Variant value?

[MzTechnology97]

What value should I enter the variant?
I tried COMP-CONTROLLINO but it doesn't work

[shawaj]

Yes this doesn't work just yet. It's a work in progress

You can follow progress here NebraLtd/hm-pyhelper#128 and here NebraLtd/hm-pyhelper#127

[uros76]

Hi. Is there a variant variable known now?

[c0r391]

would be great when this works now, because of the crappy service fee of contollino :-X

[uros76]

I am afraid this is a dead end too :( no response in months. Perhaps it's due to a lack of agreement between nebra and controllino? I don't know...

[shawaj]

Just FYI this repo is not really monitored.

But in any case, we haven't been able to get this working yet. As you can see here:

NebraLtd/hm-pyhelper#127

[uros76]

Thanks. Even that one is stuck since July :(

Do you guys need any help with testing or anything else to get it working? There are few of us controllino users who can assist in any way we can.

[shawaj]

@uros76 yes unfortunately we haven't had the time to dedicate to another manufacturers software.

The main issue is that they use a concentrator with a power enable, which we don't currently support in our software. And we haven't actually figured out how the enable works yet.

We were hoping to get some info on this directly from controllino but didn't hear back.

[uros76]

Ah ok I understand @shawaj. Controllino was dissolved recently and the new iteration of a maker company is doing crazy stuff like making users wait months for support. Or the new crazy thing they decided to charge for support from next year.
You can forget about them coming back to you with any technical development or clarification. In fact they would probably want to charge you for any information. It's that bad.

That's why controllino users community is trying to find a solution to untether from this maker and their crazy ideas completely.
I am not a tech expert sadly to help on the concentrator side. The power enable is an unique feature of Embit concentrator?
Did you have a look at these docs?
http://www.embit.eu/wp-content/uploads/Datasheet-EMB-LR1301-mPCIe_.pdf
http://www.embit.eu/wp-content/uploads/Datasheet-EMB-RasPI-130x-Cape.pdf

[shawaj]

@uros76 Who is the new company that took over controllino?

The datasheets are helpful thanks. They show the power enable pin and the i2c bus :-)

I think the other issue as well was that they put the ECC chip on the concentrator itself. But not sure if that will be a blocker.

I'll have to find my controllino hotspot now to check it out 😂

I can't give any idea of how long this will take though as it requires building in new functionality that we don't currently have

[shawaj]

PDFs for future reference
Datasheet-EMB-LR1301-mPCIe_.pdf
Datasheet-EMB-RasPI-130x-Cape.pdf

[c0r391]

@shawaj @uros76 I appreciate your help with our problem.
Thanks from the whole controllino community.

[uros76]

Controllino was not sold but kind of changed name with the same owner. New name is Conelcom. Good luck getting anything useful from them. Many of us have escalated issues with Helium already...

Some users reported that they could swap rpi board and the hotspot resumed working. Not sure if that changes anything but yeah chip seems to be on the concentrator.

Pls dig out that old controllino of yours and play around. If you need ant tips or help or some guinea pig for testing send me a DM ;)

[shawaj]

@uros76 don't suppose you have a controllino hotspot that we could experiment with remotely?

[uros76]

Of course, I have two of them. Shoot me DM and I will set up remote access for you as needed.

[uros76]

One more thing @shawaj I created an unofficial controllino community discord server back in September where I shared tons of findings and our knowledge. Check it out perhaps something useful for your discovery
https://discord.io/controllino

[shawaj]

Can you flash the image shown here to the SD card?

https://hub.balena.io/nebraltd/helium-controllino

Click get started, then choose pi 4 as the device type

[uros76]

That link takes me to generic page.
You mean this one? https://hub.balena.io/organizations/nebraltd/fleets/HELIUM-CONTROLLINO

[shawaj]

Yes sorry that's the correct link

[uros76]

Downloading slowly don't know why. Once I load it will report back

[shawaj]

Awesome thanks @uros76 then I'll have a poke around 🙂

[uros76]

I tried downloading the image twice and it fails on transfer. Now trying the flashing straight from the browser and etcher app. Let's see if it finally works

[shawaj]

If not try downloading from here, I just downloaded and uploaded to Google drive.

This one will only work on ethernet though...

