TinyFPGA-BX on Ubuntu 20.04: "Error: board TinyFPGA-BX not connected"

[ll16mojh]

Hi,

I've followed the Ubuntu 20.04 Quick Start for the TinyFPGA-BX but when I run apio upload I get:

matt@matt-WE62-7RJ:~/TinyFPGA-BX/Blinky$ apio upload
(DEBUG) Profile path: /home/matt/.apio/profile.json
(DEBUG) Home_dir: /home/matt/.apio
(DEBUG) Profile path: /home/matt/.apio/profile.json
(DEBUG) Home_dir: /home/matt/.apio
(DEBUG) Run Command: lsusb
(DEBUG) System_base_dir: /home/matt/.apio/packages/tools-oss-cad-suite
(DEBUG) System bin dir: /home/matt/.apio/packages/tools-oss-cad-suite/bin
(DEBUG) Executable file: /home/matt/.apio/packages/tools-oss-cad-suite/bin/lsusb
Error: board TinyFPGA-BX not connected

After installing a fresh copy of Ubuntu 20.04 and running update, upgrade and autoremove, all I have done is:

sudo apt install python3
sudo apt install python3-pip
sudo pip3 install -U apio
apio install -a
apio drivers --serial-enable

At this point it said something about restarting, for the dialout group to work (I forget the exact wording) so I restarted my laptop. then ran:

sudo usermod -a -G dialout $USER
exec su -l $USER
sudo pip3 install tinyprog

At this point, as per quick start, I plugged in my board. One red LED is on continuously, the other is pulsing slowly which I believe means its in bootloader mode?

tinyprog --update-bootloader
apio examples -d TinyFPGA-BX/Blinky
cd TinyFPGA-BX/Blinky/
apio upload

And this gave the result above. At no point did i see any errors or anything that seemed to indicate a problem to me, so I'm a bit confused what I've done wrong or am missing (probably something simple and embarrassing!).

If I run tinyprog while its plugged in it returns:

    TinyProg CLI
    ------------
    Using device id 1d50:6130
    Only one board with active bootloader, using it.

and after removing the board tinyprog returns:

    TinyProg CLI
    ------------
    Using device id 1d50:6130
    No port was specified and no active bootloaders found.
    Activate bootloader by pressing the reset button.

Any suggestions welcome!

[towalker]

Hello. I'm running into the same problem. The additional info is that I first tried using the the suggested apio version in the guide (apio==0.4.0b5), but had problems building. Then, I installed the latest version (0.8.4), and could build but not upload.
Running lsusb (not the one in /tools-oss-cad-suite/bin/, but the system's one) I can see "Bus 001 Device 011: ID 1d50:6130 OpenMoko, Inc. "
Running "tynyprog -l" also gives this same device id, but says there is no metadata for the board. Anyone had the same problem? I'm on Ubuntu 22.04.

TinyProg CLI
------------
Using device id 1d50:6130
Only one board with active bootloader, using it.
Boards with active bootloaders:

    /dev/ttyACM0: No metadata

And the result of uploading:

(DEBUG) Profile path: /home/tweber/.apio/profile.json
(DEBUG) Home_dir: /home/tweber/.apio
(DEBUG) Profile path: /home/tweber/.apio/profile.json
(DEBUG) Home_dir: /home/tweber/.apio
(DEBUG) Run Command: lsusb
(DEBUG) System_base_dir: /home/tweber/.apio/packages/tools-oss-cad-suite
(DEBUG) System bin dir: /home/tweber/.apio/packages/tools-oss-cad-suite/bin
(DEBUG) Executable file: /home/tweber/.apio/packages/tools-oss-cad-suite/bin/lsusb
Error: board TinyFPGA-BX not connected

[towalker]

Just additional info. In regard to my previous comment on not being able to "apio build" with apio==0.4.0b5, this could be fixed by changing the following:

On file: ~/.apio/packages/tool-scons/script/../engine/SCons/Util.py

Changed line 49, from:
from collections import Iterable
to:
from collections.abc import Iterable

Although this allowed me to use "apio build" using apio==0.4.0b5, running "apio upload" still does not recognize the board.

[Obijuan]

Could you please try it again with the latest stable apio 0.9.2? (@ll16mojh and @towalker)
I've tested the tinyFPGABX in my ubuntu 22.04 and it work ok. I am not sure if it has been fixed for you

[Obijuan]

I am closing this issue. Please feel free to reopen it if the problem remains

[wxyangf]

Was just trying to get started with an TinyFPGA-BX today and ran into the same issue -- will post logs tomorrow. Don't have access to that system ATM.

[towalker]

Although I can "apio build" with apio 0.9.5 (after setting the "top-module" name in apio.ini) , I still can't get it to upload to the board.

$ apio upload
Activate bootloader by pressing the reset button
Error: board TinyFPGA-BX not connected

Pressing the reset button makes no change in the response. Probably it is a problem with the board itself, which is very unfortunate, as it costed me much more than the original price due to transportation and importation costs to Brazil.

[towalker]

Hello, it seems the problem is related to missing metadata in boards shipped in 2023.

The unofficial workaround is discussed in tinyfpga/TinyFPGA-BX#37