Running ASP .NET vNext on a pcDuino

Microsoft is doing a lot of great things at the moment.  One of these is the ability to run ASP .NET vNext away from a Windows Server, and away from IIS.    Being a ASP .NET Mvc developer for a few years now, the idea to run on any environment is quite liberating.

 

A pcDuino is a device with tons of potential.   It’s a powerful device and it really is a full “mini PC” with enough processing power to do interesting things like image processing.    But is small enough to be used in situations where you would uses an Arduino, Netduino, RFduino etc in the IoT or maker space.   The pcDuino also has an Ethernet port and on-board WiFi, so it is a rather compelling internet connected device.

Having deployed Mono on my board already, it was also a no brainer to extend that and to explore the potential of an internet connected device but leveraging ASP .NET vNext to do that.

 

asp net web server

ASP .NET Web Server (with Arduino Uno and Xamarin Monkey used for scale)

 

 

To get started read these two blog posts:

 

Now that we have both Ubuntu and Mono installed, we can now begin getting ASP .NET vNext up and running.

To figure out how to do this, I referred to the ASP .NET github repository, “Getting Started” page.  This page can be found here:  https://github.com/aspnet/Home

 

Lets start by installing the necessary certificates.

$ CERTMGR=/usr/local/bin/certmgr
$ sudo $CERTMGR -ssl -m https://go.microsoft.com
$ sudo $CERTMGR -ssl -m https://nugetgallery.blob.core.windows.net
$ sudo $CERTMGR -ssl -m https://nuget.org
$ sudo $CERTMGR -ssl -m https://www.myget.org/F/aspnetvnext/
$ mozroots --import --sync

 

We need curl, so install that next

$ sudo apt-get install curl

 

Download and execute the KVM installer on the ASP .NET site.   As of writing this,  the master branch has the 1.0.0-beta1, so we will use that.

$ curl https://raw.githubusercontent.com/aspnet/Home/master/kvminstall.sh | sh && source ~/.kre/kvm/kvm.sh
$ kvm upgrade

 

Check to see if the installation is correct, you should see the version number reflected with the list command.

$ kvm list

 

If git is not already installed, install git next.

$ sudo apt-get-install git

 

The web server ASP .NET vNext uses (Kestrel), is based on Libuv, so we need to install that next.

$ git clone https://github.com/libuv/libuv.git
$ cd libuv
$ sh autogen.sh
$ ./configure
$ make
$ make check
$ sudo make install

 

Now we need something to run.  Lets use one of the samples from the ASP .NET github repository.for simplicity.  Clone the aspnet repository.

$ git clone https://github.com/aspnet/Home

 

Focusing on the Mvc example, change to the directory “HelloMvc”.    To resolve and download the necessary dependencies for the project, execute a restore command on the package manager “KPM”.

$ cd Home/samples/HelloMvc
$ kpm restore

 

We need to set up a symbolic link for libuv to avoid any “Object Reference not set to an instance of an object” errors.    This is not the most helpful or informative of error messages, but we get what it means.

 $ ln /usr/local/lib/libuv.so -sf ~/.kpm/packages/Microsoft.AspNet.Server.Kestrel/1.0.0-beta1/native/darwin/universal/libuv.dylib

 

Run the Kestrel server

$ LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/usr/local/lib k kestrel

 

If all goes well you should see “Started” appear on the command line.

$ Started

 

The default port for kestrel is 5004.   As a test navigate to “http://localhost:5004” using the internal pcDuino Chromium browser.     The sample ASP .NET Mvc application should appear as below.

 asp .net vnextAsp .NET Mvc site up and running on Mono 3.12.0

 

Find the ip address of the pcDuino using the ifconfig command.

$ ifconfig

 

Use this ip address from a remote device (or pc’s) browser.   The great feature of the pcDuino that it is equipped with both an Ethernet port and WiFi so connectivity is very easy and convenient.

