Installing Machinekit on Beaglebone Black For Desktop Use

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Sardar Vayghannezgad

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Mar 14, 2019, 2:16:50 AM3/14/19
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Hi all,
I have been struggling for the past ten days, as a brand new user, to get my Beaglebone Black rec C (element 14) to run Machinekit on my Win 8.1 PC. To save you the long story, I am totally lost. What I've been able to learn during my time playing with all the software and hardware around me from forums, blogs, sites, personal intuition, etc comes down to:
  • successfully flashing an image on a microSD card and then transfer them on to the BB-Black, so that it can run without the flash card inside,
  • connecting BBB to my PC via puTTY and to the internet (albeit, apparently Google only, as I cannot have puTTy download any packages)
Since I am desperately looking for some dummies pointers on the issues I have, I'm giving all the software/hardware coordinates I think are important:

The image I'm using is from here

My Questions are:
  1. BBB does show up on my PC with the default image it comes out with, and I can go through the instructions available on Beagleboard/getting started webpage, but once I replace it with another Image, it doesn't seem to appear as a drive on my PC nor anywhere on the Device Manager. However, I can putty it to my PC, and share my PC WiFi with it. Given that I have installed the required drivers from BBoard Getting Started, Is this normal?!! If not, What is it that causes this? (I have searched high and low online, but haven't come up with a concrete conclusion)
  2. I can use my PC WiFi to connect BBB to the Google per online instructions, yet any attempt, via puTTY, to download Machinekit Packages (Just in case, is the link right for my case?!!) from the related website leads in the error:
machinekit@beaglebone:~$ sudo apt-get install machinekit-xenomai
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
E
: Unable to locate package machinekit-xenomai


or
machinekit@beaglebone:~$ sudo apt-get install machinekit-posix
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
E
: Unable to locate package machinekit-posix

              3. I have downloaded the Machinekit Client on my PC. What else do I need? I can see online that I need download tightVNC viewer both on my PC and on the BBB via puTTY. right? Provided that I can do so, do I need to download a VCP (Visual Control Panel) like QtQuickVcp to use in conjunction with Machinekit? Should I install this on my PC or BBB or both?!!!

            4. My keyboard is misspelling on ThightVNC window. How can I fix this? 

Any help, however small, would be appreciated.

Mala Dies

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Mar 14, 2019, 12:15:02 PM3/14/19
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Hello,


Seth

P.S. That should help w/ the image and kernel you need. Also, there is a google groups section of Machine Kit. Here: https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/machinekit.

Mala Dies

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Mar 14, 2019, 12:19:27 PM3/14/19
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Oh and Sir,

You might want to try, b/c the typing on the X client is showing incorrect values, XFCE for your desktop client. I found that this works at times, too. Here: https://www.xfce.org/. If I am not mistaken, you can just use "sudo apt install xfce4."

Seth

P.S. I need to double check the apt install xfce4 cmd but I think that is it. I will keep looking around for other info. I have been waiting to get into this idea, the Machine Kit stuff, but I have been unable to find time. I will reply soon.


On Thursday, March 14, 2019 at 1:16:50 AM UTC-5, Sardar Vayghannezgad wrote:

Mala Dies

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Mar 14, 2019, 12:27:47 PM3/14/19
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Hello,

I see you are using Win 8.x. I have Win 10 and my drivers automatically download. If you use a new image, I am sure that you can get the BBB.org drivers they have produced instead of the Win drivers for the BBB. 

...

And yes, step two at the bbb.io/getting-started should show the correct way to get those drivers since you are not on Win 10. Since we are on completely different OSs, I think I may be at an inefficient state. Well, if this helps at all, let me know.

Seth

P.S. I will return service once you have tried the drivers on that page and the xfce install on the BBB. If those help you on your journey, good. If not, I apologize.  


On Thursday, March 14, 2019 at 1:16:50 AM UTC-5, Sardar Vayghannezgad wrote:

Dennis Lee Bieber

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Mar 14, 2019, 1:41:06 PM3/14/19
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Because of the length of my reply, I'm duplicating a paragraph from
below here, so it is the first thing seen!

"""
However -- the following
https://machinekoder.com/machinekit-debian-stretch-beaglebone-black/
claims to be instructions for setting up MachineKit on Debian 9 Stretch --
starting from the recent standard (flashable) OS image.
"""

On Wed, 13 Mar 2019 23:16:49 -0700 (PDT), Sardar Vayghannezgad
<sarda...@gmail.com> declaimed the
following:

>The image I'm using is from here
><https://elinux.org/Beagleboard:BeagleBoneBlack_Debian#BBW.2FBBB_.28All_Revs.29_Machinekit>
>

> - successfully flashing an image on a microSD card and then transfer
> them on to the BB-Black, so that it can run without the flash card inside,

It is unclear if that image can be converted to a flasher image -- it
may be SD card only. My suggestion would be to FIRST get it working from
the SD card... THEN consider if it can be flashed to the eMMC.

> - connecting BBB to my PC via puTTY and to the internet (albeit,
> apparently Google only, as I cannot have puTTy download any packages)

You don't use PuTTY to "connect[ing] BBB to my PC". PuTTY is a Secure
SHell/telnet client that is used to connect to remote systems -- so the
remote BBB must already be reachable via some network before PuTTY can get
to it.

