getting-started.rst

Getting Started

Using a CANtact

The CANtact tool is directly supported by pyvit. It should work on Windows, OS X, and Linux.

Example

This examples goes on bus and prints received messages:

from pyvit import can
from pyvit.hw.cantact import CantactDev

dev = CantactDev("/dev/cu.usbmodem1451")
dev.set_bitrate(500000)
dev.start()
while True:
      print(dev.recv())

You will need to set the serial port (/dev/cu.usbmodem1451 in this example) correctly.

SocketCAN

SocketCAN interfaces are supported, however they are only available on Linux. Using SocketCAN requires Python 3+

Example

The device can now be accessed as a SocketCanDev. This examples goes on bus and prints received messages:

from pyvit import can
from pyvit.hw import socketcan

dev = socketcan.SocketCanDev("can0")

dev.start()
while True:
    print(dev.recv())

Using Peak CAN Tools

Peak CAN tools (also known as GridConnect) are support through SocketCAN. This functionality is only available on Linux

For kernels 3.6 and newer, skip to step 5.

1. Download the Peak Linux driver.

2. Install dependancies:

   sudo apt-get install libpopt-dev
   

3. Build the driver:

   cd peak-linux-driver-x.xx
   make
   sudo make install
   

4. Enable the driver:

   sudo modprobe pcan
   

5. Connect a Peak CAN tool, ensure it appears in /proc/pcan. Note the network device name (ie, can0)

6. Bring the corresponding network up:

   sudo ifconfig can0 up