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Windows 11 / WSL-G#

Intro#

As a result of user interest in running mwp on Windows 11 / WSL-G, here's an experiment to see if it's possible. By a Windows neophyte, so if I can install mwp on WSL, anyone can.

There is also an excellent, but sadly obsolete, you-tube video tutorial from Marc Hoffmann (in English and German).

It is also possible to run mwp on Windows 10 (and 7) using WSL-1 (win10) and / or Cygwin (win7 - win10). This is documented in the mwp wiki.

Environment#

Tested with Windows 11 VM hosted on Arch Linux by the developer.

WSL Installation#

  • Installed default Ubuntu
  • Note that serial ports remain difficult (workarounds described below)

Windows / WSL Pre-requisites#

None other than the serial port issue, Wayland (GUI) and sound just work. The serial port problem can be mitigated by a "serial to IP" solution; mwptools provides ser2udp for this purpose or using usbipd / usbip

mwp Installation#

Use one of the following:

(a) Install the current release from GitHub.#

  • Down load the .deb file
  • cd to where ever you saved the .deb file
  • In the WSL terminal sudo apt install ./mwptools_x.y.z_amd64.deb

Example: using curl to download ...

$ curl -LO https://github.com/stronnag/mwptools/releases/download/x.y.z/mwptools_x.y.z_amd64.deb
$ sudo apt install ./mwptools_x.y.z_amd64.deb

Where x.y.z represents the build tag.

(b) Unified first-time build script (build and install from source)#

For the initial installation, there is a unified / simplified install / build / install script: Instructions

This installs mwptools to $HOME/.local/bin.

(c) Traditional build process (build and install from source)#

If you want more control over build options.

If git is not pre-installed in WSL, then it will be necessary to install it.

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade
sudo apt install git

Note: /etc/sudoers (via visudo) was edited to allows the WSL user to run commands as root without asking for a password.

Then it was just a case of cloning the mwp repository and following mwp's instructions (mwptools/docs/debian-ubuntu-dependencies.txt), to install the dependencies, this is available as an executable script thusly:

sudo mwptools/docs/debinstall.sh -y # "-y" bypasses interactive query / responses

Then build and install mwp and optionally the blackbox tools (as mwptools/docs/debian-ubuntu-dependencies.txt). Build documentation.

For blackbox replay, install the flightlog2x tools; build from source in Linux/WSL or install the release binaries.

Note that the normative build reference is the INSTALL file in the source tree.

Running mwp#

Compared to Win10/WSL or Cygwin, there is no longer any need to mess around the DISPLAY or udev settings. No 3rd party X-server, Windows 11 / WSL-G handles all the GUI.

One off changes#

  • WSL installs a very cut down icon theme that does not provide the all the system / standard icons used by mwp. Fix this by:

    sudo apt install adwaita-icon-theme-full

  • If you wish to replay blackbox / OTX / BulletGCSS logs, it may be necessary to have an IPv6 definition of localhost; WSL's /etc/hosts does not provide this:

    # updated in /etc/hosts for ipv6
::1   localhost ip6-localhost ip6-loopback

Note: This was caused by an unnecessary assumption in flightlog2x's fl2ltm which is corrected in flightlog2x release (> 0.11.0), so you might not need it anymore.

  • Then tell WSL to please not break your hosts file again

    ### Add the following entry to /etc/wsl.conf:
[network]
generateHosts = false

  • Due font differences, it may be necessary to reduce the font scaling in the mwp 'Flight View' docklet.

    gsettings set org.mwptools.planner font-fv 10
# if you still have resizing problems, try 9 ....

  • ser2udp.exe. mwp can start and stop the Windows ser2udp.exe on demand. This is quite a neat trick by Microsoft's enabling extra-VM process management. In the example below, we have installed ser2udp.exe as c:\Users\win11\ser2udp.exe :

    # Start command
gsettings set org.mwptools.planner atstart '/mnt/c/Users/win11/ser2udp.exe'
# Shutdown command
gsettings set org.mwptools.planner atexit 'pkill ser2udp.exe'

Then you are ready to run mwp.

mwp

Serial devices#

In order to use a serial device, it is necessary to run a "serial to IP" bridge on the Windows side. There are two solutions to this, both involve some effort on both the Windows and Linux sides.

  • usbip, a long-standing Linux feature that has recently been introduced to Windows
  • Standalone "serial-to-IP" bridge, such as mwp's ser2udp tool. This application will need to be white-listed in the Windows firewall.

udpip#

See this Microsoft developer blog article for installation / usage information.

