Install axe 027 in Ubuntu 18.04

Danielpbt

New Member
Hello everyone, I am writing today to see if anyone can help me with the installation of the axe cable 027 in Ubuntu 18.04. I've been using it with Ubuntu for years, even in the raspberry pi, but I have not found a way to do it with the new version of Ubuntu.
Thanks and regards
 

Danielpbt

New Member
Thanks for your answer. The truth is that the method:
sudo modprobe ftdi_sio
sudo chmod 777 /sys/bus/usb-serial/drivers/ftdi_sio/new_id
sudo echo "0403 bd90" > /sys/bus/usb-serial/drivers/ftdi_sio/new_id
sudo adduser your_name dialout

I already did yesterday without result. I do not know what the problem could be. Is there any other option?
I've attached two photos so you can see what I've used, and the result
Thanks and regards
 

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hippy

Technical Support
Staff member
I already did yesterday without result. I do not know what the problem could be. Is there any other option?
After adding a user / admin to the dialout group it can be necessary to logout and log back in, or reboot the machine, for the changed settings to take effect.
 

Danielpbt

New Member
I just rebooted it and it still does not recognize the cable. What else do you think?
Thanks a lot for everything
 

hippy

Technical Support
Staff member
The easiest solution is, as Technical suggests, to reprogram the cable so it appears as a default FTDI serial cable which Linux should recognise without anything more being done.

Otherwise, the first thing to check is that the cable has been detected by the PC using the lsusb command. And perhaps dmesg | grep "USB"

The following thread may also provide some assistance or suggestions on how to dignose the issue -

https://picaxeforum.co.uk/threads/axe027-and-linux-mint.30213/
 
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hippy

Technical Support
Staff member
The attached photo is the result of applying the commanded ls/dev
Up at the very top right: /dev/ttyUSB0

That is almost certainly the AXE027 as there don't seem to be any other USB serial cables shown in your lsusb output.

So it seems your system has recognised the cable and has it available for use. Could you please try: ls -l /dev/ttyUSB* (ell-ess-space-minus-ell-space-etc-USB-star).
 

hippy

Technical Support
Staff member
The attached photo is the result of applying the command
That doesn't really make a lot of sense. If "ls /dev" shows "ttyUSB0" then "ls -l /dev/ttyUSB*" should also show it.

Unless you have unplugged the AXE027, your computer has somehow lost it, or you have changed something, then it should be there.
 

hippy

Technical Support
Staff member
That doesn't really make a lot of sense
I did have a thought; it could be down to file permissions; you could have permission to see the directory but not files within it.

I am not quite sure how that could be but it might be worth doing an ls /dev to check ttyUSB0 is there, then a sudo ls -l /dev/ttyUSB0 to see if that works.
 

lbenson

Senior Member
Your second command should have no spaces in "/dev/ttyUSB*". "ls /dev/ttyUSB*" says "list the files in the /dev folder (/dev is one level down from root) which begin with the text, "ttyUSB". This should list /dev/ttyUSB0 if your usb serial device was found.

You might also show us the results of "dmesg | grep ttyUSB" (no quotes).
 

Danielpbt

New Member
The easiest solution is, as Technical suggests, to reprogram the cable so it appears as a default FTDI serial cable which Linux should recognise without anything more being done.

Otherwise, the first thing to check is that the cable has been detected by the PC using the lsusb command. And perhaps dmesg | grep "USB"

The following thread may also provide some assistance or suggestions on how to dignose the issue -

https://picaxeforum.co.uk/threads/axe027-and-linux-mint.30213/
Hello again. I have not commented to you that I also have this problem in my home computer. Also in some of the computers of my institute. Everything I have sent you until now is from the same computer in the institute.
This is what I send you from home, the problem is the same (this computer is not formatted). I thought that the comparison could be productive.
I'm sending attached in order, the various things that I'm doing the terminal.
By the way, this morning I also tested on one that had Ubuntu 16.04, and the same thing happened to it. (I have others , (exactly the same hardware), Ubuntu 16.04 and 17.10 working correctly) Could it be that Blockly for Picaxe has changed something to detect the cables?
 