Since PuTTY is a text console, I don't understand how you claim to have
connectivity to Google -- you aren't running a browser on the BBB (or if
you are it must be an ancient text-only -- like lynx [which I just
installed to demo]).

debian@beaglebone:~$ sudo apt-get install lynx
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
The following additional packages will be installed:
lynx-common
The following NEW packages will be installed:
lynx lynx-common
0 upgraded, 2 newly installed, 0 to remove and 8 not upgraded.
Need to get 1,672 kB of archives.
After this operation, 4,942 kB of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue? [Y/n]
Get:1 http://deb.debian.org/debian stretch/main armhf lynx-common all
2.8.9dev11-1 [1,098 kB]
Get:2 http://deb.debian.org/debian stretch/main armhf lynx armhf
2.8.9dev11-1 [575 kB]
Fetched 1,672 kB in 1s (1,034 kB/s)
Selecting previously unselected package lynx-common.
(Reading database ... 76303 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to unpack .../lynx-common_2.8.9dev11-1_all.deb ...
Unpacking lynx-common (2.8.9dev11-1) ...
Selecting previously unselected package lynx.
Preparing to unpack .../lynx_2.8.9dev11-1_armhf.deb ...
Unpacking lynx (2.8.9dev11-1) ...
Processing triggers for mime-support (3.60) ...
Setting up lynx-common (2.8.9dev11-1) ...
Setting up lynx (2.8.9dev11-1) ...
update-alternatives: using /usr/bin/lynx to provide /usr/bin/www-browser
(www-browser) in auto mode
debian@beaglebone:~$ lynx google.com
Looking up 'google.com' first
debian@beaglebone:~$

-=-=-=-=-
Google

Search Images Maps Play YouTube News Gmail Drive More »
Web History | Settings | Sign in

Google

_______________________________________________________
Google Search I'm Feeling Lucky Advanced search
Language tools

Advertising Programs Business Solutions About Google

© 2019 - Privacy - Terms













(NORMAL LINK) Use right-arrow or <return> to activate.
Arrow keys: Up and Down to move. Right to follow a link; Left to go
back.
H)elp O)ptions P)rint G)o M)ain screen Q)uit /=search [delete]=history
list
-=-=-=-
debian@beaglebone:~$ sudo apt-get remove lynx lynx-common
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
The following packages will be REMOVED:
lynx lynx-common
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 2 to remove and 8 not upgraded.
After this operation, 4,942 kB disk space will be freed.
Do you want to continue? [Y/n]
(Reading database ... 76408 files and directories currently installed.)
Removing lynx (2.8.9dev11-1) ...
Removing lynx-common (2.8.9dev11-1) ...
Processing triggers for mime-support (3.60) ...
debian@beaglebone:~$


If your only connection is via the USB, you must have Internet
Connection Shariing (ICS) enabled on your PC so that it will gate traffic
between the USB connection (BBB) and the regular internet connection used
by said PC. It is often much more reliable to use a CAT-5 Ethernet cable to
connect the BBB to the router. (May also need to play with Windows Firewall
settings)

On a connection that does not have ICS I get the following (when using
PuTTY on the USB connection):

debian@beaglebone:~$ ping 8.8.8.8
connect: Network is unreachable
debian@beaglebone:~$ ping 192.168.7.1
PING 192.168.7.1 (192.168.7.1) 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from 192.168.7.1: icmp_seq=1 ttl=128 time=0.566 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.7.1: icmp_seq=2 ttl=128 time=0.812 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.7.1: icmp_seq=3 ttl=128 time=0.729 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.7.1: icmp_seq=4 ttl=128 time=0.717 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.7.1: icmp_seq=5 ttl=128 time=0.868 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.7.1: icmp_seq=6 ttl=128 time=0.756 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.7.1: icmp_seq=7 ttl=128 time=0.762 ms
^C
--- 192.168.7.1 ping statistics ---
7 packets transmitted, 7 received, 0% packet loss, time 6009ms
rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 0.566/0.744/0.868/0.089 ms
debian@beaglebone:~$ ping google.com
ping: google.com: Temporary failure in name resolution
debian@beaglebone:~$

After plugging in a CAT-5 cable from my router I get:

debian@beaglebone:~$ ping 8.8.8.8
PING 8.8.8.8 (8.8.8.8) 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=1 ttl=121 time=22.5 ms
64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=2 ttl=121 time=22.9 ms
64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=3 ttl=121 time=23.3 ms
64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=4 ttl=121 time=23.4 ms
64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=5 ttl=121 time=23.0 ms
64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=6 ttl=121 time=23.0 ms
^C
--- 8.8.8.8 ping statistics ---
6 packets transmitted, 6 received, 0% packet loss, time 5007ms
rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 22.582/23.091/23.451/0.313 ms
debian@beaglebone:~$ ping google.com
PING google.com(dfw25s13-in-x0e.1e100.net (2607:f8b0:4000:803::200e)) 56
data bytes
64 bytes from dfw25s13-in-x0e.1e100.net (2607:f8b0:4000:803::200e):
icmp_seq=1 ttl=53 time=50.0 ms
64 bytes from dfw25s13-in-x0e.1e100.net (2607:f8b0:4000:803::200e):
icmp_seq=2 ttl=53 time=49.3 ms
64 bytes from dfw25s13-in-x0e.1e100.net (2607:f8b0:4000:803::200e):
icmp_seq=3 ttl=53 time=49.3 ms
64 bytes from dfw25s13-in-x0e.1e100.net (2607:f8b0:4000:803::200e):
icmp_seq=4 ttl=53 time=48.9 ms
^C
--- google.com ping statistics ---
4 packets transmitted, 4 received, 0% packet loss, time 3003ms
rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 48.916/49.427/50.041/0.484 ms
debian@beaglebone:~$