 

Congratulations you now have a Mono / NET powered IOT device running ASP .Net vNext!   A mobile wireless web server / web connected device has endless potential.   In future blog posts I hope to explore some of those.

 

I hope this was helpful!

Mono Compilation on a pcDuino

Being a C# .NET developer and a Xamarin developer, it was just a matter of time before I had to have Mono on my pcDuino.    A default package installation of Mono on any ARM (ARMhf) device (like the pcDuino with it’s A20 processor) at this moment is unfortunately not possible as it’s not available yet.  However luckily Mono can be compiled directly on the pcDuino.   I’ll share my exploration of building Mono 3.12.0 here.

Attempting to install the current Mono packages on a system with an ARMhf processor will currently yield the following unfriendly error messages:

sudo apt-get install mono-devel
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
Some packages could not be installed. This may mean that you have
requested an impossible situation or if you are using the unstable
distribution that some required packages have not yet been created
or been moved out of Incoming.
The following information may help to resolve the situation:

The following packages have unmet dependencies:
mono-devel : Depends: mono-runtime (>= 2.10.1) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libmono-cecil-private-cil (>= 3.12.0) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libmono-cecil-private-cil (< 3.12.1) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libmono-codecontracts4.0-cil (>= 1.0) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libmono-compilerservices-symbolwriter4.0-cil (>= 3.6.0) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libmono-corlib2.0-cil (>= 3.2.8) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libmono-corlib4.5-cil (>= 3.12.0) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libmono-peapi2.0a-cil (>= 3.2.8) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libmono-peapi4.0a-cil (>= 3.2.8) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libmono-relaxng4.0-cil (>= 2.10.1) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libmono-security2.0-cil (>= 3.0.6) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libmono-security4.0-cil (>= 3.0.6) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libmono-system-componentmodel-composition4.0-cil (>= 3.0.6) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libmono-system-componentmodel-dataannotations4.0-cil (>= 3.2.3) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libmono-system-configuration-install4.0-cil (>= 1.0) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libmono-system-configuration4.0-cil (>= 1.0) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libmono-system-core4.0-cil (>= 3.2.8) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libmono-system-data-linq4.0-cil (>= 1.0) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libmono-system-data2.0-cil (>= 3.12.0) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libmono-system-data4.0-cil (>= 3.12.0) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libmono-system-numerics4.0-cil (>= 1.0) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libmono-system-runtime-serialization4.0-cil (>= 1.0) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libmono-system-runtime4.0-cil (>= 2.10.1) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libmono-system-security4.0-cil (>= 1.0) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libmono-system-servicemodel4.0a-cil (>= 3.2.3) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libmono-system-web-services4.0-cil (>= 1.0) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libmono-system-web2.0-cil (>= 2.10.3) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libmono-system-xml-linq4.0-cil (>= 3.0.6) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libmono-system-xml4.0-cil (>= 3.12.0) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libmono-system2.0-cil (>= 3.12.0) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libmono-system4.0-cil (>= 3.12.0) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libmono2.0-cil (>= 3.6.0) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: mono-mcs (= 3.12.0-0xamarin3) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: mono-gac (= 3.12.0-0xamarin3) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: mono-xbuild (= 3.12.0-0xamarin3) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libmono-cil-dev (= 3.12.0-0xamarin3) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libmono-2.0-dev (>= 3.12.0-0xamarin3) but 3.2.8+dfsg-4ubuntu1 is to be installed
Recommends: mono-csharp-shell but it is not going to be installed
E: Unable to correct problems, you have held broken packages.

 

To solve this problem we will make our own ARMhf targeted build. Let’s start by finding a USB memory stick or a SD card with sufficient space.   The Mono source repository is quite large and it occupies about two gigabytes of storage. I would suggest a size of four gigabytes or more (I used an eight gigabyte module myself).  Make sure it’s formatted to the Ext file system.  FAT32 will not work for compilation.  I wasted a good couple of hours with error messages caused simply by the chaos caused using the wrong file system.