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lbenson

Senior Member
Try unplugging the usb cable, then plugging it back in, then "dmesg | tail". Post the output.
 

lbenson

Senior Member
It looks like an ftdi driver is lacking. That would tell Ubuntu that a ttyUSB# should be assigned.
 

Janne

Senior Member
Hi, from my experience the best method is to program the Picaxe usb lead with a PID of 6001, after that it's plug and play every time. Even if you manage to get it to work now, chances are the next version of ubuntu will have it work in a different way.. So far going up from 12.04, 14.04 broke what worked in 12.04, and 16.04 broke what worked in 14.04.. and by 16.04 I figured programming the USB lead with a new PID was the easiest and best way in the long run.
To use the cable without sudo, just add your user to the "dialout" user group.
 

Danielpbt

New Member
Hello, would you be so kind to write that I should write to the terminal exactly? Although I use the terminal for some things, I would surely make mistakes
Thank you
Hi, from my experience the best method is to program the Picaxe usb lead with a PID of 6001, after that it's plug and play every time. Even if you manage to get it to work now, chances are the next version of ubuntu will have it work in a different way.. So far going up from 12.04, 14.04 broke what worked in 12.04, and 16.04 broke what worked in 14.04.. and by 16.04 I figured programming the USB lead with a new PID was the easiest and best way in the long run.
To use the cable without sudo, just add your user to the "dialout" user group.
Hello, would you be so kind to write that I should write to the terminal exactly? Although I use the terminal for some things, I would surely make mistakes
 

Janne

Senior Member
Hi, Not sure how to do it in linux, I used a windows computer to do the PID change.. as per the instructions Technical posted in post #2.
 

hippy

Technical Support
Staff member
Hello, would you be so kind to write that I should write to the terminal exactly?
Unfortunately it appears the FT_PROG cable programming utility is Windows only. It can be download from the FTDI site which also includes instructions for its use -

https://www.ftdichip.com/Support/Utilities.htm?#FT_PROG

Your institute may have an IT support team or Computer Science department who may be able to help you program you cable or get your Ubuntu systems configured.
 

Danielpbt

New Member
This is how I got Arduino to recognize the cable, although I did not put on the other occasion 9600 baud, it also worked. I do not know what it will take to disappear again. With Blockly for Picaxe, impossible until now
 

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hippy

Technical Support
Staff member
No. Those instructions are for doing things you do not need to do.

The Linux kernel includes support for FTDI serial devices by default. You do not need to install or remove any FTDI drivers and trying to do so will probably cause aditional problems.

There are two issues. First, the general issue that a default Linux installation does not recognise the AXE027 as being an FTDI-based cable. Our instructions are intended to get Linux to recognise that it is, and after that everything should just work. Otherwise the cable's PID can be changed to 6001 and it will be recognised as an FTDI cable by Linux as soon as it's plugged in.

That /dev/ttyUSB0 appeared at least once means our instructions worked and your Linux system can recognise the AXE027 as an FTDI-based device. There is nothing more you need to do regarding drivers or configuration.

The second, and bigger problem seems to be that what you have does not appear to be stable; /dev/ttyUSB0 is there, and then it isn't. This is very unlikely a driver issue and more likely a hardware issue.

When trying to remove the ftdi file
Don't do that; you will only dig yourself into a deeper hole.

The reason that did not work when you tried it is because those driver modules are only present when Linux has detected a device is attached which needs to use them. They will automatically appear when the cable is plugged in and /dev/ttyUSB0 is created.

This suggests, that at the time you ran those commands, /dev/ttyUSB0 did not exist, your system had not recognised the AXE027 was attached.

