31. October 2022

openSUSE Rust Bevy application failed with “Unable to find a GPU”

Bevy is data-driven engine written in Rust. The repository of Bevy contains several examples which can be started by a command like:

git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/bevyengine/bevy.git
cd bevy
cargo run --example alien_cake_addict

Users of openSUSe might experience following error:

hread 'main' panicked at 'Unable to find a GPU! Make sure you have installed required drivers! For extra information, see: https://github.com/bevyengine/bevy/blob/latest/docs/linux_dependencies.md', crates/bevy_render/src/renderer/mod.rs:121:10
note: run with `RUST_BACKTRACE=1` environment variable to display a backtrace

The problem is caused by missing Vulkan libraries in the system. This can be confirmed by running vkcube which may result in the following error:

vkEnumerateInstanceExtensionProperties failed to find the VK_KHR_surface extension.

Do you have a compatible Vulkan installable client driver (ICD) installed?
Please look at the Getting Started guide for additional information.

Check which graphic card is installed in the system:

sudo lspci -nnk | grep -A3 VGA

Which might result in a message like this:

00:02.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: Intel Corporation CometLake-U GT2

With this knowledge, it’s clear that library Vulkan Intel is missing and can be installed simply by:

sudo zupper install libvulkan_intel

Application vkcube should work after this change.

3. May 2022

Podman Debian apt-get update fails with “InRelease is not valid yet”

Podman 4.0.3 users on macOS might face the following strange error when building an image:

apt-get update
...
E: Release file for http://security.debian.org/debian-security/dists/bullseye-security/InRelease is not valid yet (invalid for another 3h 1min 9s). Updates for this repository will not be applied.
E: Release file for http://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/bullseye-updates/InRelease is not valid yet (invalid for another 7h 24min 41s). Updates for this repository will not be applied.

The problem is caused by the not synced clock in Podman VM. This might happen due to the hibernation of the notebook.

The quick fix of the problem is to restart Podman’s VM:

podman machine stop
podman machine start

21. February 2022

Podman: Could not open ‘edk2-aarch64-code.fd’

It’s possible to use brew to install Podman on Apple Silicon (M1). The installation gets slightly more complicated when the user wants to use Homebrew installed in user’s home directory.

Problem #1 – gvproxy

Command:

podman machine start

Error:

Error: unable to start host networking: "could not find \"gvproxy\" in one of ....

Solution: add path to Podman’s helper binaries stored in bin and libexec to ~/.config/containers/containers.conf

[engine]
  helper_binaries_dir=["/Users/georgik.rocks/brew/Cellar/podman/4.0.3/bin","/Users/georgik.rocks/brew/Cellar/podman/4.0.3/libexec"]

Problem #2 – edk2-aarch64-code.fd

Command:

podman machine start

Error:

INFO[0000] new connection from  to /tmp/podman/qemu_podman-machine-default.sock
Waiting for VM ...
qemu-system-aarch64: -drive file=edk2-aarch64-code.fd,if=pflash,format=raw,readonly=on: Could not open 'edk2-aarch64-code.fd': No such file or directory
Error: dial unix /tmp/podman/podman-machine-default_ready.sock: connect: connection refused
ERRO[0003] cannot receive packets from , disconnecting: cannot read size from socket: EOF
ERRO[0003] cannot read size from socket: EOF

Solution: Open file ~/.config/containers/podman/machine/qemu/podman-machine-default.json and change to /Users/USERNAME/brew/Cellar/qemu/6.2.0_1/share/qemu/edk2-aarch64-code.fd

"file=/Users/georgik.rocks/brew/Cellar/qemu/6.2.0_1/share/qemu/edk2-aarch64-code.fd,if=pflash,format=raw,readonly=on"

After these changes Podman should start without problem.

1. December 2021

How to connect ESP32 as USB serial device to Linux in WSL2 on Windows 11

There is a nice article and video explaining how to connect USB serial to Linux in WSL2.

Just few details are missing. Here is the full list of steps necessary to flash ESP32 with FTDI from WSL2:

  • Install Windows 11, open Windows Update – join Windows Insider Program (Beta channel) – install updates, reboot machine
  • Windows Update – Advanced Options – check the option “Receive updates for other Microsoft products” – Back – Check for updates
  • Reboot or shutdown WSL2 images
  • start a new WSL2 image e.g. with Ubuntu 20 LTS, check that you have kernel 5.10: uname -a. It does not work on 4.x kernel from normal WSL2
  • install https://github.com/dorssel/usbipd-win/releases on Windows
  • in Linux – sudo apt install linux-tools-5.4.0-77-generic hwdata
  • in Linux – visudo
  • in Linux – prepend path Defaults secure_path=”/usr/lib/linux-tools/5.4.0-77-generic:
  • connect ESP device with FTDI in Windows PowerShell (administrator) type: usbipd wsl list
  • search for 5-3 USB Serial Converter A, USB Serial Converter B Not attached
  • type in Windows: usbipd wsl attach -b 5-3 -d Ubuntu
  • type in Linux:cd examples/get-started/blink; idf.py build flash monitor

Result:

I (263) example: Example configured to blink addressable LED!
I (263) example: Turning the LED OFF!
I (1273) example: Turning the LED ON!

21. September 2021

How to install Podman on Linux Mint 20

Podman binaries for Linux Mint / Ubuntu are hosted by OpenSuse.org.

You need to add the repository to /etc/source.list.d. Common instructions for Ubuntu might not work, because VERSION_ID for Mint is not the same as for Ubuntu.

Instructions for Linux Mint 20.2 from Ubuntu 20.04 repository:

export VERSION_ID="20.04"
sudo sh -c "echo 'deb https://download.opensuse.org/repositories/devel:/kubic:/libcontainers:/stable/xUbuntu_${VERSION_ID}/ /' > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/devel:kubic:libcontainers:stable.list"
sudo wget -nv https://download.opensuse.org/repositories/devel:kubic:libcontainers:stable/xUbuntu_${VERSION_ID}/Release.key -O- | apt-key add -
sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y podman

Example of running container for IoT development:

If you’d like to develop for ESP32 chip connected to /dev/ttyUSB0 using C++ or Rust language, just start the container:

podman run --device /dev/ttyUSB0 -it docker.io/espressif/idf-rust-examples