Creating an Extension

We’ve been developing an extension however when installed, this shows:

I believe it may not be seeing the Dockerhub container?

Running BlueOS 1.2.6
Extension running Vue/Vuetify/FastAPI

Hi @grantdutoit -
If you update to BlueOS 1.3 Beta 9, you’ll receive more helpful debugging information when viewing extension logs!

Hi @tony-white

Thanks, I updated to the version suggested. Nice new look. In the extension, I see a little robot head saying, “This extension is enabled but the container is not running”. The robot doesn’t appear all the time, randomly popping in and out.

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I’m also noticing the BlueOS disconnecting and reconnecting frequently.

This seems to cause the Extensions to appear and disappear. Feeling quite magical! The notices are flooded with wifi notifications. We don’t use wifi as I believe it’s better to do everything in the real environment.

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The scanning never stops and never connects nor detects yet there are wifi signals. Is this perhaps caused by some of the laptops in use connecting to the network via wifi only? Each time it disconnects, the MAVLink heartbeat fails and has to be restored. A yellow antenna comes and goes and more notices are added!

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Not sure if all the problems are related however there seem to be some common threads.

Not sure if the above image is also related or to what extent. Keep in mind this is a fresh install that was upgraded today from 1.2.6. This error was from the laptop that is connected via ethernet. Do we need to do the bootstrap update?

We make use of both local and remote IP via Zerotier, each throwing out some or all of the issues above.

Where do Extensions reside in the BlueOS system? For example, systems that don’t connect to the internet, how do they get and keep the extensions?

Hi @grantdutoit -
The errors your seeing sometimes occur if you load BlueOS while the Raspberry Pi is still starting up… I’m interested to know how you installed our extension without connecting BlueOS to WiFi with internet, as this is the standard approach!
You may want to “view logs” to see what’s making your extension crash and restart…
The Bootstrap update is not necessary, good to have the system fall back to stable 1.2.6 if there is a problem.
Extensions each have their own docker container.

Hi @tony-white
The RPi is only connected to the internet/network using ethernet. The pairing laptop’s wifi is disabled. As is the RPi.

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After installing using the methods on the BR support pages, I select Extensions, then select the Extensions for installing. They install normally without problems. We use Zerotier and Cockpit. Generally without issues in terms of install and run. Some setup issues have been ironed out.

Are there any specific logs we could share with you that may help? The whole lot is very large.

The BlueOS version keeps defaulting to “factory”. I’ve done a fresh install and it still defaults.

Hi @grantdutoit -
Your system is still running a bootstrap version of BlueOS that has a bug that causes this roll-back. To remedy this, update to the latest stable version of BlueOS (1.2.6) and apply the bootstrap update via the “update bootstrap” version. Then, update BlueOS to 1.3 Beta9, in order to receive more log information when testing your extension.

@tony-white how is it possible to load BlueOS while the RPi is still starting up. The software is loaded and the RPi is powered. I’m unaware of a manner to control which starts up first. If this is responsible for the errors, how do we resolve this?

Hi @grantdutoit -
Apologies - I’m referring to loading the BlueOS web interface immediately after the Raspberry Pi starts up, and you hear the confirmation tones from the thrusters indicating the Docker container running Ardupilot has started.
Please wait 30-60 seconds at a minimum before trying to load BlueOS after hearing the system start up.
Defintely upgrade to 1.3 beta 10 too!

1.3-beta.9 seems to be better for us. Each time we change to the latest, we get a new set of problems.

Picking up on the wifi issue, are you saying we should be running on wifi and not ethernet while we’re doing development and handling extensions?

Hi @grantdutoit -
1.3 is now stable - I was encouraging you to upgrade because 1.2.6 had bugs present.
Connecting to the system via wifi or ethernet should not make a difference!