Mu failing to detect Micro:bit on Linux Mint

[mu-editor]

Mu failing to detect Micro:bit on Linux Mint

[ntoll]

Hi Dave,

That's weird. Do you have the "mount" command installed..? If you look here:

https://github.com/ntoll/uflash/blob/master/uflash.py#L150

You'll notice that to detect the micro:bit on unix-y systems uflash.py (which mu uses) checks the names of mounted partitions that contain the word "MICROBIT" (which is how it should appear on your filesystem). It works perfectly for me on Debian Jessie. Perhaps you have a strange filesystem mount arrangement? More details about how you're set up are required for me to be certain.

The bottom line is, try using uflash and experimenting with the find_microbit function (http://uflash.readthedocs.org/en/latest/#uflash.find_microbit) and let me know what you see. Feel free to paste things as comments to this ticket.

One other thought... could it be a permissions related problem..? (A long shot, but you never know and I'm just guessing.)

Happy to help in any way that I can.

N.

[amos1969]

Aha. I've successfully got Mu to Flash the microbit.

On KDE in Mint, it gives you the option to mount a drive when it's plugged in (ie to open it in Dolphin) but doesn't auto-mount the drive until you do. If I open the microbit as a drive, then I can flash the file from Mu successfully. But then it shows up as a new drive after flashing, which is not mounted.

Unfortunately that means that every time I want to flash a python file from Mu to the microbit, I have to manually open the "folder" first, which is less than ideal. I don't know whether this is Mint specific, KDE specific or inherited from Ubuntu. It also means that I end up with multiple MICROBIT entries in Dolphin (see screenshot).

Cheers
Dave

[ntoll]

This appears to be a problem with KDE/Mint and not anything to do with Mu. I'll leave this open so when I write up the documentation I don't forget to mention it.

[amos1969]

I agree. It isn't a Mu problem necessarily, but does need flagging.

[ZanderBrown]

Just fired up a Fedora KDE 28 Beta VM and there is defensibly some odd behaviour under KDE
I suspected this caused by a "it's not a bug, it's a feature" in Plasma

Installed with pip3 install mu-editor --user

Between the two attempts to flash I tried mounting the micro:bit though to file manager to be told it was already mounted

2018-04-07 12:01:28,397 - root:112(run) INFO: 