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1fpkCHyoVbMrWjaXeyA6HbCFUHwAmtaFE/view?usp=drivesdk

[uros76]

Yeah I will try your link.
Flashing direct failed :(

[uros76]

The file from gdrive worked. I just flashed on an sd card and plugged it into my controllino.
Do you see it online?

[uros76]

I do see a new dot on the fleet map, it must be working then :)
Let me know what you find out.

[shawaj]

Thanks! I'll try and take a look tomorrow 🙂

[uros76]

@shawaj any progress? 😊

[shawaj]

@uros76 I didn't have any time to take a look yet, but I'm home alone tonight so planning to take a look in a bit. Will let you know if I make any progress :-)

[shawaj]

@uros76 good news - i have the concentrator on your unit working. it requires us to turn on the power using the power enable chip

we are going to have to add some new logic to the pyhelper module or somewhere else in order to automatically handle this based on the variant.

this may take a bit of time but will see if we can push it ahead :-)

(Leave the unit turned on and plugged in - and we will see if it witnesses/beacons sometime soon!)

[shawaj]

@kashifpk @KevinWassermann94 - do you have any thoughts on where this logic should go?

it is a power enable chip to turn on the power to the HAT on the controllino unit. I am thinking maybe in hm-pyhelper?

Pull in the pin number for a power enable param in hardware definition (false if not there, number of pin if there?) and then make output and set to 1?

What do you think?

EDIT: on second thought I guess we can use dtoverlay=gpio-poweroff,gpiopin=17,active_low - just tested and this works to pull the pin high at boot and pull it low before shutdown

[garfield1981]

@shawaj I'm always very interested in testing and trying out new things.
Yes, the standard install by going to https://nebra.io/controllino also worked immediately. I've installed it again and will leave it that way for now.
The most important thing for me is not to be dependent on Controllino anymore.
Thank you for your time and have a nice evening.

[shawaj]

@garfield1981 the Balena fleet of your own will work, but it won't auto update. You will have to push the new release every time there is an update.

So unless you want to do the manual updates and you have a specific need for having your own fleet then I'd say to just use the standard fleet we provide.

But of course, it's up to you 😉

[uros76]

Here's a copy of the instructions mentioned above:

Instructions to deploy Nebra firmware on v1 or PRO version of Controllino hotspot to your private Balena fleet:

• Go to Balena dashboard and create your account (https://dashboard.balena-cloud.com/login)
• Visit https://nebra.io/controllino and click on "Fork this fleet"
• Leave default settings and click "Create and deploy"
• Navigate to your newly created fleet on Balena dashboard
• Give it few minutes and confirm that you see release ready under "Releases".
• Leave "track latest" releases selected under "Summary" section
• Under your fleet, go to "Variables" section and click "Add variable"
• Add service: All services name: VARIANT value: COMP-CONTROLLINO
• Go to "Configuration" section and activate "Define DT parameters for the default overlay" and edit this text including quotation signs "i2c_arm=on","spi=on","audio=on"
• Still on configuration section, activate "Define DT overlays" and edit this text including quotation signs "spi0-1cs","gpio-shutdown,gpio_pin=17,active_low=1,gpio_pull=up"
• Navigate to "Devices" and click "Add device" and leave default settings (rpi 4, balenaOS, production, latest version, ethernet)
• Click "Flash" and "Download BalenaOS"
• Flash downloaded firmware with Balenta Etcher app https://www.balena.io/etcher/
• On first bootup your controllino will be picked up by Balena dashboard. Give it plenty of time to finish deployment of software
  Now you have a working remote dashboard and you are completely disconnected from controllino support and their dependencies.

[garfield1981]

Hello, @uros76 I followed your instructions exactly. That doesn't work for me. I tried it 5 times.
I started from scratch and flashed the SD card again.
The image from https://hub.balena.io/organizations/nebraltd/fleets/HELIUM-CONTROLLINO works for me immediately.

[uros76]

I don't know what else could be wrong. Those are the steps I did and it worked. Are you still getting "packet-forwarder KeyError: 'COMP-CONTROLLINO'" issue?

[shawaj]

Yeah the instructions look good to me as well, not sure what went wrong to be honest!