If I use PuTTY with the router issued IP (not the USB IP) and shut-down
the USB PuTTY session I get:

debian@beaglebone:~$ ping 8.8.8.8
PING 8.8.8.8 (8.8.8.8) 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=1 ttl=121 time=23.4 ms
64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=2 ttl=121 time=23.1 ms
64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=3 ttl=121 time=22.9 ms
64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=4 ttl=121 time=22.2 ms
^C
--- 8.8.8.8 ping statistics ---
4 packets transmitted, 4 received, 0% packet loss, time 3006ms
rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 22.288/22.948/23.430/0.430 ms
debian@beaglebone:~$ ping 196.168.7.1
PING 196.168.7.1 (196.168.7.1) 56(84) bytes of data.
^C
--- 196.168.7.1 ping statistics ---
26 packets transmitted, 0 received, 100% packet loss, time 25591ms

debian@beaglebone:~$ ping google.com
PING google.com(dfw06s48-in-x0e.1e100.net (2607:f8b0:4000:80c::200e)) 56
data bytes
64 bytes from dfw06s48-in-x0e.1e100.net (2607:f8b0:4000:80c::200e):
icmp_seq=1 ttl=53 time=49.7 ms
64 bytes from dfw06s48-in-x0e.1e100.net (2607:f8b0:4000:80c::200e):
icmp_seq=2 ttl=53 time=49.9 ms
64 bytes from dfw06s48-in-x0e.1e100.net (2607:f8b0:4000:80c::200e):
icmp_seq=3 ttl=53 time=50.3 ms
^C
--- google.com ping statistics ---
3 packets transmitted, 3 received, 0% packet loss, time 2003ms
rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 49.722/49.982/50.308/0.243 ms
debian@beaglebone:~$

Note that the USB connection does not respond.

>My Questions are:
>
> 1. BBB does show up on my PC with the default image
> <https://beagleboard.org/latest-images> it comes out with, and I can go
> through the instructions available on Beagleboard/getting started webpage
> <https://beagleboard.org/getting-started#step2>, but once I replace it
> with another Image
> <https://elinux.org/Beagleboard:BeagleBoneBlack_Debian#BBW.2FBBB_.28All_Revs.29_Machinekit>,
> it doesn't seem to appear as a drive on my PC nor anywhere on the Device
> Manager. However, I can putty it to my PC, and share my PC WiFi with it.
> Given that I have installed the required drivers from BBoard Getting
> Started <https://beagleboard.org/getting-started#step2>, Is this
> normal?!! If not, What is it that causes this? (I have searched high and
> low online, but haven't come up with a concrete conclusion)

The "drive" you see is a virtual drive presented by Linux to the USB
connection (it used to be a physical FAT partition, but is now an image of
a FAT partition that Linux mounts and connects with a USB storage driver).
The MachineKit image may not be configured to generate a FAT partition for
Windows. If so, it will not appear anywhere on your PC.

Again, you do NOT "putty to my PC"; you are running PuTTY ON the PC and
using SSH to get to the remote BBB. SSH is a network protocol, so is not
related to having anything show up on your PC as a "device".

What does the network info show? From Windows command line:

Microsoft Windows [Version 10.0.17134.648]
(c) 2018 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

C:\Users\Wulfraed>ifconfig
'ifconfig' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.

C:\Users\Wulfraed>ipconfig

Windows IP Configuration


Ethernet adapter Ethernet:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : attlocal.net
IPv6 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 2600:1700:e630:890::48
IPv6 Address. . . . . . . . . . . :
2600:1700:e630:890:c932:bd85:577:9922
Temporary IPv6 Address. . . . . . :
2600:1700:e630:890:dd60:4af5:539a:dc45
Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::c932:bd85:577:9922%18
IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.66
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : fe80::6655:b1ff:fea7:3ba0%18
192.168.1.254

Wireless LAN adapter Wi-Fi:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :

Wireless LAN adapter Local Area Connection* 2:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :

Wireless LAN adapter Local Area Connection* 3:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :

Ethernet adapter Ethernet 2:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::a10d:c6b2:4a61:19f8%14
IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.7.1
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.252
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . :

C:\Users\Wulfraed>

(Since I don't have ICS running, "Ethernet 2" does not have gateway
information)

