Building AR Drone SDK 2.0.1 on Linux

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I tried to build this SDK on more variants of linux than I care to admit. It only works successfully out of the box on Ubuntu. Specifically, Ubuntu 12.04.5.  I compiled this for use with my AR Drone 2, but I don’t see why it couldn’t be used with the AR Drone as well. There’s nothing here that makes the SDK specific to either model.

  1. Download Ubuntu 12.04.5 32bit. It probably works with 64bit (although I didn’t test it), if you really must use 64bit.
  2. Either install Ubuntu 12.04.5 alongside (dual boot) with another operating system, or in a virtual machine. I installed it in a VMware Fusion virtual machine on macOS. The Ubuntu operating system is agnostic, so it doesn’t really matter how you choose to virtualise it, if you do.
    1. Don’t install Ubuntu 12.04.5 updates during the installation process (leave the option unticked).
    2. Don’t install updates or upgrade Ubuntu to the next release when asked after the first login.
  3. Download the SDK (or copy it from somewhere to the Desktop).
  4. Open a terminal and change to your Desktop directory.
    1. # cd Desktop
  5. Unzip the SDK.
    1. # unzip ARDrone_SDK_2_0_1.zip
  6. Change to the ARDrone_SDK_2_0_1 directory
    1. # cd ARDrone_SDL_2_0_1 directory
  7. Run the following command (using sudo) to compile and install dependencies.
    1. # sudo ARDroneLib/Soft/Build/check_dependencencies.sh
      1. You’ll be asked to confirm installation of some packages, be sure to say Yes (y).
  8. Run the following command (using sudo) to compile the linux binaries.
    1. # cd Examples\Linux
    2. # sudo make
      1. Wait for the SDK binaries to be compiled
  9. The binaries are built in /home/<username>/Desktop/ARDrone_SDL_2_0_1/Examples/Linux/Build/Release/. Move them to you desktop and make them accessible as follows.
    1. # sudo mv /home/<username>/Desktop/ARDrone_SDL_2_0_1/Examples/Linux/Build/Release/ /home/<username>/Desktop/ARDroneApps
    2. # sudo chown -R <username>:<username> /home/<username>/Desktop/ARDroneApps
  10. Run the apps! You’ll need to be connected to your AR Drone 2 WiFi network first of course. Make sure you don’t have the Free Flight app open on any smart phones or tablets at the same time, as this will interfere with communications between your computer and your drone.
    1. # cd /home/<username>/Desktop/ARDroneApps
    2. # ./ardrone_navigation
    3. # ./linux_sdk_demo
    4. # ./linux_video_demo
    5. # ./sym_ardrone_testing_tool

Bioshock on Windows 10

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After spending almost three hours trying to get Bioshock (the first game) working on my Windows 10 computer (upgraded from Windows 7), I determined that the issue was related to the initialisation of the audio device (regardless of what the audio device actually is / was). I’ve got a Creative Sound Blaster Audigy sound card, an onboard Realtek HD Audio sound card, the NVIDIA audio controller (courtesy of my NVIDIA GTX 560), Total Recorder audio drivers, e2eSoft audio drivers and a Logitech G930 gaming headset. No matter what combination of default devices etc that I tried, nothing ever worked.

Two things did work though.

  1. Disabling all the sound devices (in the Windows Device Manager and the Sound / Recording options)
  2. Starting the game with the -nosound switch (added to the launch options for Bioshock, on steam).

So that pretty much nailed it down. After a little more research on the internet, I discovered an audio initialisation was carried out at the very beginning of the execution of the game, during the developer intro.

Here’s another switch: -nointro.

Apparently the sound device initialization carried out at the very start, is simply used for displaying the developer intro. When you start the actual game, a separate audio initialisation is carried out.

Who needs to see the developer intro every time they start the game? I certainly don’t.

So I added this to the launch options for Bioshock, on steam

  • -nointro

Started the game, no issues. Set my resolution to max, changed my audio to 7.1 (to suit my Logitech G930) and off I went to Rapture!

No other changes, no compatibility mode, no run as administrator, no additional drivers (I’m not using / have never used OpenAL, Rapture3D) installed and no changes to Bioshock configuration files.

Of course, if you have a non-steam version of the game, you could create a shortcut to the bioshock.exe file and add -nointro to the end of the Target line, in the properties of the shortcut and start the game from the shortcut. Did I mention the word shortcut ;-P

This may not work for everyone, as I’ve seen some really ridiculous fixes (seriously, stuff that just doesn’t make sense, like plugging headphones into the microphone port) apparently get Bioshock working for others, so consider this solution to be just as crazy as all the others.