For adding a little more mystery, the Arduino program felt it for a while. When I opened it again I did not see it again
This again would seem to confirm that your hardware is not stable, that the cable is sometimes seen as connected, other times not.
 

Danielpbt

New Member
First, thanks for your response. It is a tremendous joy for me to have someone on the other side.
Reading the FTDI document: I realized that I should not uninstall that FTDI driver, as you say. Thanks again in any case for warning me.
The cable works perfectly on Raspbian (Raspberry pi) using:
modprobe ftdi_sio
echo 0403 bd90> / sys / bus / usb-serial / drivers / ftdi_sio / new_id
chmod 777 / dev / ttyUSB0

The visualization of the cable for a moment in the IDE of Arduino was because I used a program called "moserial" which is to get configuration of devices of this type. I had never used it and I followed some instructions that I saw on the Internet. The one that stopped connecting, possibly has to do with some mistake I could make. Arduino does not detect it at the beginning either.
To comment that it is not a hardware problem, I have another argument: Not only is the cable I have at home. This problem has happened simultaneously with other cables that I have in my instituto.Besides, if we change them from computer to other computer, are or not detected depending on the operating system they have. There were not (so far) problems with Ubuntu 17.10, with Ubuntu 16.04, most detect them (there is one that does not get it. I still have to check if they are all exactly the same version or if there are some updated and others not. any update?). With Ubuntu 18.04 problems at home and in the institute
Anyway, I'm pretty lost. I'll keep trying things
Regards
 

Danielpbt

New Member
When the cable works perfectly with Ubuntu I have used the same(and only) that I uesd with Raspbian
modprobe ftdi_sio
echo 0403 bd90> / sys / bus / usb-serial / drivers / ftdi_sio / new_id
chmod 777 / dev / ttyUSB0
 

hippy

Technical Support
Staff member
With the AXE027 working on the Raspberry Pi, it appearing albeit briefly under Ubuntu 18.04, it would seem the AXE027 is working correctly, isn't faulty, and our instructions for getting Linux to recognise it remain correct.

That FTDI devices worked with Unbuntu 16.04 and 17.10 but are problematic with a variety of Ubuntu 18 systems suggests it is Ubuntu 18 which is the actual problem.

I am not sure what to suggest. It would perhaps be worth posting to an appropriate Ubuntu forum to see if anyone has any suggestions, knows what the issue is, or what the solution may be.
 

Danielpbt

New Member
I have attached a photo where you can verify, once again, that Picaxe's installation method is adequate. In some forum I read that it could be a matter of permissions, and in the last line of the photo of the terminal, I have written what for someone worked at some time with Arduino. For me it has not worked either. Do you agree on how to assign permissions to axe 027?
I will raise this issue in the Ubuntu Forum, in case there is no one here who can solve it. In any case, thank you very much for your help. If I find an answer I will write it here, and so those of us who are on the philosophy of free software will be able to continue using Picaxe in our schools without fear of being unable to work at any time.
regards
 

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Danielpbt

New Member
Hello, although it has been some time since we finished this thread, by chance I discovered that my problem was that I was using Chromium (free version of Chrome for Ubuntu, which worked for me before), with Chrome for Ubuntu if it works.
All I do is put from the terminal every time I want to use the cable (root profile):
# modprobe ftdi_sio
# echo 0403 bd90> / sys / bus / usb-serial / drivers / ftdi_sio / new_id
# chmod 777 / dev / ttyUSB0
This also works for Raspberry Pi, where I can use Chromium.
Therefore, in my opinion, the problem is not in the process of installing AXE 027, but the process should be different for Chromium, or that the developers of Chromium should take care of this failure, because Blockly is an application from Google you need this cable.
Anyway, I do not know if Picaxe can ask Google for that or not, but I'm glad I found something that could solve something for someone. I have received a lot from this forum, and I am happy to be able to contribute a little bit. :)
https://ubunlog.com/google-chrome-ubuntu-1804/
Regards
 
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