From the BBB (with CAT-5 connection)

debian@beaglebone:~$ ifconfig
eth0: flags=-28605<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,MULTICAST,DYNAMIC> mtu 1500
inet 192.168.1.69 netmask 255.255.255.0 broadcast 192.168.1.255
inet6 2600:1700:e630:890:d239:72ff:fe18:3ee5 prefixlen 64 scopeid
0x0<global>
inet6 fe80::d239:72ff:fe18:3ee5 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x20<link>
inet6 2600:1700:e630:890::44 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x0<global>
ether d0:39:72:18:3e:e5 txqueuelen 1000 (Ethernet)
RX packets 67984 bytes 96168301 (91.7 MiB)
RX errors 0 dropped 0 overruns 0 frame 0
TX packets 41344 bytes 3769311 (3.5 MiB)
TX errors 0 dropped 0 overruns 0 carrier 0 collisions 0
device interrupt 53

lo: flags=73<UP,LOOPBACK,RUNNING> mtu 65536
inet 127.0.0.1 netmask 255.0.0.0
inet6 ::1 prefixlen 128 scopeid 0x10<host>
loop txqueuelen 1000 (Local Loopback)
RX packets 1136 bytes 78176 (76.3 KiB)
RX errors 0 dropped 0 overruns 0 frame 0
TX packets 1136 bytes 78176 (76.3 KiB)
TX errors 0 dropped 0 overruns 0 carrier 0 collisions 0

usb0: flags=4163<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,MULTICAST> mtu 1500
inet 192.168.7.2 netmask 255.255.255.252 broadcast 192.168.7.3
inet6 fe80::d239:72ff:fe18:3ee7 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x20<link>
ether d0:39:72:18:3e:e7 txqueuelen 1000 (Ethernet)
RX packets 4719 bytes 358077 (349.6 KiB)
RX errors 0 dropped 5 overruns 0 frame 0
TX packets 306 bytes 61229 (59.7 KiB)
TX errors 0 dropped 0 overruns 0 carrier 0 collisions 0

usb1: flags=4099<UP,BROADCAST,MULTICAST> mtu 1500
inet 192.168.6.2 netmask 255.255.255.252 broadcast 192.168.6.3
ether d0:39:72:18:3e:ea txqueuelen 1000 (Ethernet)
RX packets 0 bytes 0 (0.0 B)
RX errors 0 dropped 0 overruns 0 frame 0
TX packets 0 bytes 0 (0.0 B)
TX errors 0 dropped 0 overruns 0 carrier 0 collisions 0

debian@beaglebone:~$

> 2. I can use my PC WiFi to connect BBB to the Google per online
> instructions, yet any attempt, via puTTY, to download Machinekit Packages
> <http://www.machinekit.io/docs/getting-started/install-runtime-packages/> (Just
> in case, is the link right for my case?!!) from the related website leads
> in the error:
>
>machinekit@beaglebone:~$ sudo apt-get install machinekit-xenomai
>Reading package lists... Done
>Building dependency tree
>Reading state information... Done
>E: Unable to locate package machinekit-xenomai
>
>
>or
>machinekit@beaglebone:~$ sudo apt-get install machinekit-posix
>Reading package lists... Done
>Building dependency tree
>Reading state information... Done
>E: Unable to locate package machinekit-posix

Note that this link states packages for Wheezy (Debian 7) and "Jessie"
(Debian 8)... But if your BBB has been flashed with a fairly recent system,
it is running Stretch (Debian 9). The pre-built BBB image is running Jessie
(Debian 8). MachineKit packages won't be found when trying apt-get on
Stretch (BTW: did you do a

sudo apt-get update

first, just in case new packages did become available?)

debian@beaglebone:~$ sudo apt-cache search machinekit
debian@beaglebone:~$ sudo apt-cache search chromium
chromium - web browser
chromium-driver - web browser - WebDriver support
chromium-l10n - web browser - language packs
chromium-shell - web browser - minimal shell
chromium-bsu - fast paced, arcade-style, scrolling space shooter
chromium-bsu-data - data pack for the Chromium B.S.U. game
goopg - GPG for Chromium GMail
chromium-lwn4chrome - Chromium extension for making LWN.net slightly easier
to read
chromium-ublock-origin - general-purpose lightweight ads, malware, trackers
blocker (Chromium)
cgpt - GPT manipulation tool with support for Chromium OS extensions
chromium-widevine - web browser - widevine content decryption support
chromium-common - web browser - common resources used by the chromium
packages
chromium-dbgsym - debug symbols for chromium
chromium-driver-dbgsym - debug symbols for chromium-driver
chromium-shell-dbgsym - debug symbols for chromium-shell
debian@beaglebone:~$

Note how Stretch does not find anything for machinekit, but lots for
chromium browser.

However -- the following
https://machinekoder.com/machinekit-debian-stretch-beaglebone-black/
claims to be instructions for setting up MachineKit on Debian 9 Stretch --
starting from the recent standard (flashable) OS image.


>
> 3. I have downloaded the Machinekit Client on my PC. What
>else do I need? I can see online that I need download tightVNC viewer both
>on my PC and on the BBB via puTTY. right? Provided that I can do so, do I
>need to download a VCP (Visual Control Panel) like QtQuickVcp to use in
>conjunction with Machinekit? Should I install this on my PC or BBB or
>both?!!!
>

Can't help -- I THINK you need something running as a web-server on the
BBB to which the client application will connect.

> 4. My keyboard is misspelling on ThightVNC window. How can I
>fix this?