Happy to provide assistance with this solution in the comments. Have fun!

Get Cisco VPN Client Working on Windows 8.1

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I recently needed to be able to use the Cisco VPN Client (I’m specifically referring to version: 5.0.07.0410 on 32bit Windows and version: 5.0.07.0440 on 64bit Windows, although this fix would apply to earlier versions as well) on my Windows 8.1 (32bit Windows) tablet (Acer Iconia), but was not able to connect to my remote VPN endpoint. I kept getting the this error: Reason 440: Driver Failure. I searched this error in Google and tried all sorts of fixes and patches and things from articles everywhere. No matter what I tried (for hours on end), the error message was always the same. Eventually, I just gave up.

Today, I decided to have one more look at the issue. I realized I hadn’t looked somewhere quite obvious; The Windows Event Viewer. Sure enough, under Windows Logs –> System, I found the following error message:

The Cisco Systems Inc. IPSec Driver service failed to start due to the following error: 
Windows cannot verify the digital signature for this file. A recent hardware or software change might have installed a file that is signed incorrectly or damaged, or that might be malicious software from an unknown source.

So, to put it simply, Windows Driver Signature Enforcement (DSE) was at fault. Not the software VPN Client, not DNE, not the drivers, not Windows Update, and not having other VPN clients installed. It was simply DSE.

I tried disabling DSE (and that might be all you have to do), but it turned out I had to go one step further, because I couldn’t disable DSE.

Why?

Well, my tablet has something called ‘Secure Boot’ enabled. When I tried disabling DSE, I received a message telling me it wasn’t possible to disable it because I have Secure Boot enabled. So I did a quick search on how to Disable Secure Boot. I’d gone looking for the setting previously, but couldn’t find it because I had to set a user / system password in the BIOS first. After I set a password, voila! The Secure Boot setting appeared! After disabling Secure Boot, I started Windows 8.1 and was immediately able to use the Cisco VPN Client to connect to my remote VPN endpoint. I didn’t even need to re-install it.

Note: I’m not discrediting all the other articles on the internet and all their work arounds and fixes. They just simply didn’t work for me. If you’re system doesn’t have Secure Boot, than this fix won’t work for you. You’ll either need to disabled DSE or find another solution.

The thing that caught me up, was that I have another PC with Windows 8.1 on it, and all I had to do was install the Cisco VPN client and connect. It just worked straight out of the box. No fixes required. The only difference (other than it being a PC) was that it doesn’t have Secure Boot (older BIOS).

How to Factory Reset a Cisco ASA 5512-X IPS

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I recently ran into a situation with a new Cisco ASA 5512-X IPS where I needed to fully reset it back to its factory default settings (ok, I entered a password incorrectly, twice. Thankfully it wasn’t in production yet). After some searching and reading, I came up with the following (get out of jail) process.

Note 1: I’m not a Cisco expert or engineer of any sort, so please proceed with absolute care. You can’t really destroy anything with this process, but misuse of this guide could cause undesired results.

Note 2: I’m not a Cisco export or engineer of any sort, however, I don’t see any reason why the following guide couldn’t be used at the very least, on any 5500 series Cisco ASA device. It may even apply to more devices than I am aware of. Again, please proceed with absolute care if you are using this guide on anything that is not a Cisco ASA 5512-X IPS.

Note 3: If you just want to reset the configuration and you haven’t lost access to the device, follow steps 1 and 2, and then skip down to the bottom.

Step 1.

Connect to the Cisco ASA 5512-X IPS with the serial over ethernet cable. This is otherwise known as the console cable. In most cases, it’s long, thin and light blue in colour. Connect the RJ45 end to the console port of the Cisco ASA 5512-X IPS and the other end to a computer or laptop with a serial port. You can’t just use a network cable. It won’t work.

Step 2.

Use PuTTY (download here), to connect to the Cisco ASA 5512-X IPS console. Change the Connection Type to Serial. In most cases, the Serial Line value will be COM1 with a Speed (aka baud rate) of 9600. Click the [Open] button to connect. If you have other devices connected via serial, you may need to substitute COM1 for COM2, or COM3, or COM4, etc. You’ll know when you’ve struck gold, because you’ll be able to see the Cisco ASA 5512-X IPS prompt.

(click here to skip to the bottom if you’re just factory resetting the configuration)

Step 3.

Immediately restart the Cisco ASA 5512-X IPS. You can either use the # reload command (after using # enable first, if you’re locked out this won’t be possible) or physically switch the Cisco ASA 5512-X IPS off, and then on again (handy if you’re locked out).

