GCC-11 and my code fine. 
> 
> I managed to score a Pi Zero 2W off Adafruit. I'd really like to use it on the RVR because of lower power consumption. Previously I'd tried it with the same SD as the Pi3B and it worked fine including running my code from before the changes that provoked this adventure. 
> 
> Nope, the Zero can't find the WiFi. So do I continue fighting with the W or fall back on the 3B with hopes that real-soon-now the Pi OSes will update to to handle GCC-11 without hassle and then the Zero will see the WiFi? Or plan on a Pi 4 when they become available.
> 
> One issue is I've got an Oak-D-Lite coming so will need a USB port for it. I do have a little adapter from Adafruit which provides a single USB on the Zero. Also got a 4 port hub from them if more than 1 is needed. 
> 
> So that's 4-5 days of non-robot activity around my robot activity. Those are pretty full days of 8-10 hours since I'm retired. In hindsight, maybe I should have changed the code. 
> 
> Sigh. 
> 
> -- 
> 
> -73 - 
> Rud Merriam K5RUD 
> Mystic Lake Software 
> 
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