1.8. FAQ¶
1.8.1. How to get started with Red Pitaya?¶
1.8.2. How to connect to Red Pitaya in 5 steps¶
1.8.3. How can I start using RP measurement applications?¶
1.8.4. How to control RP remotely using LabVIEW, MATLAB, Python?¶
1.8.6. How to upgrade OS?¶
1.8.7. How to connect the external clock to RP?¶
1.8.8. 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
1.8.9. 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 the terminal window.
Windows: Go to RUN, type in
cmd
and press enter.Linux: Click on the application button, type in
Terminal
and press enter.macOS: Hit cmd + space, type in
Terminal
and press enter.
Enter
arp -a
command to get a list of 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 a cable connection, then your MAC address is written on your Red Pitaya LAN connector.
Note
If you have established a wireless connection, then you should check the MAC address of your wireless USB dongle. The MAC addresses are typically written on the USB dongles.
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 on the local network, then it is necessary to check that your Red Pitaya is connected to your local network.
1.8.10. How to find the Red Pitaya URL if it is not written on the sticker?¶
The Red Pitaya URL is rp-xxxxxx.local
where xxxxxx
must be replaced with the last 6 digits of the MAC address that is written on the sticker.
If the RP MAC address is 00:26:33:F1:13:D5
, the last 6 digits are F113D5
and the URL is rp-f113d5.local
.

1.8.11. Is Red Pitaya connected to my local network?¶
Connect your Red Pitaya to a PC over a serial console. How?
Type “ip a” and hit enter to check the status of your ethernet connection on Red Pitaya.
If you have connected to your Red Pitaya over a wireless connection, you should check the status of
wlan0
interface.If you have connected to your Red Pitaya over a cable connection, you should check
eth0
interface.
Type Red Pitaya IP into your web browser to see if you can connect to it.
1.8.12. Problems connecting to RP?¶

First check the LEDs:
If the green LED is not ON or is blinking. It seems like something is wrong with the power supply, or maybe it’s the USB cable. Make sure that:
you have plugged the USB cable into the right USB connector on the Red Pitaya
your power supply is 5V/2A
try to replace the USB cable and also the USB power supply
If the green LED is turned ON but the blue LED is turned OFF. In this case, there is an error while loading the Red Pitaya system from the SD card. Make sure that:
you have correctly inserted the Red Pitaya SD card and the Red Pitaya OS has been installed (Notice that Red Pitayas already comes with a pre-installed OS on SD cards. Anyhow, SD cards might get corrupted- in such case follow this instructions on how to Prepare SD card to properly re-install Red Pitaya OS to SD card)
try to use another SD card
If both the green and blue LEDs are ON, but the red and orange LEDs are not blinking. The red LED indicates CPU heartbeat, while the orange LED indicates access to the SD card. Notice that these two LEDs always start blinking 10 seconds after the green and blue LEDs are turned on.
Make sure your Red Pitaya and computer are both connected to the same local network.
If you are a Windows user, please look at the note below.
Note
Windows 7/8 users should install Bonjour Print Services,
otherwise access to *.local
addresses will not work.
Windows 10 already supports mDNS and DNS-SD, so there is no need to install additional software.
1.8.13. Problems with upgrading OS, accessing market place?¶
1.8.14. Slow WIFI connection?¶
If your wireless connection with Red Pitaya works very slowly and all the applications seem very unresponsive and 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.
Connect to your Red Pitaya via an SSH connection.
Enter the
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 an area with many routers around you, it might happen that more of them operate on the same wifi channel, which drastically decreases data throughput and slows down connection.
- Here are the instructions on how to change your wifi router channel in order to optimise your wireless signal.
For MAC users, we recommend using the Scan feature of the Wireless Diagnostic Tool in order to find the best wifi channel.
Note
For full performance, a wired connection is preferred.
1.8.15. WIFI dongle not detected?¶
Please note that not all are compatible. A list is in the documentation: Supported USB Wi-Fi adapters
1.8.16. Where can I find Red Pitaya schematics?¶
1.8.17. My device shows wrong measurements. How can I calibrate it?¶
The Red Pitaya can be calibrated using the Calibration Tool.
1.8.18. Web interface not functioning properly or experimenting with freezing?¶
Please ensure that your browser’s ad blocker is turned off and that your proxy settings are correct. For local connections to the Red Pitaya unit, proxy settings should not be required.
1.8.19. Red Pitaya not booting anymore?¶
A possible cause could be a corrupted card, and the recommendation is a manual OS re-write: Prepare SD card
1.8.20. Is there a hardware difference between the STEMlab125-14 and the ISO17025 versions?¶
No, the hardware is identical. The only difference is that the latter would have been sent to a certification lab and the appropriate measurements would have been made.
1.8.21. Undesired disconnections?¶
We recommend testing on a different computer, checking the state of the Ethernet cables and power supply, proxy settings, and re-writing the OS.
1.8.22. Red Pitaya not booting even after OS update?¶
Please use the Balena Etcher application to re-write the OS manually. The latest Windows update has been reported to have broken the Win32 disc imager. Prepare SD card
1.8.23. Is Red Pitaya failing to update?¶
Please use the Balena Etcher application to re-write the OS manually. The latest Windows update has been reported to have broken the Win32 disc imager. Prepare SD card
1.8.24. How to report a bug?¶
Please send us an e-mail at support@redpitaya.com with the following information:
The model of Red Pitaya used
Version of Red Pitaya OS
Information about the bug
Clear instructions about how to reproduce it.