Configuring the Burt Internal PC As A Static IP

The goal of this tutorial is to configure the ethernet port at the back of the BURT internal PC to have a static IP address. This allows the user to connect an external PC to the internal PC through the ethernet connection at the back of the console, over the static IP address configured. The user is expected to know how to configure their PC, or laptop, to have a static IP address on an ethernet port. Setting this up allows for a lot of flexibility to be achieved as the PC can be connected to a network, a single PC, or otherwise and a server can be run on the PC which passes through low or high-level commands to the mainboard. As an added benefit the internal PC can now be easily accessed over ssh.

Throughout the instructions we will use the static IP address of 192.168.200.123 with a netmask of 255.255.255.0 (or /24). This can be set as needed by the user.

Setup Diagram

Requirements

Before starting this procedure you should have:

• The console
• A HDMI cable and HDMI capable monitor hooked up to the HDMI port on the back of the console
• A USB keyboard and mouse plugged into the front of the console

Instructions

• Open up the Terminal application
• Backup the default DHCP based network configuration:

sudo cp /etc/network/interfaces /etc/netwrok/interfaces.default 

• Next we will open the network interfaces file for editing

sudo nano /etc/network/interfaces

• Now we will edit the interfaces file. factory default is:

# interfaces(5) file used by ifup(8) and ifdown(8)
auto lo
iface lo inet loopback

auto eno1
iface eno1 inet static
         address 192.168.100.100/24

auto enp5s0
# Comment out the following lines to disable enp5s0
iface enp5s0 inet dhcp
# and then uncomment the following lines to disable enp5s0
#iface enp5s0 inet static
#        address 0.0.0.0
#        netmask 255.255.255.255

auto can0
iface can0 inet manual
# bitrate 1MBps
# increase TX queue length because of the pulsed nature of
# the traffic we generate
          pre-up /sbin/ip link set can0 type can bitrate 1000000
          up /sbin/ip link set can0 up
          down /sbin/ip link set can0 down

• We will change it to:

# interfaces(5) file used by ifup(8) and ifdown(8)
auto lo
iface lo inet loopback

auto eno1
iface eno1 inet static
  	address 192.168.100.100/24

auto enp5s0
iface enp5s0 inet static
        address 192.168.200.123/24

auto can0
iface can0 inet manual
# bitrate 1MBps
# increase TX queue length because of the pulsed nature of
# the traffic we generate
   		pre-up /sbin/ip link set can0 type can bitrate 1000000
                up /sbin/ip link set can0 up

This will now allow us to connect directly to the internal PC from an external pc on port 192.168.200.123 from an IP of 192.168.200.xxx (where xxx is some arbitrary number between 1 and 255 (except 123)). Any IP address can be configured at this point, and the user may opt for a different ip address; however make sure you configure your network properly.

• Reset your network connection:

sudo ifdown enp5s0
sudo ifup enp5s0

• Testing. Now connect your system to the ethernet port on the back of the robot. Configure your laptop or PC to communicate as an IP address of 192.168.200.100 (note if the IP address you set above is different this should change appropriately.). At this point from your external PC or laptop you should be able to ping 192.168.200.123 (or the IP address you chose). From a linux system you should see:

ping 192.168.200.123

and you should see traffic of data.

• You can also now use ssh to connect to the robot. For example:

  ssh robot@192.168.200.123
  

Reverting To Factory Default

• If you want to reactivate the default configuration which sets up DHCP on the robot please do the following:

sudo cp /etc/network/interfaces /etc/netwrok/interfaces.static
sudo cp /etc/network/interfaces.default /etc/netwrok/interfaces