OpenBCI_GUI Linux, window goes blank

ElliotElliot
edited August 2016 in OpenBCI_GUI
I just received the 8-channel / 32-bit kit and am keen to start getting some data out of it. I followed the Getting Started guide here .
When I launch the GUI it works fine with the synthetic stream of data. However when I try to use the hardware the UI hangs after I click "Start". 
It doesn't consume any resources, it just sits there displaying a black rectangle on my X session. There are no window controls to minimize, close, etc., so I have to kill it via the bash shell.
It does create a session data file, but the file only has a few strings of header information and no actual data. 
Thus, it seems there's a communication problem.

I'm running the 64-bit linux version on Ubuntu 14.04.1

Here's the output of dmseg | grep FTDI
[ 6500.722621] ftdi_sio 2-2:1.0: FTDI USB Serial Device converter detected
[ 6500.722997] usb 2-2: FTDI USB Serial Device converter now attached to ttyUSB0

So the system sees the dongle. I can't really tell if the dongle sees the BCI board, however. I noticed during setup that the TXD LED on the dongle (red LED) only blinks one time when the BCI board is turned on, unlike the 3-blinks that the Getting Started guide says should happen. I suppose this might be related. 

Any ideas on how to proceed from here? 
-Elliot

Comments

  • wjcroftwjcroft Mount Shasta, CA
    Can you try testing on another laptop, and possibly Windows? This is to eliminate issues related to drivers, laptop hardware, etc. 

    re: LED blinks, you may be thinking of the original 8-bit mainboard LED, which blinks 3 times when turned on. With the 32 bit mainboard, that just comes on solid. Your dongle blinking once sounds ok.

    If you connect a serial port terminal program to the tty / COM port, sending a '?' command will produce some settings output from the mainboard.

    Also checkout the Linux tutorial that @brain did,

  • ElliotElliot
    Hi William, thanks for the suggestions. I'm making some headway

    - I used the same hardware setup on my laptop but ran brainbay on WinXP inside a VirtualBox VM and that sees the dongle on the USB port with no problems and receives data. I notice that the TXD LED lights as expected whilst data is being read. Based on this I'd say the HW is A-OK.

    - I tried the BCI-GUI on another machine, but alas that one is running a 32-bit Ubuntu so I downloaded the 32 bit version of the application. Here the application simply won't start, it produces the following error message:

     Exception in thread "main" java.lang.UnsupportedClassVersionError: ddf/minim/analysis/FFT : Unsupported major.minor version 52

    This machine has JRE 1.7.0_95, which I believe is the latest for my build of Linux, or at least what apt installs, so I'm not sure where to go next with that issue. 

    I'll try connecting with a terminal program next...


     

  • ElliotElliot
    Hooray! It's working now on my 64 bit machine. It was a session with PuTTY that gave me the clue. Once I got it talking with the terminal session the GUI came up. It was a permissions issue. 
    Thanks William!
     -Elliot
  • wjcroftwjcroft Mount Shasta, CA
    Elliot, good going.

    Here's a related post on permissions, for those Linux users interested,

    http://openbci.com/forum/index.php?p=/discussion/597/fixing-linux-write-permission-for-dev-ttyusb0

    William
  • ayushmhayushmh
    edited May 2016
    [original thread titled: Ubuntu 14.04 no idea how to run the interface ?]

    I've managed to installed processing n it was way to shit processing but it didn't help me to run OBCI gui interface help me how to do it

  • wjcroftwjcroft Mount Shasta, CA
    edited May 2016
    https://github.com/OpenBCI/OpenBCI_Processing


  • ayushmhayushmh
    Gui in windows goes blank and in Ubuntu I'm not able to run it
  • wjcroftwjcroft Mount Shasta, CA
    @ayushmh, hi.

    I merged your question into this existing thread. It sounds like you have a permissions problem on your dongle tty device. Check the previous links.

    Windows users have seen blank screens when the display driver needs updating, but it sounds like your issue is with the /dev permissions. Has this laptop worked previously with your OpenBCI, or is this a new laptop?

  • ayushmhayushmh
    no, u see it goes black and i never ran it before in that laptop. gui was running perfectly fine when i had win 8.1 in that same lap but coz i've to work with openvibe i needed win 7 so i downgraded but what i got is that black screen so please help me

  • wjcroftwjcroft Mount Shasta, CA
    I'm having trouble understanding your English. I thought you said that the GUI window goes black/blank in Ubuntu. 

    Now you are saying that you are seeing a black screen in Windows 7. This is usually because of old graphics chip drivers, that are not compatible with the GUI graphics. See if you can upgrade your graphics drivers. It sounds like OpenBCI dongle and mainboard are working fine. You are having problems with the laptop. Go back to a laptop configuration that was working for you.

  • wjcroftwjcroft Mount Shasta, CA
    Also see,


  • ayushmhayushmh

    seriously man i tried everything i even bought a laptop dell Inspirion 15R N5010 but gui still not working

    Laptop: Dell Inspirion N5010
    Windiws 7 Ultimate
    i5 processor 2.66 GHz
    Ram:2GB
    64bit
    What should i do, whenever i run the gui
    it shows this gray screen...no buttons no nothing please help me

  • wjcroftwjcroft Mount Shasta, CA
    edited June 2016
    If it works just fine in Windows 8.1, but does not work in Windows 7, it means you have a driver problem. Did you try visiting the Dell website to get the latest drivers, especially the graphics chip drivers. You may have to go separately to the manufacturer of the particular graphics processor that is in your laptop.

    I still dont understand why you cannot run Windows 8.1 or Windows 10. If it is an issue with the precompiled OpenViBE, you can always build from source.
  • wjcroftwjcroft Mount Shasta, CA
    This page says both Windows 10 and Windows 8 have been reported as working with OpenViBE. Since you are not using any of the EEG amplifiers that require custom DLL drivers, there should be no problem. The OpenBCI OpenViBE only uses a serial COM port, no custom drivers.

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