 

To figure out what to do, I referred to the official Mono documentation for the installation steps I list below.   These compilation instructions can also be found here on the Mono site:  http://www.mono-project.com/docs/compiling-mono/linux/

 

Let’s first make sure we have the tools available to build Mono.

 

$ apt-get install git autoconf libtool automake build-essential gettext

 

Clone the Mono source code from the git repository.

 

$ cd /media/[path to your external media]
$ git clone git://github.com/mono/mono.git

 

The cloning of the Git repository can take a while depending on the internet connection.   The size of the repository is just under two gigabytes so try to be patient.

 

The entire process of compilation will take about five hours on the pcDuino, so best to do this overnight..

$ cd mono
$ git checkout mono-3.12.0-branch
$ git submodule init
$ git submodule update --recursive
$ git submodule

$ ./autogen.sh --prefix=/usr/local --with-sgen=yes --with-large-heap=yes --with-xen_opt=no --enable-parallel-mark --with-libgdiplus=/usr/local/lib
$ make get-monolite-latest
$ make EXTERNAL_MCS="${PWD}/mcs/class/lib/monolite/gmcs.exe"
$ make

Build in progress!

 

monocompiling

 

Compiling is complete!  So to conclude we will install the build locally.

$ sudo make install

 

Once installed check the Mono version.

$ mono --version

 

If you are seeing the message below, congratulations you have successfully built Mono 3.12 on your device!

Mono JIT compiler version 3.12.0 (mono-3.12.0-branch/501f5a9 Mon Feb 2 12:41:29 UTC 2015)
Copyright (C) 2002-2014 Novell, Inc, Xamarin Inc and Contributors. www.mono-project.com
TLS: __thread
SIGSEGV: normal
Notifications: epoll
Architecture: armel,vfp+hard
Disabled: none
Misc: softdebug
LLVM: supported, not enabled.
GC: sgen

 

For the non-adventurous or if you are just needing to save time, you can download my Mono-3.12.0 package here:  http://1drv.ms/1zvLtgN

 

Now that we have mono installed we can explore some pcDuino .net (c#) related topics in future posts.

Getting Started with a pcDuino

This is a brief introduction to the pcDuino.    I personally love it.  It’s a very compact, high performance device but with compatibility with arduino shields.   This is great for IOT use cases where more performance (or you could say intelligence) is needed.   The applications for this is endless and I hope to be exploring many of those in blogs to come.

Today I will just start with getting to know the pcDuino, and will take baby steps and we will begin with installing Ubuntu on it.  Out of interest, the pcDuino can also run Android 4.2.

 

PcDuino

 

As the picture shows, the pcDuino is nice and compact, but has all the features you could want on a device.  Having said that, there is only 1 Type A USB port.   I suggest as per my photo, to use a USB hub at-least to get everything up and running.  Many thanks to ‘O’Reilley’ for mine! 🙂   I am using a USB thumb drive, but to save a port a micro SD card could also be used.   There is a SD card slot under the board next to the audio connector.

 

Overview (as per www.pcduino.com)

pcDuino3 is a high performance, cost effective single board computer. It runs operation systems such as Ubuntu Linux and Android. pcDuino3 has HDMI interface to output its graphic desktop screen. It could support multi-format 1080p 60fps video decoder and 1080p 30fps H.264 and MPEG4 video encoder with its built-in hardware video processing engine. It targets specially the fast growing demands from the open source community. pcDuino3 provides easy-to-use tool chains and is compatible with the popular Arduino ecosystem such as Arduino Shields.

Features & Highlights:

  • 100% compatible with original Arduino Shields
  • 100% compatible with Linux and Android
  • Further support for:
  • C, C ++ with GNU tool
  • Java with standard Android SDK Python
  • Arduino pin header, Aduino UNO Slots: 14x GPIO, 2x PW M, 6x ADC, 1x UART, 1xSPI, 1x I2C
  • Ethernet 10M/100Mbps, WiFi, SATA

 

Below is the specs for the pcDuino 3 and 3B.   I will be using a 3B in this post.