Step 4.

Pay attention! When you see the Booting from ROMMON prompt in the console window (there’ll be a 10 second count down timer), press the ESC key to interrupt. You’ll be quickly dropped to a rommon #1> prompt.

Step 5.

Enter the command: confreg. You’ll see a value that follows the text: Current Configuration Register: 0x00000001. Note yours down. This specific value (0x00000001) tells the Cisco ASA 5512-X IPS to boot normally, reading the previously saved configuration into memory.

Step 6.

You’ll be prompted to change the configuration now. Type a Y.

Step 7.

Answer the prompts as follows:

enable boot to ROMMON prompt? y/n [n]: n
enable TFTP netboot? y/n [n]: n
enable Flash boot? y/n [n]: y
select specific Flash image index? y/n [n]: n
disable system configuration? y/n [n]: y (this it the value that's most important to us at this step)
go to ROMMON prompt if netboot fails? y/n [n]: n
enable passing NVRAM file specs in auto-boot mode? y/n [n]: n
disable display of BREAK or ESC key prompt during auto-boot? y/n [n]: n

Step 8.

After the last prompt above, you’ll see a summary as follows:

Current Configuration Register: 0x00000041
Configuration Summary:
boot default image from Flash
ignore system configuration
Update Config Register (0x41) in NVRAM...
rommon #2>

Step 9.

We can now boot the Cisco ASA 5512-X IPS with the command: # boot

Step 10.

Any system configuration previously saved will be skipped, and a factory default configuration will be loaded. Now it’s time to reset the global (cisco) password.

Step 11.

At the ciscoasa> prompt, type: enable (press enter). The password will be nothing (just press enter again).

Step 12.

Copy the current startup configuration to the running configuration using the following command: # copy startup-config running-config (press enter).

Step 13.

Enter global configuration mode by running the following command: # configure terminal

Step 14.

Set the global password back to blank (nothing) with the following commands:

# password password
# enable password password
# username name password password

Step 15.

Copy the current running configuration to the startup configuration using the following command: # copy running-config startup-config (press enter).

Step 16.

Restart the Cisco ASA 5512-X IPS. You can either use the # reload command (after using enable first) or physically switch the Cisco ASA 5512-X IPS off, and then on again.

Step 17.

Pay attention! When you see the Booting from ROMMON prompt (there’ll be a 10 second count down timer), press the ESC key to interrupt. You’ll be quickly dropped to a rommon #1> prompt.

Step 18.

Enter the command: confreg. You’ll see a value that follows the text: Current Configuration Register: 0x00000041. Note yours down. This specific value tells the Cisco ASA 5512-X IPS to boot normally, skipping any previously saved configuration, loading a factory default configuration into memory.

Step 19.

You’ll be prompted to change the configuration now. Type a Y.

Step 20.

Answer the prompts as follows:

enable boot to ROMMON prompt? y/n [n]: n
enable TFTP netboot? y/n [n]: n
enable Flash boot? y/n [n]: y
select specific Flash image index? y/n [n]: n
disable system configuration? y/n [n]: n (this it the value that's most important to us at this step)
go to ROMMON prompt if netboot fails? y/n [n]: n
enable passing NVRAM file specs in auto-boot mode? y/n [n]: n
disable display of BREAK or ESC key prompt during auto-boot? y/n [n]: n

Step 21.

After the last prompt above, you’ll see a summary as follows:

Current Configuration Register: 0x00000001
Configuration Summary:
boot default image from Flash
Update Config Register (0x1) in NVRAM...
rommon #2>

Step 22.

We can now boot the Cisco ASA 5512-X IPS with the command: # boot

Step 23.

The system configuration previously saved will be loaded, with a factory default configuration. You can now proceed to configure your Cisco ASA 5512-X IPS as new again!

 

Factory Reset the Configuration Only

  1. At the console prompt ciscoasa> type enable (press enter)
  2. If prompted, enter your password and press enter (the default password is nothing, just press enter).
  3. Type: # configure terminal (press enter)
  4. Type: # configure factory-default (press enter)
  5. Type: # reload save-config noconfirm (press enter)

Credits

The following links made this guide possible:

ASA Password Recovery

Restoring Factory Defaults to the Cisco ASA5505  Firewall via the Console

Howto reset factory defaults Cisco ASA Series 5500 series 5505 5510 5520

Cisco ASA 5500-X Series Quick Start Guide

Cisco ASA 5512-X Adaptive Security Appliance