Last night the ev3dev people released a Linux driver for WeDo. For now it is just for ev3dev so it works only in Mindstorms EV3 but hopefully it will get to other distributions and it will allow anyone with a Raspberry Pi or an Ubuntu laptop (like me) to use WeDo without python WeDo or WeDoMore libraries – just a shell is enough!

We need a ev3dev with kernel 3.16.1-7 or above:

root@ev3dev:~# uname -a
Linux ev3dev 3.16.1-7-ev3dev #2 PREEMPT Tue Nov 25 11:24:38 CST 2014 armv5tejl GNU/Linux

If your kernel is older, just

apt-get update
apt-get dist-upgrade
reboot

After reboot, creat a udev rule for WeDo – it will prevent the kernel to bind it to the usbhid driver, binding it instead to legowedo driver:

nano /etc/udev/rules.d/80-wedo.rules

SUBSYSTEM=="usb", ATTRS{idVendor}=="0694", ATTRS{idProduct}=="0003" ACTION=="add", \
    RUN+="/bin/sh -c 'echo $kernel > /sys/bus/usb/drivers/usbhid/unbind;           \
                      echo $kernel > /sys/bus/usb/drivers/legowedo/bind'"

Now just reboot or refresh the udev rules by

udevadm control --reload-rules

If you plug the LEGO WeDo USB Hub and check dmesg it wil show

[ 1222.200538] usb 1-1.2: new low-speed USB device number 5 using ohci
[ 1222.370828] hid-generic 0003:0694:0003.0002: hidraw0: USB HID v1.10 Device [LEGO USB Hub V1.00] on usb-ohci.0-1.2/input0
[ 1222.691293] wedo hub0: Bound 'hub0' to 'usb1-1.2:1.0'

We now have a new device ‘hub0’:

root@ev3dev:~# ls /sys/bus/wedo/devices/ -la
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 0 Nov 25 06:21 hub0 -> ../../../devices/platform/ohci.0/usb1/1-1/1-1.2/1-1.2:1.0/hub0

with the following properties:

root@ev3dev:~# ls /sys/bus/wedo/devices/hub0
clear_error  error  high_power  port0  port1  power  reset  shut_down  subsystem  uevent  voltage

So we may check if the USB port gives enough current for a motor:

root@ev3dev:~# cat /sys/bus/wedo/devices/hub0/high_power 
1

or check for the USB power quality (in mV):

root@ev3dev:~# cat /sys/bus/wedo/devices/hub0/voltage 
5145

Now if we plug a LEGO Power Functions motor to one of the ports it will immediately be recognized by the kernel:

[ 1736.348469] dc-motor motor0: Bound to device 'port0'

and the motor is seen by the kernel as dc-motor like if we were using an NXT/EV3 to Power Functions or RCX adapter:

root@ev3dev:~# ls /sys/class/dc-motor -la
lrwxrwxrwx  1 root root 0 Nov 25 06:30 motor0 -> ../../devices/platform/ohci.0/usb1/1-1/1-1.2/1-1.2:1.0/hub0/port0/dc-motor/motor0

root@ev3dev:~# ls /sys/class/dc-motor/motor0
command   device      duty_cycle_sp  polarity   power         ramp_up_ms  uevent
commands  duty_cycle  name           port_name  ramp_down_ms  subsystem

So we can make it spin with 35% duty cycle:

echo 35 > /sys/class/dc-motor/motor0/duty_cycle_sp

And it’s the same for WeDo sensors – as I just have a tilt sensor, lets plug it:

root@ev3dev:~# ls /sys/class/msensor/ -la
lrwxrwxrwx  1 root root 0 Nov 25 06:40 sensor0 -> ../../devices/platform/ohci.0/usb1/1-1/1-1.2/1-1.2:1.0/hub0/port1/msensor/sensor0

root@ev3dev:~# ls /sys/class/msensor/sensor0
address   bin_data_format  commands  dp    modes  num_values  power      uevent  value0  value2  value4  value6
bin_data  command          device    mode  name   port_name   subsystem  units   value1  value3  value5  value7

The tilt sensor driver has 3 operation modes:

root@ev3dev:~# cat /sys/class/msensor/sensor0/modes
TILT TILT-AXIS RAW

by default it operates in TILT mode:

root@ev3dev:~# cat /sys/class/msensor/sensor0/mode
TILT

This is the expected operation mode with LEGO WeDo software: it returns 0 when flat and 1 to 4 when tilted.

TILT-AXIS mode returns 3 values: -1 or +1 when tilted, one value for each axle, the third value being 1 whenever it’s not flat.

And RAW mode returns the original analogic value read at the C2 pin. Almost useless for a tilt sensor but VERY usefull if we want to make our own sensors (more of it in my next post):

root@ev3dev:~# echo RAW > /sys/class/msensor/sensor0/mode
root@ev3dev:~# cat /sys/class/msensor/sensor0/value0
179