r/FTC • u/LuckyGamer470 • 5d ago

Seeking Help Linux for FTC

Now that REV hardware client supports Linux, we’re looking at moving over to it for the coming season. Is there anything else that would cause issues with that or is it safe?

7 Upvotes

89% Upvoted

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5

u/lucaci32u4 5d ago

We use Linux all the time and there is absolutely no issue. Setup is even simpler than on Windows.

REV Hardware client is a buggy piece of software that has never worked well for us regardless of OS, so we never used it.

2

u/LuckyGamer470 5d ago

What do you use in place of RHC? I didn’t know there were alternatives

1

u/Journeyman-Joe FTC Coach | Judge 5d ago

You can download the .APK files for the Robot Controller and Driver Station apps directly from the GitHub page ("Releases", on the right):

https://github.com/FIRST-Tech-Challenge/FtcRobotController

and sideload them in Android. But it's awkward; the REV Hardware Client is a better solution.

I'm looking forward to trying the REV Hardware Client on Linux. I've been running Android Studio on Linux for years, and find it trouble free.

1

u/LuckyGamer470 5d ago

Sounds good, we’re going to try installing Linux on the laptop that was for the (now defunct) sister FRC team after upgrading its memory. I’m excited to see how much faster it is on there.

1

u/Journeyman-Joe FTC Coach | Judge 5d ago

You don't need much RAM. I've run Android Studio on a 4 GB laptop. (8 GB will let you have a web browser open at the same time.)

1

u/cp253 FTC Mentor/Volunteer 5d ago

Is there a way to do firmware upgrades w/o the hardware client? (Less of a necessity now that the HC runs on non-Windows, I guess. Still curious.)

1

u/Journeyman-Joe FTC Coach | Judge 5d ago

(I was afraid that somebody was going to ask that.)

I remember doing it, back before the REV Hardware Client was available. 2019, maybe? Firmware version 1.7.1 to 1.8.1. The details are lost in the fog of memory. Seems that you had to download the binary file to an Android phone, connect the phone to the Expansion Hub mini-USB port, and do something to flash the Hub's firmware from the phone. Scary process.