1.6. FAQ¶

1.6.1. How to get started with RP?¶

Quick start

1.6.2. How can I start using RP measurement applications?¶

Connect to Red Pitaya

1.6.3. How to control RP remotely using LabVIEW, MATLAB, Python?¶

Remote control (MATLAB, LabVIEW, Scilab or Python)

1.6.4. How to start with FPGA development?¶

Software

1.6.5. How to upgrade OS?¶

Prepare SD card

1.6.6. How to connect the external clock to RP?¶

1.6.7. How can I make sure that my Red Pitaya has access to the internet?¶

How can I make sure that my Red Pitaya has access to the internet?

Connect to your Red Pitaya over SSH.

Make sure that you can ping google.com website:

root@rp-f03dee:~# ping -c 4 google.com
PING google.com (216.58.212.142) 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from ams15s21-in-f142.1e100.net (216.58.212.142): icmp_seq=1 ttl=57 time=27.3 ms
64 bytes from ams15s21-in-f142.1e100.net (216.58.212.142): icmp_seq=2 ttl=57 time=27.1 ms
64 bytes from ams15s21-in-f142.1e100.net (216.58.212.142): icmp_seq=3 ttl=57 time=27.1 ms
64 bytes from ams15s21-in-f142.1e100.net (216.58.212.142): icmp_seq=4 ttl=57 time=27.1 ms

--- google.com ping statistics ---
4 packets transmitted, 4 received, 0% packet loss, time 3004ms
rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 27.140/27.212/27.329/0.136 ms

1.6.8. How can I make sure that Red Pitaya is connected to the same network as my computer/tablet/smartphone?¶

The most common answer would be: Just make sure that your Red Pitaya and your PC/tablet/smartphone are both connected to the same router or your smartphone hotspot.

In order to test it you can use a PC that is connected to the same local network as your Red Pitaya and try the following:

Open terminal window.
- Windows: Go to RUN, type in cmd and press enter.
- Linux: Click on application button, type in Terminal and press enter.
- macOS: Hit cmd + space, type in Terminal and press enter.
Enter arp -a command to list all devices in your local area network and try to find your Red Pitaya MAC address on the list.
```
$ arp -a
? (192.168.178.117) at 00:08:aa:bb:cc:dd [ether] on eth0
? (192.168.178.118) at 00:26:32:f0:3d:ee [ether] on eth0
? (192.168.178.105) at e8:01:23:45:67:8a [ether] on eth0
```
Note

If you have cable connection, then your MAC address is written on your Red Pitaya LAN connector.

Note

If you have established wireless connection, then you should check the MAC address of your wireless USB dongle. Ususaly MAC address shuld be written on the USB dongle.

Type your Red Pitaya IP into your WEB browser and connect to it.

If your Red Pitaya is not listed on the list of your local network devices in the local network, then it is necessary to check that your Red Pitaya is connected to your local network.

1.6.9. How to find Red Pitaya URL if it is not written on sticker?¶

Red Pitaya URL is rp-xxxxxx.local where xxxxxx must be replaced with last 6 digits of MAC address that is written on the sticker.

If RP MAC address is 00:26:33:F1:13:D5, last 6 digits are F113D5 and URL is rp-f113d5.local.

../../_images/Screen-Shot-2016-08-17-at-09.50.31-503x600.png

1.6.10. Is Red Pitaya connected to my local network?¶

Connect to your Red Pitaya to PC over serial console. How?
Type “ip a” and hit enter to check the status of your ethernet connection on Red Pitaya
1. If you have connected to your Red Pitaya over wireless connection you should check the status of wlan0 interface
2. If you have connected to your Red Pitaya over cable connection you should check eth0 interface
Type Red Pitaya IP to your WEB browser to see if you can connect to it