Standalone Bridge#

There are a number of existing solutions that may work; mwp provides a simple, dedicated ser2udp tool that works well, and once set up is transparent in usage.

Installing mwp's ser2udp#

Build on the Linux/WSL side:

  • cd mwptools/src/samples/s2n
  • make ser2udp.exe
  • copy ser2udp.exe to the d̶a̶r̶k̶ Windows side

See above for automating starting and stopping ser2udp.exe.

On the Windows side:

  • Use the Windows firewall settings to allow ser2udp.exe to accept UDP traffic.
  • Either automate in mwp (recommended) or run ser2udp.exe ; it will autodetect your serial port. By default this listens on UDP port 17071, you can change this by supplying a second parameter, e.g., to use port 34567. In this case, either define the serial port or use auto (auto-detect).
    > ser2udp.exe auto :34567
## or just let ser2udp autodetect
> ser2udp.exe
External address: fe80::1439:d6de:efcb:97e1%7
External address: 172.29.32.1

The colon is required to define an alternative port.

  • ser2udp will survive removal of USB devices and attempt to re-connect (e.g. if the FC is rebooted).
  • ser2udp will only attempt to automatically acquire STM32 USB devices (0483:5740 vid:pid)
  • You need to terminate ser2udp when you're done with it (e.g. to use the INAV configurator in Windows).

Using ser2udp in mwp#

  • On the Linux side, we need to know the IP address (or have a hostname for) the Windows WSL endpoint. Fortunately this happens to be Linux's default gateway, so we can handle it fairly transparently.

It is easily automated by using the magic __MWP_SERIAL_HOST name in the serial device.

mwp -d udp://__MWP_SERIAL_HOST:17071
# recognised by other tools as well ...
cliterm udp://__MWP_SERIAL_HOST:17071

__MWP_SERIAL_HOST is resolved as:

  • If an environment variable $MWP_SERIAL_HOST exists, it is used; else
  • The default gateway (which on WSL is the Windows host IP) is used; else
  • It will fail, as the literal name is unlikely to exist as a resolvable host name (not even a RFC legal host name).

Thus:

  • For WSL and ser2udp, in mwp preferences, set the serial device to udp://__MWP_SERIAL_HOST:17071
  • Or in the shell, for some other scenario, export MWP_SERIAL_HOST=foobox.org in the event that you have a valid use case

Launch ser2udp and MWP in one go#

  • Automate ser2udp.exe in mwp's settings

  • Create a new txt file in the same folder where ser2udp.exe is located and copy the following lines into that file:

    @echo off
echo Launching MWP Mission Planner
start wslg.exe -d Ubuntu mwp
exit

  • rename the file with any name and change the extension to .cmd

  • Create a shortcut anywhere on your PC or in C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs to pin it to your Start Menu
  • Replace the shortcut symbol with the MWP icon from here

Using ser2udp with push telemetry only#

ser2udp expects that the UDP side (mwp, Linux/WSL) "speaks" first; this enables ser2udp to evince the remote UDP address to which data received from the serial side (Windows) is sent.

If you are only receiving unsolicited telemetry on the serial / Windows side (e.g. CRSF, Smartport, LTM), then it is necessary to tell ser2udp the address of the remote, using the -remote option. In this case, you can set the device name in mwp to udp://:17071 (for port 17071) to listen unconditionally.

Other packages for additional functionality.#

  • To replay blackbox logs, you need (mandatory):
    • INAV blackbox tools, and
    • flightlog2x / bbl2kml. Provides a much better blackbox replayer than the old ruby script shipped with mwp (and you can generate really pretty Google Earth files from blackbox / EdgeTX/OpenTX / bulletgcss logs).
  • Terrain Analysis
    • Gnuplot. Check the installer script that it's enabled.

FAQs / Oddities / Fixes#

Failure to save preferences#

You see in the console: 

(org.stronnag.mwp:462): dconf-WARNING **: 21:57:12.806: failed to commit changes to dconf: Could not connect: No such file or directory

This is a known WSL "feature". See the Official WSL Issue. Most likely, adding export $(dbus-launch) to ~/.bashrc will fix it.

Note also that enabling systemd in WSL may also break dconf (or not).

Summary#

  • Much, much better than the prior WSL instances, pity about the difficulty in using serial ports (still). Overall, the seamless WSL-g experience is impressive.

Connection via ser2udp bridge#

Connected Dark theme, correct system icons installed, connected to FC via ser2udp.

Terrain / elevation analysis#

Terrain

Blackbox replay#

BBL

Good enough!

The user's compass seems good enough for navigation functions (top right widget comparing GPS CoG v. compass heading).