[uros76]

Another idea @shawaj. If someone with a private fleet enables the "Support access" do you have access to that device than and can look at it?
I just worry that it might not be isolated case and more like above issue could pop up.

[shawaj]

@uros76 no that would be Balena support not Nebra

[uros76]

Ah ok, never mind then. Let's see if more users support same issue

[shawaj]

I'm thinking it was due to me updating this repo (splitting it into testnet and master branches). That was around the same time.

Possibly just deleting the fleet and starting again might solve it.

Also @uros76 just to check you are aware that this will require you to manually update every time we push an update?

[uros76]

Yes fully aware, thanks. I am using nebra rak/mntd firmware on my private fleet for months now.

[shawaj]

Yes fully aware, thanks. I am using nebra rak/mntd firmware on my private fleet for months now.

Awesome. Glad it's been of use to you 😊

[shawaj]

FYI to anyone who needs it here are installation instructions:

https://support.nebra.com/support/solutions/articles/24000078655

[shawaj]

@uros76 I found a way to auto-populate all the configuration variables.

Would you mind being a guinea pig again?

If you go to https://hub.balena.io/organizations/nebraltd/fleets/HELIUM-CONTROLLINO and click on fork fleet, when you create the fleet it should automatically populate all the environment variables and config variables for you.

Let me know if it works!

[uros76]

@uros76 I found a way to auto-populate all the configuration variables.

Would you mind being a guinea pig again?

If you go to https://hub.balena.io/organizations/nebraltd/fleets/HELIUM-CONTROLLINO and click on fork fleet, when you create the fleet it should automatically populate all the environment variables and config variables for you.

Let me know if it works!

Seems to be working. Good job!
Is "HELIUM_MINER_HEIGHT_URL" also needed?

[shawaj]

Great thanks @uros76 😊🙏

The Helium miner height URL isn't really needed anymore but we put it in in any case on our main fleets so included in here as well.

[shawaj]

Just FYI, I've found an alternative (and better) way to the gpio-shutdown dtoverlay mentioned in this comment by @uros76 - #1 (comment)

• Still on configuration section, activate "Define DT overlays" and edit this text including quotation signs "spi0-1cs","gpio-shutdown,gpio_pin=17,active_low=1,gpio_pull=up"

The better way is to set:

• "Define DT overlays" and edit this text including quotation signs "spi0-1cs"
• "Allows GPIO pins to be set to specific modes and values at boot time" and edit this text including quotation signs "17=op,dh"

Whilst unlikely, the way using the gpio-shutdown overlay could potentially have unintended consequences (shutdowns) if there is some issue with power supply or something that causes pin 17 to be pulled low externally. With the updated method, this is not a risk.

[pixelcatcher]

well...
who can help? :)

[shawaj]

well... who can help? :)

Are you getting any error messages when you push the image?

Or on the dashboard there?

[pixelcatcher]

honestly I don't know how to push this image. I have already deployed a device but there seems to be no helium related SW on it. Also there is no dashboard. Appartently its because of the error.

[shawaj]

Please follow the instructions here https://nebra.io/controllino

[shawaj]

Sorry that was the wrong link. This is the correct one https://support.nebra.com/support/solutions/articles/24000078655

[pixelcatcher]

Thank you!
On the unofficial helium discord there is a pinned message with a tutorial which says:

"- Visit https://nebra.io/controllino and click on "Fork this fleet""

Which is what I did.
I will now repeat following your instructions.

[shawaj]

Fork this fleet is not what you want to do unless you are fairly technical with experience of docker containers etc.

For auto updates etc you want https://support.nebra.com/support/solutions/articles/24000078655

Maybe you can ask them to update?

[pixelcatcher]

I did :) thanks for your help!
waiting for the device now :) it seems busy

[shawaj]

I did :) thanks for your help! waiting for the device now :) it seems busy

No problem at all. The fork fleet is quite manual and requires you to do your own updates etc

[acaltas]

any new Updates for the Controllino Miners with Nebra Software?
@shawaj

[shawaj]

What update do you need?

[acaltas]

i was only looking what is the latest update for nebra Miners.. and latest was on the 28.Oct 2023.
until now no updates.. befor we got more updates in the months

development stopped ?

[shawaj]

@acaltas there hasn't been any helium network updates since then