 

CPU AllWinner A20 SoC, 1GHz ARM Cortex A7 Dual Core AllWinner A20 SoC, 1GHz ARM Cortex A7 Dual Core
GPU OpenGL ES2.0, OpenVG 1.1, Mali 400 Dual Core OpenGL ES2.0, OpenVG 1.1, Mali 400 Dual Core
DRAM 1GB 1GB
Onboard Storage 4GB Flash, microSD card (TF) slot for up to 32GB 4GB Flash, microSD card (TF) slot for up to 32GB
Video Output HDMI 1.4 with HDCP support HDMI 1.4 with HDCP support
OS
  • Ubuntu 12.04
  • Android 4.2
  • Ubuntu 12.04
  • Android 4.2
Arduino extension interface Arduino sockets, same as Arduino UNO
14xGPIO, 2xPWM, 6xADC, 1xUART, 1xSPI, 1xI2C
Arduino sockets, same as Arduino UNO
14xGPIO, 2xPWM, 6xADC, 1xUART, 1xSPI, 1xI2C
Network interface
  • Built-in WiFi
  • Ethernet 10M/100Mbps
  • Built-in WiFi
  • Ethernet 10M/100Mbps/1Gbps
Audio out
  • 3.5mm analog audio interface
  • I2S stereo digital audio interface
  • 3.5mm analog audio interface
  • I2S stereo digital audio interface
LCD LVDS LVDS
IR IR receiver IR receiver
SATA SATA Host socket SATA Host socket
Camera CSI CSI
Battery Li-Poly Battery Interface Li-Poly Battery Interface
USB 1 x USB host, 1xUSB OTG 1 x USB host, 1xUSB OTG
Power 5V, 2000mA 5V, 2000mA
Overall Size 121mm x 65mm 121mm x 65mm
Image download Image for pcDuino3  Image for pcDuino3B

 

Installing Ubuntu 14

Downloand the Ubuntu 14 Nand image here:   https://s3.amazonaws.com/pcduino/Images/v3/ubuntu14/pcduino3_livesuit_ubuntu14_GbpsMAC_20141231.tar.gz

 

Download Phoenix Suite for writing the Nand Image to the pcDuino from here:  https://s3.amazonaws.com/pcduino/Tools/PhoenixSuit1.0.6.zip

I didn’t have much luck getting Phoenix Suite to work in Windows 8.1 64 bit.  The USB driver does not install.  I however had success on Windows XP and Windows 7.

 

You will need two micro USB cables for writing the nand image.   You will also need a 5V 2A USB power supply.   I am using an iPad charger which is working just fine.

 

Plug in the USB power supply into the power USB port.  This is situated between the Ethernet port and the HDMI port.     Then plug in the second USB cable into the micro USB OTG port, which is situated next to the USB type A port on the opposite side of the board.   The other end of this cable will be plugged into the PC.

 

Run the Phoenix Suite software.     It will oddly say, “No Device Attached”, but ignore that.      Select “Firmware” which is top center of the dialog.   And browse to the image.   Note that this uses the “img” file, so be sure to extract the “gz” file that was downloaded.   I used 7zip to do this.   Click on the “Upgrade” button.  Again ignore any messages that pop up.

phoenix

On the pcDuino board press the “Upgrade” button.   While holding the button, press the “Reset” button.    These are both clearly marked on the board.

 

A popup will appear in Phoenix Suite: “Does mandatory format?”   Click “Yes”.

 

A few minutes later you should be greeted with a message:  “Upgrade Firmware Succeeded!”   Plug in a HDMI cable, mouse, keyboard and reset the pcDuino.   A moment later Ubuntu should boot and the GUI will appear on the HDMI monitor.  Also note the Tx and Rx leds on the board will both be lit up indicating success.

 

This is just the first step to exploring the pcDuino. I hope it was helpful.