1.6.11. Problems connecting to RP?¶

First check the LEDs:
1. If green LED is not ON or it is blinking. Seems like something is wrong with the power supply or maybe it’s USB cable. Make sure that:
  1. you have plugged the USB cable into the right USB connector on Red Pitaya
  2. your power supply is 5V/2A
  3. try to replace USB cable and also USB power supply
2. If green LED is ON, but blue LED is OFF. In this case there is an error while loading Red Pitaya system from the SD card. Make sure that:
  - you have properly inserted Red Pitaya SD card and that it has properly installed Red Pitaya OS (Notice that Red Pitayas already comes with pre-installed OS on SD cards. Anyhow, SD cards might get corrupted - in such case follow these instructions to properly re-install Red Pitaya OS to SD card)
  - try to use another SD card
3. If green and blue LEDs are ON, but red and orange LEDs are not blinking. Red LED is indicating CPU heartbeat, while orange LED indicates access to SD card. Notice that this two LEDs always starts blinking 10s after green and blue LEDs are turned ON.
Make sure your Red Pitaya and computer are connected to same local network.
If you are a Windows users make sure you have installed Bonjour Print Services.

1.6.12. Problems with upgrading OS, accessing market place?¶

Make sure your Red Pitaya has access to the internet. How?
Force refresh of the Red Pitaya application page. How?

1.6.13. Slow WIFI connection?¶

If your wireless connection with Red Pitaya works very slowly and all the applications seems very unresponsive and are not running smoothly, please check the following:

check the wifi signal strength on your PC/tablet/smartphone
check the wifi signal strength of your Red Pitaya.
1. Connect to your Red Pitaya via SSH connection. SSH connection
2. Enter cat /proc/net/wireless command in order to get information about link quality and signal strength.
  
  Link quality measures the number of packet errors that occur. The lower the number of packet errors, the higher this will be. Link quality goes from 0-100%.
  
  Level or signal strength is a simple measure of the amplitude of the signal that is received. The closer you are to the access point, the higher this will be.
If you are in the area with many routers around you it might happen that more of them operate at the same wifi channel which drastically decreases data throughput and slows down connection. Here are the instructions how to change your wifi router channel in order to optimize your wireless signal. For MAC users we recommend using diagnosed using Scan feature of Wireless diagnostic tool in order to find best wifi channel.

Note

For full preformence the wired connection is preffered.

1.6.14. WIFI dongle not detected?¶

Please note that not all are compatible, list is in the documentation: Supported USB Wi-Fi adapters

1.6.15. Where can I find Red Pitaya schematics?¶

1.6.16. My device shows wrong measurements, how can I calibrate it?¶

Red Pitaya can be calibrated using calibration tool.

1.6.17. Web interface not functioning properly or experimenting with freezing?¶

Please check if Ad blocker has been disabled on your browser and also check your proxy settings. For local connection to Red Pitaya unit proxy settings should not be required.

1.6.18. Red Pitaya not booting anymore?¶

Possible cause can be a corrupted card, and the recommendation is a manual OS re-write: Prepare SD card

1.6.19. Is there a hardware difference between the STEMlab125-14 and the ISO17025 versions?¶

No, the hardware is identical, the only difference is that the later would have been sent to a certification lab and the appropriate measurements were made.

1.6.20. Undesired disconnections?¶

We recommend testing on a different computer, check the state of the Ethernet cables and power supply, proxy settings, re-write OS.

1.6.21. Red Pitaya not booting even after OS update?¶

Please use the BalenaEtcher application to re-write manually the OS. Disk imager is reported broken by the latest windows update. Prepare SD card

1.6.22. Red Pitaya failing to update?¶

Please use the BalenaEtcher application to re-write manually the OS. Disk imager is reported broken by the latest windows update. Prepare SD card

1.6.23. How to report a bug?¶

To report a bug, please send us an e-mail at support@redpitaya.com with the following information:

Red Pitaya model used
Red Pitaya OS version
Information about bug
Clear instructions about how to reproduce it.