Ask on a TightVNC support group? It probably is a mismatch between
keyboard and display locales.
>
>Any help, however small, would be appreciated.


--
Wulfraed Dennis Lee Bieber AF6VN
wlf...@ix.netcom.com HTTP://wlfraed.home.netcom.com/

Sardar Vayghannezgad

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Mar 14, 2019, 2:41:52 PM3/14/19
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Today, I plugged BBB to another PC; checking the PC's device manager, I could find a device titled Beaglebone (Black?), something that convinced me there is something wrong with my own PC. 
The worst scenario I can find online about BBB driver installation is that BBB is recognized as an "Unknown device" under "Other devices" in the device manage window, not that it is not recognized at all, which happens to be my case. The good news is that, using this web page, now I have my own "Unknown Device" under Other devices" drop down! :) This, I hope, already means a step forward.
2019-03-14_21h35_23.png
Message has been deleted

Sardar Vayghannezgad

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Mar 14, 2019, 2:49:16 PM3/14/19
to BeagleBoard
Thanks a lot for your reply. What I end up seeing on puTTY after typing sudo apt-get install [no matter what!]" is the following: 
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
E: Unable to locate package xfce4
 the last line, actually. And like I said in the original post, this happens still when I can ping to google. To the best of my knowledge if you can ping to google, you are connected, right?! And thus you must be able to download, but I am not. I'm coming to the conclusion that this primarily has something to do with BBB driver not appearing on my device manager, despite thatI have installed the drivers from BeagleBoard/getting-started.

Jim F

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Mar 14, 2019, 2:49:20 PM3/14/19
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You have to apt-get update first. 

On Thu, Mar 14, 2019, 2:48 PM Sardar Vayghannezgad <sarda...@gmail.com> wrote:
Thanks a lot for your reply. What I end up seeing on puTTY after typing sudo apt-get install [no matter what!]" is the following: 
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
E: Unable to locate package xfce4
 the last line, actually. And like I said in the original post, this happens still when I can ping to google. To the best of my knowledge if you can ping to google, you are connected, right?! And thus you must be able to download, but I am not. I'm coming to the conclusion that this primarily has something to do with BBB driver not appearing on my device manager, despite thatI have installed the drivers from BeagleBoard/getting-started.


On Thursday, March 14, 2019 at 7:19:27 PM UTC+3, Mala Dies wrote:

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Sardar Vayghannezgad

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Mar 14, 2019, 4:10:24 PM3/14/19
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0. First, thanks a million for going to such great lengths to help. 


A. 
However -- the following 
https://machinekoder.com/machinekit-debian-stretch-beaglebone-black/ 
claims to be instructions for setting up MachineKit on Debian 9 Stretch -- 
starting from the recent standard (flashable) OS image.
 I had come across the link you mentioned, and I knew it is more recent than the one I have on BBB now, but I found many people referring to debian-machinekit-8.7 as the latest, best, least-in-need-of-modification image out there, and so I opted that.



B.
 It is unclear if that image can be converted to a flasher image -- it may be SD card only. My suggestion would be to FIRST get it working from the SD card... THEN consider if it can be flashed to the eMMC. 

Typing hostnamectl, when no mSD card is inside the BBB, gives me :
machinekit@beaglebone:~$ hostnamectl
   Static hostname: beaglebone
         Icon name: computer
        Machine ID: f4ee2c0f817c4a6e91d28c4d1c48a642
           Boot ID: 928edadc13894c9e815ac34f9fffabc7
  Operating System: Debian GNU/Linux 8 (jessie)
            Kernel: Linux 3.8.13-xenomai-r83
      Architecture: arm
I thought this already means I have flashed onto eMMC. Am I wrong?



C.  
  you claim to have connectivity to Google 
By connecting, I meant pinging, actually. Isn't that connecting? Although I cannot "browse" and, in layman's terms, see anything from the net on the puTTY window (!), but it IS connected to give out such data: 

machinekit@beaglebone:~$ ping 8.8.8.8

PING 
8.8.8.8 (8.8.8.8) 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=1 ttl=116 time=29.5 ms
64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=2 ttl=116 time=27.1 ms
64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=3 ttl=116 time=26.6 ms
64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=4 ttl=116 time=37.0 ms
64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=5 ttl=116 time=59.8 ms
64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=6 ttl=116 time=28.3 ms

And, yes, I'm doing this by commanding
sudo /sbin/route add default gw 192.168.7.1

I got this from here and here.

D.
SSH is a network protocol, so is not related to having anything show up on your PC as a "device".
Even if not as a drive, shouldn't BBB be ever listed somewhere on my device manager page. People out there have reported to have seen this, under "ports" or "other devices" at least.