-----------------

Starting Mu 1.0.0.beta.15
2018-04-07 12:01:28,398 - root:113(run) INFO: uname_result(system='Linux', node='localhost-live', release='4.16.0-0.rc4.git0.1.fc28.x86_64', version='#1 SMP Mon Mar 5 04:54:32 UTC 2018', machine='x86_64', processor='x86_64')
2018-04-07 12:01:28,398 - root:114(run) INFO: Python path: ['/home/kde/.local/bin', '/usr/lib64/python36.zip', '/usr/lib64/python3.6', '/usr/lib64/python3.6/lib-dynload', '/home/kde/.local/lib/python3.6/site-packages', '/usr/lib64/python3.6/site-packages', '/usr/lib/python3.6/site-packages', '/home/kde/.local/lib/python3.6/site-packages/IPython/extensions']
2018-04-07 12:01:39,453 - mu.logic:355(__init__) INFO: Setting up editor.
2018-04-07 12:01:39,456 - mu.logic:364(__init__) DEBUG: Creating directory: /home/kde/.local/share/mu
2018-04-07 12:01:39,461 - mu.logic:169(get_settings_path) DEBUG: Creating settings file: /home/kde/.local/share/mu/settings.json
2018-04-07 12:01:39,464 - mu.logic:366(__init__) INFO: Settings path: /home/kde/.local/share/mu/settings.json
2018-04-07 12:01:39,465 - mu.logic:367(__init__) INFO: Log directory: /home/kde/.cache/mu/log
2018-04-07 12:01:39,466 - mu.logic:368(__init__) INFO: Data directory: /home/kde/.local/share/mu
2018-04-07 12:01:45,654 - mu.logic:376(setup) INFO: Available modes: python, adafruit, microbit, debugger, pygamezero
2018-04-07 12:01:45,655 - mu.logic:380(setup) DEBUG: Creating directory: /home/kde/mu_code
2018-04-07 12:01:45,657 - mu.logic:386(setup) DEBUG: Creating directory: /home/kde/mu_code/images
2018-04-07 12:01:45,665 - mu.logic:393(setup) DEBUG: Creating directory: /home/kde/mu_code/sounds
2018-04-07 12:02:54,796 - mu.logic:712(change_mode) INFO: Workspace directory: /home/kde/mu_code
2018-04-07 12:02:54,797 - mu.logic:415(restore_session) INFO: Restoring session from: /home/kde/.local/share/mu/settings.json
2018-04-07 12:02:54,798 - mu.logic:416(restore_session) DEBUG: {}
2018-04-07 12:02:54,798 - mu.logic:679(select_mode) INFO: Showing available modes: ['python', 'adafruit', 'microbit', 'debugger', 'pygamezero']
2018-04-07 12:03:06,162 - mu.modes.base:127(find_device) INFO: Found device on port: ttyACM0
2018-04-07 12:03:08,986 - mu.modes.base:127(find_device) INFO: Found device on port: ttyACM0
2018-04-07 12:03:09,678 - mu.modes.base:127(find_device) INFO: Found device on port: ttyACM0
2018-04-07 12:03:10,600 - mu.modes.base:127(find_device) INFO: Found device on port: ttyACM0
2018-04-07 12:03:11,607 - mu.modes.base:127(find_device) INFO: Found device on port: ttyACM0
2018-04-07 12:03:12,590 - mu.modes.base:127(find_device) INFO: Found device on port: ttyACM0
2018-04-07 12:03:13,603 - mu.modes.base:127(find_device) INFO: Found device on port: ttyACM0
2018-04-07 12:03:14,604 - mu.modes.base:127(find_device) INFO: Found device on port: ttyACM0
2018-04-07 12:03:15,600 - mu.modes.base:127(find_device) INFO: Found device on port: ttyACM0
2018-04-07 12:03:16,599 - mu.modes.base:127(find_device) INFO: Found device on port: ttyACM0
2018-04-07 12:03:17,592 - mu.modes.base:127(find_device) INFO: Found device on port: ttyACM0
2018-04-07 12:03:18,603 - mu.modes.base:127(find_device) INFO: Found device on port: ttyACM0
2018-04-07 12:03:19,593 - mu.modes.base:127(find_device) INFO: Found device on port: ttyACM0
2018-04-07 12:03:20,592 - mu.modes.base:127(find_device) INFO: Found device on port: ttyACM0
2018-04-07 12:03:21,587 - mu.modes.base:127(find_device) INFO: Found device on port: ttyACM0
2018-04-07 12:03:22,593 - mu.modes.base:127(find_device) INFO: Found device on port: ttyACM0
2018-04-07 12:03:22,936 - mu.logic:712(change_mode) INFO: Workspace directory: /home/kde/mu_code
2018-04-07 12:03:23,692 - mu.logic:444(restore_session) INFO: Starting with blank file.
2018-04-07 12:03:23,741 - mu.logic:712(change_mode) INFO: Workspace directory: /home/kde/mu_code
2018-04-07 12:03:24,205 - mu.modes.base:127(find_device) INFO: Found device on port: ttyACM0
