2014 software.html - frc971/website GitHub Wiki

Source Code

Here is a snapshot of our robot source code as of the end of 2014 season.  Here are the LICENSE and build instructions for this year's robot code.
Here is a snapshot of our code right before the start of the 2015 season (with roboRIO support). The LICENSE is the same, and here are updated build instructions. Building it requires our changes to WPILib (same license and building is the same as upstream).

General Notes

The first few times that I installed FRC software on team computes, I installed the NI softare and the NI and WPI lib update as described in the second set of directions below.  On Sept 13, 2014, I read in the page that 
  • The Installing the 2014 FRC NI Update (for ALL TEAMS) page explains that all that is needed is the NI Update.  We don't have to install anything else to program the robot in C++, run the driver station, flash the cRIO, or run the FRC Bridge configuration tool.  I installed the NI "FRC 2014 Update Suite, Download Only" only from http://ni.com/frc. Installed it on a Windows 7 machine and it worked fine.  Use 00303x87M bkwds.

  • This year the NI updates have been reconfigured into a single standalone installer. This means that the FRC Driver Station, cRIO Imaging Tool and other utilities such as the Camera Configuration Tool will all be bundled into a single installer which will not require any components from the DVD. The LabVIEW update is also included in this installer and will install if a LabVIEW installation is detected. To use the DS and Imaging tool all teams must install the 2014 NI Update.

  • The Programming your radio for home use guide shows how to use the 2013 FRC Bridge Configuration Tool software to configure your robot's wireless bridge for use outside of FRC events.  It appears that they are using the 2013 tool for the 2014 season.  Somewhere it said the tool should be in the Start menu, but I did not find it there.  I did find it at C:\Program Files\National Instruments\LabVIEW 2013\project\FRC Bridge Tool\FRC Bridge Configuration Utility.exe.  When I ran it the first time, it took me to the Java download page and so I installed Java.  I made a link to this tool on the desktop.

Here are my notes from installing the FRC software before I figured out that I don't need to install the National Instruments or WPI Lib software (see my notes above).

The 2014 FIRST software consists of National Instruments Software and WPI/WindRiver software.  The National Instruments software has the driverstation program and cRIO imaging software in it.  The WPI/WindRiver software has the image FRC_2014_v52.zip image in it which is used to flash the cRIO from the NI software.  We roll our own C++ code so we don't use anything else from the WindRiver software.
For the 2014 season, we did the following to set up the laptop we use to image the cRIO and the drivers station laptops.
  • Uninstall the 2013 NI and WindRiver software.  The NI uninstaller is obvious but the WindRiver one is not.  The WindRiver uninstaller has the name "Maintenance Tool" and the WindRiver icon.  Some people recognize the icon.  If you can't find it, go to Start/WindRiver and use the uninstaller located there.
  • Install the "Vision" only half of the NI software from the DVD they sent us in the kit of parts.  I installed this software with the computer connected to the internet so that the software key would be validated.  Use the software key that is printed on the back of the envelope the software was shipped in.  I ran the update tool that came up automatically.  I installed the NI "FRC 2014 Update Suite, Download Only" only from http://ni.com/frc. Installed it on Win XP Pro machine and it worked fine.  If you only install the FRC 2014 Update Suite without installing the "Vision" software from the DVD, the cRIO imaging tool will see the cRIO and appear to be working but not get past the "Rebooting the cRIO" screen.  Again, use the software key that is printed on the back of the envelope that the software was shipped in for the update.
  • This WPI lib page has a link to the software update for WPILib Workbench  http://first.wpi.edu/FRC/c/update/Release/ .  The WindRiver software installs the FRC_2014_v52.zip image in /WindRiver/WPILib/cRIO_Images.  I copied it to my desktop.  On Aug 23, 2014, I downloaded WorkbenchUpdate20140325rev3887.exe with March 25, 2014 date.
  • I set the IP address to the download computer to 10.99.97.201 and the netmask to 255.0.0.0 and turned the firewall off so that the cRIO imaging software would find the cRIO.  The imaging tool was able to find the cRIO at 10.99.97.2 with the computer at 10.9.97.201 but could not communicate enough to get set up for the download.  It did show the IP address on the cRIO so I was able to reset the computer's network to the same subnet.

The 2013 FRC Bridge Configuration Tool software to configure your robot's wireless bridge for use outside of FRC events. This WPI page talks about it and tells how to download it.  It appears that they are using the 2013 tool for the 2014 season.  It said the tool should be in the Start menu, but I did not find it there.  I did find it at C:\Program Files\National Instruments\LabVIEW 2013\project\FRC Bridge Tool\FRC Bridge Configuration Utility.exe.  When I ran it the first time, it took me to the Java download page and so I installed Java.  I made a link to this tool on the desktop.

 

Michael Schuh
Feb 15, 2014
Aug 23, 2014 - installed on FRC 2014-4 Nickel and updated the install notes.  Added Bridge Configuration Tool notes.
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