E.
What does the network info show? From Windows command line:

How can I check that? (I'm starting feeling like a time traveler from some 200 year ago! Is this something I should know?!!)
However, my ifconfig :
machinekit@beaglebone:~$ ifconfig
eth0      
Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 84:eb:18:eb:eb:ec
          UP BROADCAST MULTICAST DYNAMIC  MTU
:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets
:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets
:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions
:0 txqueuelen:1000
          RX bytes
:0 (0.0 B)  TX bytes:0 (0.0 B)
         
Interrupt:40


lo        
Link encap:Local Loopback
          inet addr
:127.0.0.1  Mask:255.0.0.0
          inet6 addr
: ::1/128 Scope:Host
          UP LOOPBACK RUNNING  MTU
:65536  Metric:1
          RX packets
:195488 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets
:195488 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions
:0 txqueuelen:0
          RX bytes
:15052336 (14.3 MiB)  TX bytes:15052336 (14.3 MiB)


usb0      
Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 84:eb:18:eb:eb:ee
          inet addr
:192.168.7.2  Bcast:192.168.7.3  Mask:255.255.255.252
          inet6 addr
: fe80::86eb:18ff:feeb:ebee/64 Scope:Link
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU
:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets
:30126 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets
:3012 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions
:0 txqueuelen:1000
          RX bytes
:3523513 (3.3 MiB)  TX bytes:740524 (723.1 KiB)

F.
did you do a 
        sudo apt-get update
 

Even doing so, gives :
machinekit@beaglebone:~$ sudo apt-get update
Err http://deb.machinekit.io jessie InRelease


Err http://security.debian.org jessie/updates InRelease


Err http://ftp.us.debian.org wheezy-backports InRelease


Err http://deb.dovetail-automata.com wheezy InRelease


Err http://deb.machinekit.io jessie Release.gpg
 
Could not resolve 'deb.machinekit.io'
Err http://repos.rcn-ee.com jessie InRelease


Err http://security.debian.org jessie/updates Release.gpg
 
Could not resolve 'security.debian.org'
Err http://deb.dovetail-automata.com wheezy Release.gpg
 
Could not resolve 'deb.dovetail-automata.com'
Err http://ftp.us.debian.org wheezy-backports Release.gpg
 
Could not resolve 'ftp.us.debian.org'
Err http://repos.rcn-ee.com jessie Release.gpg
 
Could not resolve 'repos.rcn-ee.com'
Err http://httpredir.debian.org jessie InRelease


Err http://httpredir.debian.org jessie-updates InRelease


Err http://httpredir.debian.org jessie Release.gpg
 
Could not resolve 'httpredir.debian.org'
Err http://httpredir.debian.org jessie-updates Release.gpg
 
Could not resolve 'httpredir.debian.org'
Reading package lists... Done
W
: Failed to fetch http://httpredir.debian.org/debian/dists/jessie/InRelease


W
: Failed to fetch http://httpredir.debian.org/debian/dists/jessie-updates/InRelease


W
: Failed to fetch http://security.debian.org/dists/jessie/updates/InRelease


W
: Failed to fetch http://deb.machinekit.io/debian/dists/jessie/InRelease


W
: Failed to fetch http://repos.rcn-ee.com/debian/dists/jessie/InRelease


W
: Failed to fetch http://deb.dovetail-automata.com/dists/wheezy/InRelease


W
: Failed to fetch http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/dists/wheezy-backports/InRelease


W
: Failed to fetch http://deb.machinekit.io/debian/dists/jessie/Release.gpg  Could not resolve 'deb.machinekit.io'


W
: Failed to fetch http://security.debian.org/dists/jessie/updates/Release.gpg  Could not resolve 'security.debian.org'


W
: Failed to fetch http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/dists/wheezy-backports/Release.gpg  Could not resolve 'ftp.us.debian.org'


W
: Failed to fetch http://deb.dovetail-automata.com/dists/wheezy/Release.gpg  Could not resolve 'deb.dovetail-automata.com'


W
: Failed to fetch http://repos.rcn-ee.com/debian/dists/jessie/Release.gpg  Could not resolve 'repos.rcn-ee.com'


W
: Failed to fetch http://httpredir.debian.org/debian/dists/jessie/Release.gpg  Could not resolve 'httpredir.debian.org'


W
: Failed to fetch http://httpredir.debian.org/debian/dists/jessie-updates/Release.gpg  Could not resolve 'httpredir.debian.org'


W
: Some index files failed to download. They have been ignored, or old ones used instead.


THANKS FOR ALL THE EFFORT and TIME YOU PUT in ANSWERING MY QUESTIONS. I LEARNED A LOT FROM YOU.

Message has been deleted

Mala Dies

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Mar 14, 2019, 4:39:19 PM3/14/19
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Hello Sir,

I am about to test the xfce4 on my distro from BBB.io/latest-images. Maybe just using the SD Card would be beneficial at first, i.e. just to test and get online. Then, after updating and getting packages, you can then turn the image into a flasher image on your eMMC.

...

Anyway...xfce4 works on my machine. I just use apt to install it.

I am sorry but currently I am using Stretch w/ the updated image they have on the bbb.io site.

So, I am thinking that you are not online just yet. As you have typed, you have not been able to get online. I understand that it is upsetting (for now).

...

Just for precaution, the xfce4 environment is large (even though they say it is lightweight). They have many packages that have been released w/ a new candidate in 2015. 256MB is the size. This will take out a large section of the eMMC on your BBB.

Four years ago seems to be a while back. But, the BBB and tightvnc work well w/ it.

...

I just read the rest of your info. on this post. Um, I do not ping or ping to google for that fact. I use the Ethernet connections for my BBBs and the connmanctl dialog to connect to WiFi on the BBBW.

