Using the Raspberry Pi to access the Red Pitaya Console

The Red Pitaya is configured to be fully web compatible and easily connectable to local networks. There are a number of ways that working connections can be achieved, as stated in the Red Pitaya user manual.

Red Pitaya is a network attached device acting as a WEB server. Users can connect to Red Pitaya by simply typing its IP address in the WEB browser address bar. Furthermore, the Red Pitaya IP discovery service helps you automatically connect to your Red Pitaya(s) in your local network.

If you are a Raspberry Pi user, one way of accessing the Red Pitaya “console” would be to follow the steps described below:

• Insert the prepared memory card containing the latest software image into the Red Pitaya 

• Connect the Red Pitaya to your network switch or router using an Ethernet Cat5e cable (not supplied). 

• Connect the “Console” micro USB socket on the Red Pitaya at a spare USB socket on your Raspberry Pi (or to a spare USB socket on a hub connected to your Raspberry Pi) using a USB “A” to micro “B” cable (not supplied) 

• Connect the power supply to the “Power” micro USB socket on the Red Pitaya and turn the power on 

• Power up your Raspberry Pi and login 

• If necessary download and install Minicom on to your Raspberry Pi by entering the following at the command line prompt (or in a terminal window): 

            pi@raspberrypi ~ $ sudo apt-get install minicom 

• Run Minicom by entering the following at the command line prompt (or in a terminal window)

             pi@raspberrypi ~ $ minicom –D /dev/ttyUSB0

•  Press “Ctrl + A” and then press “O” to enter the Minicom configuration menu 

• Use the arrow keys to go to “Serial port setup” and press Enter

• Change the settings until they are as shown below (note Flow control must be “Off”)

• When finished changing settings, press Enter and then select “Save setup as dfl” and press Enter

• Then select “Exit” and press Enter

• Once you are back to the main minicom screen, press Enter 
• You should now see the Red Pitaya prompt

• Display the IP address assigned to the Red Pitaya by the DCHP server on your network by entering the following at the Red Pitaya prompt 

             redpitaya> ip address show 

• This should display some information similar to the following 

• In my case the IP address assigned to the Red Pitaya is 192.168.1.103 

            To access the Red Pitaya’s web applications just enter the Red Pitaya’s IP address in a browser window on any device on your network 

• When finished using the Red Pitaya console, press “Ctrl + A” and then “X” to leave Minicom 

• Next time you want to access the Red Pitaya console, simply run Minicom as follows: 

pi@raspberrypi ~ $ minicom –D /dev/ttyUSB0 

• When Minicom launches, press Enter once and you should see the Red Pitaya prompt

More about Red Pitaya