Setting Up Jackal's Network =========================== Jackal is equipped with a combination Wifi + Bluetooth wireless module. On currently-shipping units, this is an `Intel Centrino Advanced-N 6235`__. If this is your first unboxing, ensure that Jackal's wireless antennas are firmly screwed on to the chassis. .. _Centrino: http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/wireless-products/centrino-advanced-n-6235.html __ Centrino_ First Connection ---------------- By default, Jackal's wireless is in client mode, looking for the wireless network at the Clearpath factory. In order to set it up to connect to your own network, you'll have to open up the chassis and connect a network cable to the PC's ``STATIC`` port. The other end of this cable should be connected to your laptop, and you should give yourself an IP address in the ``192.168.131.x`` space, such as ``192.168.131.50``. Then, make the connection to Jackal's default static IP: .. code-block:: bash ssh administrator@192.168.131.1 The default password is ``clearpath``. You should now be logged into Jackal as the administrator user. Connecting to Wifi Access Point -------------------------------- Jackal's standard wireless network manager is wicd_. To connect to an access point in your lab, run: .. code-block:: bash wicd-curses You should see a browsable list of networks which the robot has detected. Use arrow keys to select the one you would like to connect to, and then press the right arrow to configure it. You can enter your network's password near the bottom of the page, and note that you must select the correct encryption scheme; most modern networks use ``WPA1/2 Passphrase``, so if that's you, make sure that option is selected. You also likely want to select the option to automatically reconnect to this network, so that Jackal will be there for you on your wireless automatically in the future. When you're finished, press F10 to save, and then C to connect. Wicd will tell you in the footer what IP address it was given by your lab's access point, so you can now log out, remove the network cable, and reconnect over wireless. When you've confirmed that all this is working as expected, close up Jackal's chassis. .. _wicd: https://launchpad.net/wicd .. _remote: Remote ROS Connection --------------------- To use ROS desktop tools, you'll need your computer to be able to connect to Jackal's ROS master. This can be a tricky process, but we've tried to make it as simple as possible. In order for the ROS tools on your computer to talk to Jackal, they need to know two things: - How to find the ROS master, which is set in the ``ROS_MASTER_URI`` environment variable, and - How processes on the other computer can find *your computer*, which is the ``ROS_IP`` environment variable. The suggested pattern is to create a file in your home directory called ``remote-jackal.sh`` with the following contents: .. code-block:: bash export ROS_MASTER_URI=http://cpr-jackal-0001:11311 # Jackal's hostname export ROS_IP=10.25.0.102 # Your laptop's wireless IP address If your network doesn't already resolve Jackal's hostname to its wireless IP address, you may need to add a corresponding line to your computer's ``/etc/hosts`` file: .. code-block:: bash 10.25.0.101 cpr-jackal-0001 Then, when you're ready to communicate remotely with Jackal, you can source that script like so, thus defining those two key environment variables in the present context. .. code-block:: bash source remote-jackal.sh Now, when you run commands like ``rostopic list``, ``rostopic echo``, ``rosnode list``, and others, the output you see should reflect the activity on Jackal's ROS master, rather than on your own machine. Once you've verified the basics (list, echo) from the prompt, try launching some of the standard visual ROS tools: .. code-block:: bash roslaunch jackal_viz view_robot.launch rosrun rqt_robot_monitor rqt_robot_monitor rosrun rqt_console rqt_console If there are particular :roswiki:`rqt` widgets you find yourself using a lot, you may find it an advantage to dock them together and then export this configuration as the default RQT perspective. Then, to bring up your standard GUI, you can simply run: .. code-block:: bash rqt Advanced: Hosting a Wifi Access Point ------------------------------------- The default network manager (wicd) only supports joining existing networks. It does not support creating its own wireless AP. However, there is experimental support in Jackal for a modern network manager called connman_, which does. .. _connman: https://01.org/connman .. warning:: You are unlikely to damage your hardware by switching Jackal from wicd to connman, but it's possible you could end up with a platform which will need to be :ref:`reflashed back to the factory state ` in order to be usable. If you're comfortable with this and have backed up your data, proceed. Add the PPA which makes up-to-date connman releases available to Ubuntu 14.04, and install connman. .. code-block:: bash sudo add-apt-repository ppa:mikepurvis/network sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get install connman Now edit the upstart job file in ``/etc/init/connman.conf``. Suggested configuration: .. code-block:: bash description "Connection Manager"   start on started dbus stop on stopping dbus   console log respawn   exec connmand --nobacktrace -n -c /etc/connman/main.conf -I eth1 -I hci0 And edit connman's general configuration in ``/etc/connman/main.conf``. Suggested: .. code-block:: bash [General] TetheringTechnologies = wifi PersistentTetheringMode = true Now, use the connmanctl command-line interface to set up an AP, which connman calls "tethering" mode: .. code-block:: bash $ connmanctl connmanctl> enable wifi connmanctl> tether wifi on Jackal clearpath If you want to use connman to connect to another AP rather than host: .. code-block:: bash $ connmanctl connmanctl> tether wifi off connmanctl> agent on connmanctl> scan wifi connmanctl> services connmanctl> connect wifi_12345_67890_managed_psk Use as the argument to ``connect`` one of the services listed in the ``services`` output. You will be interrogated for the network's password, which is then cached in ``/var/lib/connman/``.