I am kind of out of the loop on pings and not being online while pings come through and no packets are being lost.

Seth

P.S. I have not used Win 8.1 ever. So, I am really out of the loop on this situation. Maybe some other people can give better advice on connection issues and connecting to older images/kernels. I have been using 4.14.x via BBB w/ PuTTY and while under Win 10.

Mala Dies

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Mar 14, 2019, 4:52:59 PM3/14/19
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Hello,

https://www.digitalocean.com/community/tutorials/how-to-install-and-configure-vnc-on-debian-9 is something else I just found.

Seth

P.S. I am about to try it out.

Jim F

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Mar 14, 2019, 4:54:39 PM3/14/19
to beagl...@googlegroups.com
You aren't pinging Google.com, you're pinging 8.8.8.8. You haven't got your dns resolve configured properly. What's in /etc/resolv.conf? It needs to have a line in there like

nameserver 8.8.8.8

Then the apt-get update and other commands will work... Better. 

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Mala Dies

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Mar 14, 2019, 4:59:37 PM3/14/19
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Hello Again Sir,

Yes Sir, I know this is getting repetitious. 

...

After you find a way to get online, this is the set of commands to get your system up and running w/ a Desktop Env. on the BBB.

sudo apt install xfce4 tightvncserver

I am sure you already have the realvnc viewer on your Desktop client.

Seth

P.S. If this is getting boring, I am looking into more options but try the SD Card w/ MachineKit and a Ethernet cable.


On Thursday, March 14, 2019 at 1:49:16 PM UTC-5, Sardar Vayghannezgad wrote:

Mala Dies

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Mar 14, 2019, 5:53:50 PM3/14/19
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Hello Sir,

Okay. This is as much as I know right now. Ethernet works on MachineKit b/c I can update and upgrade via online capabilities.

...

Seth

P.S. Use Ethernet! If you cannot use Ethernet, try to find the good out of the bad when testing the Internet over USB. 

Mala Dies

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Mar 14, 2019, 5:59:21 PM3/14/19
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Sir,

The driver for Windows is not used any longer. BBB.io people made their own drivers available, I think.

Seth

P.S. My machine, the BBB, does not show up either as of now but it can update and upgrade via apt.
Message has been deleted

Sardar Vayghannezgad

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Mar 15, 2019, 11:35:50 AM3/15/19
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A good and a bad piece of news. The good news is my BBB is up and running now with a neat connection to the net. The bad news is it connected for no clear reason I can explain. Today I just used the same update command I had been putting in during this whole time -and boom -it started updating!! The mere clue I can think of is that I was fumbling with my PC's device manager yesterday to get BBB to show up with its name somewhere on the list but with no luck. Anyway it is connected now. However, the VCP issues are there. I'll give that a try soon.


On Thursday, March 14, 2019 at 9:16:50 AM UTC+3, Sardar Vayghannezgad wrote:

Sardar Vayghannezgad

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Mar 15, 2019, 11:46:52 AM3/15/19
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Thanks a million for your support. Like I just posted, I'm connected now. 
 
 you already have the realvnc viewer on your Desktop client
Actually, I have tightvnc viewer. Isn't this different than "realvnc viewer", which you mentioned? Was that a typo, or should I install realvnc on my desktop too?!

Dennis Lee Bieber

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Mar 15, 2019, 2:41:58 PM3/15/19
to beagl...@googlegroups.com
On Thu, 14 Mar 2019 13:10:24 -0700 (PDT), Sardar Vayghannezgad
<sarda...@gmail.com> declaimed the
following:

>
>> However -- the following
>> https://machinekoder.com/machinekit-debian-stretch-beaglebone-black/
>> claims to be instructions for setting up MachineKit on Debian 9 Stretch --
>> starting from the recent standard (flashable) OS image.
>>
> I had come across the link you mentioned, and I knew it is more recent
>than the one I have on BBB now, but I found many people referring to
>debian-machinekit-8.7
><https://elinux.org/Beagleboard:BeagleBoneBlack_Debian#BBW.2FBBB_.28All_Revs.29_Machinekit> as
>the latest, best, least-in-need-of-modification image out there, and so I
>opted that.
>

For a pre-built system, that may be best, but since I'm not familiar
with what is in it, I can't say. The other link is designed to start with a
regular working up-to-date Debian and build MachineKit onto it -- and for
debugging your situation, it helps to start from a known working
configuration. That is: start with flashing (you'll have to follow the
instructions to turn that image into a flasher) that image -- then making
sure IT has full network connectivity. Preferably without using Internet
Connection Sharing -- your problems could be that ICS is not providing
gateway and name-server information to the BBB.

>
>Typing hostnamectl, when no mSD card is inside the BBB, gives me :
>machinekit@beaglebone:~$ hostnamectl
> Static hostname: beaglebone
> Icon name: computer
> Machine ID: f4ee2c0f817c4a6e91d28c4d1c48a642
> Boot ID: 928edadc13894c9e815ac34f9fffabc7
> Operating System: Debian GNU/Linux 8 (jessie)
> Kernel: Linux 3.8.13-xenomai-r83
> Architecture: arm
>I thought this already means I have flashed onto eMMC. Am I wrong?
>

It shows something, but there are multiple ways to get a changed kernel
without getting the rest...