[~15 repeated lines at ~1sec intervals]
2018-04-07 12:03:41,591 - mu.modes.base:127(find_device) INFO: Found device on port: ttyACM0
2018-04-07 12:03:42,334 - mu.modes.microbit:188(flash) INFO: Flashing script.
2018-04-07 12:03:42,335 - mu.modes.microbit:195(flash) DEBUG: Python script:
2018-04-07 12:03:42,336 - mu.modes.microbit:196(flash) DEBUG: b'# Write your code here :-)'
2018-04-07 12:03:44,734 - mu.modes.base:127(find_device) INFO: Found device on port: ttyACM0
2018-04-07 12:03:46,018 - mu.modes.base:127(find_device) INFO: Found device on port: ttyACM0
2018-04-07 12:03:46,639 - mu.modes.base:127(find_device) INFO: Found device on port: ttyACM0
2018-04-07 12:03:47,597 - mu.modes.base:127(find_device) INFO: Found device on port: ttyACM0
2018-04-07 12:03:48,590 - mu.modes.base:127(find_device) INFO: Found device on port: ttyACM0
2018-04-07 12:03:49,613 - mu.modes.base:127(find_device) INFO: Found device on port: ttyACM0
2018-04-07 12:03:50,590 - mu.modes.base:127(find_device) INFO: Found device on port: ttyACM0
2018-04-07 12:03:51,621 - mu.modes.base:127(find_device) INFO: Found device on port: ttyACM0
2018-04-07 12:03:52,597 - mu.modes.base:127(find_device) INFO: Found device on port: ttyACM0
2018-04-07 12:03:54,338 - mu.interface.main:251(get_microbit_path) DEBUG: Getting micro:bit path: 
2018-04-07 12:03:54,339 - mu.modes.microbit:215(flash) DEBUG: User defined path to micro:bit: 
2018-04-07 12:03:54,339 - mu.modes.microbit:218(flash) DEBUG: Path to micro:bit: 
2018-04-07 12:03:54,389 - mu.interface.main:650(show_message) DEBUG: Could not find an attached BBC micro:bit.
2018-04-07 12:03:54,389 - mu.interface.main:651(show_message) DEBUG: Please ensure you leave enough time for the BBC micro:bit to be attached and configured correctly by your computer. This may take several seconds. Alternatively, try removing and re-attaching the device or saving your work and restarting Mu if the device remains unfound.
2018-04-07 12:03:54,913 - mu.modes.base:127(find_device) INFO: Found device on port: ttyACM0
[~45 repeated lines at ~1sec intervals]
2018-04-07 12:04:42,611 - mu.modes.base:127(find_device) INFO: Found device on port: ttyACM0
2018-04-07 12:04:43,022 - mu.modes.microbit:188(flash) INFO: Flashing script.
2018-04-07 12:04:43,023 - mu.modes.microbit:195(flash) DEBUG: Python script:
2018-04-07 12:04:43,023 - mu.modes.microbit:196(flash) DEBUG: b'# Write your code here :-)'
2018-04-07 12:04:43,072 - mu.modes.microbit:218(flash) DEBUG: Path to micro:bit: /run/media/kde/MICROBIT
2018-04-07 12:04:43,075 - mu.modes.microbit:220(flash) DEBUG: Flashing to device.
2018-04-07 12:04:43,615 - mu.modes.base:127(find_device) INFO: Found device on port: ttyACM0
[~60 repeated lines at ~1sec intervals]
2018-04-07 12:05:46,614 - mu.modes.base:127(find_device) INFO: Found device on port: ttyACM0

[gquintana]

I am running Mu 1.0b15 on Mint/Cinnamon and I can flash. In short, it's not related to Mint, maybe KDE?

[ZanderBrown]

Yes as i stated:

I suspect this caused by a "it's not a bug, it's a feature" in Plasma

And it that was based on testing in Fedora KDE so KDE is the common component

[ntoll]

OK... so since this is beyond the control of Mu (it appears to be a KDE "feature") I guess the resolution is to document this somewhere with a work-around. The docs will be in the website (source code here: https://github.com/mu-editor/mu-editor.github.io), so I've created an issue in that repository (mu-editor/mu-editor.github.io#23) and will close this one.

[timrichardson]

This issue features in Google searches. KDE has a setting ('control panel') Removable Storage, which has an option to automatically mount removable media (including an option to only do this after a user has first manually mounted it).
When this setting is enabled, the MicroBit mounts to /media/$USER/microbit without intervention.