Bluetooth connection doesn't show up in GUI with Ganglion board

mh0 · December 2018

I just received my Ganglion board. I downloaded the OpenBCI_GUI application from the link on the openbci.com site, and I'm trying to follow the getting started tutorial on Linux x86_64.

The GUI opens when I run the OpenBCI_GUI executable that was included in the zip file. When I click on LIVE (from Ganglion) under DATA SOURCE, I don't see the PICK TRANSFER PROTOCOL box that the tutorial shows. I just see a message "Unable to establish link to Hub. Checkout tutorial at ... ", which is the tutorial I'm reading.

On the command line, I'm able to connect to the ganglion with hcitool:

$ hcitool -i hci0 lecc --random <my device bt addr>

Connection handle 3585

And the blue light goes from blinking to solid.

$ hcitool con

Connections:

< LE <my device bt addr> handle 3585 state 1 lm MASTER

The only error I can see is that when I start OpenBCI_GUI I get this

$ ./OpenBCI_GUI

Screen Resolution: 3840 X 2160

Launching application from local data dir

OpenBCI_GUI: hubStart: OS Detected: Linux

Welcome to the Processing-based OpenBCI GUI!

For more information about how to work with this code base, please visit: http://docs.openbci.com/OpenBCI Software/

Local Version: 402, Latest Version: 402

GUI is up to date!

Graphics & GUI Library: ControlP5 2.2.6 infos, comments, questions at http://www.sojamo.de/libraries/controlP5

attempting to load images for presentation...

DONE loading images!

OpenBCI_GUI::Setup: Is RX mulitcast: false

OpenBCI_GUI::Setup: Has RX joined multicast: false

java.net.ConnectException: Connection refused (Connection refused)

at java.net.PlainSocketImpl.socketConnect(Native Method)

at java.net.AbstractPlainSocketImpl.doConnect(AbstractPlainSocketImpl.java:350)

at java.net.AbstractPlainSocketImpl.connectToAddress(AbstractPlainSocketImpl.java:206)

at java.net.AbstractPlainSocketImpl.connect(AbstractPlainSocketImpl.java:188)

at java.net.SocksSocketImpl.connect(SocksSocketImpl.java:392)

at java.net.Socket.connect(Socket.java:589)

at java.net.Socket.connect(Socket.java:538)

at java.net.Socket.<init>(Socket.java:434)

at java.net.Socket.<init>(Socket.java:211)

at processing.net.Client.<init>(Unknown Source)

at OpenBCI_GUI$Hub.startTCPClient(OpenBCI_GUI.java:13075)

at OpenBCI_GUI$Hub.<init>(OpenBCI_GUI.java:13051)

at OpenBCI_GUI.systemUpdate(OpenBCI_GUI.java:1231)

at OpenBCI_GUI.draw(OpenBCI_GUI.java:596)

at processing.core.PApplet.handleDraw(PApplet.java:2429)

at processing.opengl.PSurfaceJOGL$DrawListener.display(PSurfaceJOGL.java:866)

at jogamp.opengl.GLDrawableHelper.displayImpl(GLDrawableHelper.java:692)

at jogamp.opengl.GLDrawableHelper.display(GLDrawableHelper.java:674)

at jogamp.opengl.GLAutoDrawableBase$2.run(GLAutoDrawableBase.java:443)

at jogamp.opengl.GLDrawableHelper.invokeGLImpl(GLDrawableHelper.java:1293)

at jogamp.opengl.GLDrawableHelper.invokeGL(GLDrawableHelper.java:1147)

at com.jogamp.newt.opengl.GLWindow.display(GLWindow.java:759)

at com.jogamp.opengl.util.AWTAnimatorImpl.display(AWTAnimatorImpl.java:81)

at com.jogamp.opengl.util.AnimatorBase.display(AnimatorBase.java:452)

at com.jogamp.opengl.util.FPSAnimator$MainTask.run(FPSAnimator.java:178)

at java.util.TimerThread.mainLoop(Timer.java:555)

at java.util.TimerThread.run(Timer.java:505)

Instantiating hub object...

But that looks like it has something to do with networking, rather than bluetooth?

Any suggestions would be appreciated! Thanks.

wjcroft · December 2018

What Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) hardware are you using? The laptop built in, or a dongle?

The best support now seems to be with the BLED112 dongle. Only $10.

https://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/silicon-labs/BLED112-V1/1446-1030-ND/4245505

mh0 · December 2018

I'm using the built-in bluetooth adapter. But surely if I can connect to the hardware with the native bluetooth stack the problem is with OpenBCI_GUI and not the hardware?

wjcroft · December 2018

Have you tried running the Hub and GUI as root / administrator? The initial error is a socket connection problem, likely between GUI and Hub.

Incidentally, the reason for the BLED112 recommendation, is that there is so much variation in Bluetooth chip hardware on Windows / Linux machines, that a fair number of users encounter difficulties. This is less the case on Apple Macs, since they are more standardized.

The new dongle is now listed in the Shop,

https://shop.openbci.com/collections/frontpage/products/ganglion-dongle?variant=15473352605768

mh0 · December 2018

Yes I tried it as root. Is there a document somewhere that explains the software architecture? What is the Hub?

wjcroft · December 2018

Checkout some of the mentions of "run as administrator" in this doc,

http://docs.openbci.com/OpenBCI Software/01-OpenBCI_GUI#the-openbci-gui-running-the-openbci-gui-from-the-processing-ide-install-openbci-hub-on-windows

I know that is Windows, but running Hub and/or GUI as root has resolved issues for Linux users in the past. May also be a problem with permissions bits somewhere.

At this point I suggest following the directions in that doc to run your GUI / Hub from Processing, instead of using the standalone.

mh0 · December 2018

I'll try that. Thanks for your suggestions!

wjcroft · December 2018

The 'GUI' app does mostly interfacing with the user. Behind the scenes, a separate process, called OpenBCI_Hub, is receiving the raw EEG from the device and forwarding it on to the GUI via a TCP socket connection. Rational for this, is that the Hub / device code can be written once for all platforms, in a platform independent language. And also to allow GUI to run faster. The Hub 'could' have been written in Processing also, but it was decided to leverage Javascript, so that browser based apps could also be written, independent of any Processing stuff.

https://github.com/OpenBCI/OpenBCI_Hub

https://github.com/OpenBCI/OpenBCI_GUI

Bluetooth connection doesn't show up in GUI with Ganglion board

Comments