>
>By connecting, I meant pinging, actually. Isn't that connecting? Although I
>cannot "browse" and, in layman's terms, see anything from the net on the
>puTTY window (!), but it IS connected to give out such data:
>
>machinekit@beaglebone:~$ ping 8.8.8.8
>PING 8.8.8.8 (8.8.8.8) 56(84) bytes of data.
>64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=1 ttl=116 time=29.5 ms
>64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=2 ttl=116 time=27.1 ms
>64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=3 ttl=116 time=26.6 ms
>64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=4 ttl=116 time=37.0 ms
>64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=5 ttl=116 time=59.8 ms
>64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=6 ttl=116 time=28.3 ms
>
>And, yes, I'm doing this by commanding
>
This is direct IP# pinging of the Google provided name-server. But it
is not pinging "google.com" by name. As another response indicates, you may
not have a working name-server to translate names into IP#s

debian@beaglebone:~$ cat /etc/resolv.conf
# Generated by Connection Manager
search attlocal.net attlocal.net
nameserver 192.168.1.254
nameserver 2600:1700:e630:890::1
nameserver 2600:1700:e630:890::1
debian@beaglebone:~$

{Again, I am NOT using USB Internet Connection Sharing -- I have a CAT-5
cable directly connected to my router [well, technically, to an 8-port
switch that connects to the router]. Note that this file states it is
created during the connection}

>> sudo /sbin/route add default gw 192.168.7.1
>>
>> I got this from here
><https://ofitselfso.com/BeagleNotes/HowToConnectBeagleboneBlackToTheInternetViaUSB.php>
>and here
><https://www.digikey.com/en/maker/blogs/how-to-connect-a-beaglebone-black-to-the-internet-using-usb>
>.

A proper system shouldn't need manual routing (and/or nameserver)
changes.

debian@beaglebone:~$ sudo /sbin/route
[sudo] password for debian:
Kernel IP routing table
Destination Gateway Genmask Flags Metric Ref Use
Iface
default dsldevice.attlo 0.0.0.0 UG 0 0 0
eth0
192.168.1.0 0.0.0.0 255.255.255.0 U 0 0 0
eth0
dsldevice.attlo 0.0.0.0 255.255.255.255 UH 0 0 0
eth0
192.168.6.0 0.0.0.0 255.255.255.252 U 0 0 0
usb1
192.168.7.0 0.0.0.0 255.255.255.252 U 0 0 0
usb0
debian@beaglebone:~$

>Even if not as a drive, shouldn't BBB be ever listed somewhere on my device
>manager page. People out there have reported to have seen this, under
>"ports" or "other devices" at least.
>

I'm using a stock Debian (the "latest image" page) which does create
that pseudo "drive"... Device manager shows I have:

Disk drives
Linux File-Stor Gadget USB Device

Network Adapters
Linux USB Ethernet/RNDIS Gadget

Portable devices
BEAGLEBONE

Ports
Gadget Serial (COM7) flagged as no driver installed warning
USB Serial Device (COM8)

{Just removed COM7 -- we'll see if it comes back in the future}


>
>
>E.
>
>> What does the network info show? From Windows command line:
>
>
>How can I check that? (I'm starting feeling like a time traveler from some
>200 year ago! Is this something I should know?!!)

Yes -- you should know how to open a Windows command line -- or
PowerShell command line if you want to learn PowerShell <G>.

<right-click>Start\Run cmd

{though Win10 has it under

Start\Windows System\Command Prompt

I have a permanent short-cut for it, so it opens with my customized size
and font; the application is found in

%windir%\system32\cmd.exe
}


As I showed, on Windows, the command for network stuff is ipconfig, not
ifconfig.


>
>> did you do a
>> sudo apt-get update
>
>
>
>Even doing so, gives :
>machinekit@beaglebone:~$ sudo apt-get update
>Err http://deb.machinekit.io jessie InRelease
>
>
>Err http://security.debian.org jessie/updates InRelease
>

Which reinforces the concept that you do not have either a valid
name-server, or you do not have full network connectivity.
And that indicates name-server problems

Mala Dies

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Mar 15, 2019, 6:17:17 PM3/15/19
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Hello,

I think any vnc viewer should work. I use realvnc b/c of its simplicity plus their updates are nice. They have made it a long way from scrap to market place in time.

Seth

P.S. Did you ever get your updates to work? If so and if you are updating, did you ever install the xfce4 via apt or apt-get? I installed it and on my BBB, I still needed a tightvncserver install to make the desktop work.

Sardar Vayghannezgad

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Mar 16, 2019, 4:18:39 AM3/16/19
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Hi
You have been of much help for me. Thanks for all the information. 
Because I thought "apt" was a typo on your part, I installed via apt-get! Honestly, I have been gathering heaps of information so far here and there online, and that's why I don't have apparently a clear understanding of what I'm doing with all the software and gadgetry around me. Are you saying apt installs different things than what apt-get would?

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Mala Dies

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Mar 16, 2019, 5:10:57 AM3/16/19
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Hello,


Seth

P.S. That article sums up the difference if any. Enjoy!
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