Eclipse on the Raspberry Pi 2

One of the things I picked up at Dayton this year was a Raspberry Pi 2. The Pi 2 features 4 USB ports (vs. 2 in the original), a faster, quad-core processor, a gigabyte of memory, more GPIO pins, and a micro SD card slot (vs. the standard SDHC card in the original). Composite video out has been dropped.

I wanted to test the Pi 2 as a development environment for Atmel AVR microprocessors as the PI 2 can directly program them using the GPIO port without needing a USB interface. That rationale is a bit weak but on the other hand I stand a good chance of learning something new as well.

So after acquiring and installing a version of the Raspbian operating system for the device, the next order of business was to install the Eclipse integrated development environment, the same one we used for Brad's (VE3HII) project night 2 years ago. This was pretty straightforward. Being used to the command line on Linux, I chose to install from there.

After making sure both the package database and system were up-to-date (using sudo apt-get update followed by sudo apt-get upgrade installing Eclipse is done with a single command: sudo apt-get install eclipse. That was easy and Eclipse installed and ran fine. However, it was missing the C/C++ tools, so the next step was to install those with sudo apt-get install eclipse-cdt. That's where things got tough. Eclipse would now crash shortly after launch and leave a log file behind which was little help in figuring out the problem.

Fortunately, we have an Internet at our service and several sources advised replacing the default Java JDK (Java Development Kit) with the one from Oracle. Eclipse is written in Java, by the way, so it executes within the Java run-time environment. A fairly terse description of the installation procedure can be found here.

There were some gotchas that had to be worked through.

• Oracle has moved the ARM (the processor architecture found on the Raspberry Pi) version of to another web page. The web page referenced by the description has a link to new web page so that was relatively straightforward.
  
• The directory /opt/jdk1.8.0/bin/javac mentioned is actually /opt/jdk1.8.0_33/bin/javac. This might change again in the future so the best thing would be to look in /opt and use whatever you find there.
  
• The sudo update-alternatives --config javac will provide a list of several options for which JDK to run. The default will be not to change anything which isn't going to help you, so choose the one that looks like the Oracle SDK. If you get it wrong don't worry just run the command again and choose something else. The same goes for the sudo update-alternatives --config java command, of course.
  

After doing this, Eclipse will run fine. That's where I've made it to so far. There is still a long way to go, including installation of the tools to build AVR programs. I know from what I've read that this is possible to do on the Raspberry Pi so I will be trying that out soon.

Links of the Month, May 2014

The following links were submitted by club members. I hope you find the interesting and useful.

• ARRL Field Day Locator [Steve VA3SRV]
  
• Resurrection of the ISEE-3 satellite [Steve VA
  
• CHIRP open source radio programming software. Too bad it doesn't support my IC-7100. [Patrick VE3WST]
  
• Decoding radiosonde telemetry with RTL-SDR. [Steve VA3SRV]
  
• Man Found In Hara Arena, Days After Hamvention Ends [Steve VA3SRV]
  
• The Eclipse Software Development Framework Video (used on project night) [Matt VA3MGN]
  
• Information on C structures [Brad VA3HII]
  
• Recording of an "Anvil Screamer", a thunderstorm related phenomenon [Steve VA3SRV]
  
• Problems with the kicksat satellite [Steve VA3SRV]
  

March 2014 General Meeting - Minutes

Meeting held at the Sharon Temperance Hall. Called to order at 19:32. Chaired by Chris VE3NRT

1. Introductions completed. 35 members and 1 guest in attendance
   
2. Minutes Feb 4th general meeting; motion by Richard VE3NSD to approve the minutes, seconded by John VA3JI. Motion carried.
   
3. Reports
   
   1. Treasury – John VA3JI
      
      • Balance is [Available to members on request]. Two memberships paid in February otherwise no other transactions in the month
   2. Field Day – Steve VE3UT
      
      • Peter VE3PBT has volunteered to run the kitchen this year. Peter VE3PBT has prepared a menu and Steve VE3UT will provide an estimate of the number to be accommodated for dinner.
        
      • Location: Preference is to continue using the field behind Al’s Tack Shop
        
   3. By-law Committee – Geoff VA3GS, Eric VE3OIC
      
      • Minor clean up and corrections completed. Member input has been consolidated. There is a concern that in its current form, there will be insufficient time at the AGM to discuss and vote on all the proposed changes. The by-la committee has proposed to hold a town hall meeting for interested members to review all changes with a goal to finalize the list of changes to be put to a vote at the AGM.
   4. Trailer – Barry VA3LLT
      
      • New RCMP tower, spoke with manufacturer of tower stripped down trailer $17K
        
      • Looking at old trailer, RCMP tower is 300lbs vs old tower is ~1,000 lbs.
        
      • Rob VE3RQB, Barry VA3LLT and welding contractor went to look at the old trailer. The Welder will supply an estimate. The trailer will not be moving until there is an okay from the BOD to do the work.
        
      • If estimate is approved, the target is to have the trailer fitted with new tower for field day.
        
4. Member QSO awards – Bob VE3WY
   
   • Started June 2006 9pm however, only one certificate issued to date. The goal is to work as many York region amateur club members on as many bands as possible. There was a strong show of interested hands at meeting. Club members are encouraged to review the rules and begin making QSO’s. Bob VE3WY will issue certificates at the general meetings. Bob’s presentation will be placed on the Splatter Blog.
5. Project Night – Brad VE3HII, Steve VASRV
   
   • Brad VE3HII presented an overview of his and Steve VA3SRV’s proposal to re-activate project night. The plan is to begin mid April. Project nights to be held at the Newmarket Girl Guides office or the Newmarket Community Centre on Wednesday evenings 7-9pm. Looking for a minimum of 6 participants. Initial project will be an introduction to micro controllers with the objective to build a simple proto typing system estimated to cost between $30 and $50. Presentation will be posted on the Splatter Blog.
6. EMCOMM project Plan – Russell VE3WTR
   
   • Russell VE3WTR presented an update on EMCOMM activities and structure. EMCOMM is looking for volunteers. No specialized training is required. Looking for people to fulfill core roles, EOC site owners, or general responders. Presentation will be posted on the Splatter Blog.
7. Digital voice communications – Chris VE3NRT
   
   • Chris presented an overview of Open Source Digital Voice Communications. Presentation will be posted on the Splatter Blog.

Meeting adjourned at 21:14

Project Nights: Starting mid-April

Steve VA3SRV and Brad VE3HII have offered to restart project nights on Wednesdays starting in mid-April in Newmarket. These have been very popular in the past and allowed YRARC members to get some hands-on experience with electronics construction.

This is a great opportunity to get some experience with the inexpensive but powerful microcontrollers that are now available. These can be put to all sorts of interesting uses and the first project will be able to perform some useful tasks around the shack.

You can also come to project night and get some assistance with any other electronic project (like that Softrock kit you never built?) you're trying to complete.

Please get in touch with Steve or Brad to express your interest, or just leave a comment right here.

73,
Chris