Unmaintained Article Please check the manual for more up-to-date information.

As a result of user interest in running mwp on Windows 11 / WSL-G, here's an experiment to see if it's possible. By a Windows neophyte, so if I can install mwp on WSL, anyone can.

There is also an excellent you-tube video tutorial from Marc Hoffmann (in English and German).

Tested with Windows 11 VM hosted on Arch Linux.

• Installed default Ubuntu
• Note that serial ports still don't appear to work in WSL (workaround described below)

None other than the serial port issue, Wayland (GUI) and sound just work. The serial port problem can be mitigated by a "serial to IP" solution; mwptools provides ser2udp for this purpose.

Use one of the following:

• Down load the .deb file
• cd to where ever you saved the .deb file
• In the wsl terminal sudo apt install mwptools_0.0.0-1_amd64.deb

For the inital install, there is a unified / simplified install / build / install script: Instructions

This install mwptools and blackbox-tools-inav to $HOME/.local/bin.

If you want more control over build options.

If git is not pre-installed in WSL, then it will be necessary to install it.

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade
sudo apt install git

Note: /etc/sudoers (via visudo) was edited to allows the WSL user to run commands as root without asking for a password.

Then it was just a case of cloning the mwp repository and following mwp's instructions (mwptools/docs/debian-ubuntu-dependencies.txt), to install the dependencies, thusly:

cp mwptools/docs/debian-ubuntu-dependencies.txt /tmp/u.sh
chmod +x /tmp/u.sh
# edit /tmp/u.sh for any optional items ...
sudo /tmp/u.sh Y # 'Y' bypasses interactive query / responses

Then build and install mwp and optionally the blackbox tools (as mwptools/docs/debian-ubuntu-dependencies.txt). Build documentation.

For the optimal blackbox replay, install the flightlog2x tools, either from the Github release or build from source in Linux/WSL.

There is no longer any need to mess around the DISPLAY or udev settings. No 3rd party X-server, Windows handles all the GUI.

• WSL installs a very cut down icon theme that does not provide the all the system / standard icons used by mwp. Fix this by:

  sudo apt install adwaita-icon-theme-full
  

• If you wish to replay blackbox / OTX / BulletGCSS logs, it is necessary to have an IPv6 definition of localhost; WSL's /etc/hosts does not provide this:

  # updated in /etc/hosts for ipv6
  ::1   localhost ip6-localhost ip6-loopback
  

  Note: This is caused by an unnecessary assumption in flightlog2x's fl2ltm which will be corrected in a future flightlog2x release (> 0.11.0)

• Then tell WSL to please not break your hosts file again

  ### Add the following entry to /etc/wsl.conf:
  [network]
  generateHosts = false
  

• Due font differences, it is may be necessary to reduce the font scaling in the mwp 'Flight View' docklet.

  gsettings set org.mwptools.planner font-fv 10
  # if you still have resizing problems, try 9 ....
  

Then you are ready to run mwp.

mwp

In order to use a serial device, it is necessary to run a "serial to IP" bridge on the Windows side. This application will need to be white-listed in the Windows firewall.

There are a number of existing solutions that may work; mwp provides a ser2udp tool that works well.

On the Linux/WSL side:

• cd mwptools/src/samples/s2n
• make ser2udp.exe
• copy ser2udp.exe to the dark Windows side

On the Windows side:

• Use the Windows firewall settings to allow ser2udp.exe to accept UDP traffic.

• Run ser2udp.exe ; it will autodetect your serial port. By default this listens on UDP port 17071, you can change this by supplying a second parameter, e.g., to use port 34567. In this case, either define the serial port or use auto (auto-detect).

  > ser2udp.exe auto :34567
  ## or just let ser2udp autodetect
  > ser2udp.exe
  External address: fe80::1439:d6de:efcb:97e1%7
  External address: 172.29.32.1
  

  The colon is required to define an alternative port.

• ser2udp will survive removal of USB devices and attempt to re-connect (e.g. if the FC is rebooted).

• ser2udp will only attempt to acquire STM32 USB devices (0483:5740 vid:pid)

• You need to terminate ser2udp when you're done with it (e.g. to use the inav configurator in Windows).

• We need to know the IP address (or have a hostname for) the Windows WSL endpoint. Fortunately this happens to be Linux's default gateway, so we can handle it fairly transparently.

It is easily automated by using the magic __MWP_SERIAL_HOST name in the serial device.

mwp -d udp://__MWP_SERIAL_HOST:17071
# recognised by other tools as well ...
cliterm udp://__MWP_SERIAL_HOST:17071

__MWP_SERIAL_HOST is resolved as:

• If an enviroment variable $MWP_SERIAL_HOST exists, it is used; else
• The default gateway (which on WSL in the Windows host IP) is used; else
• It will fail, as the literal name is unlikely to exist as a resolvable host name (not even a RFC legal host name).

Thus:

• For WSL and ser2udp, in mwp preferences, set the serial device to udp://__MWP_SERIAL_HOST:17071
• Or in the shell, for some other scenario, export MWP_SERIAL_HOST=foobox.org in the event that you have a valid use case

• Create a new txt file in the same folder where ser2udp.exe is located and copy the following lines into that file:

@echo off
echo Launching MWP Mission Planner
start wslg.exe -d Ubuntu mwp
echo Waiting for WSL System to boot up
timeout 5
echo Launching Serial to UDP Tool
start "Serial2UDP" cmd /c ser2udp.exe -verbose 1
exit

• rename the file with any name and change the extension to .cmd
• Create a shortcut anywhere on your PC or in C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs to pin it to your Start Menu
• Replace the shortcut symbol with the MWP icon from here

• The timeout value may need changing (or not be needed at all). YMMV.
• Consider adding the /min to cmd to minimise the ser2udp window on startup.

• To replay blackbox logs, you need
  • inav blackbox tools, mandatory
  • flightlog2x / bbl2kml. Provides a much better blackbox replayer than the default shipped with mwp (and you can generate really pretty Google Earth files from blackbox / opentx / bulletgcss logs).
• Terrain Analysis
  • Gnuplot. Check the installer script that it's enabled.

• Much, much better than the prior WSL instances, pity about the lack of support for serial ports (still). Overall, the seamless WSL-g experience is impressive.

Dark theme, correct system icons installed, connected to FC via ser2udp.

Note: The user's compass seems good enough for navigation functions (top right widget comparing GPS CoG v. compass heading).