Pixar-X v2.0, so brilliant, it will outsmart your coding AI

Robotic kit for Raspberry Pi
1

One robot, 3 .nenv(s) in VSC MS Python 3.13 Extension. What a hot mess!

Flash built with one Python version, Picarx with another, vilib with another, oops, forgot audio, that too. Gonna try downloading and rebuilding everything, wish me luck.

Well, I’ve reconsidered and decided the project should be treated as a multi-runtime robot stack. Yep, integrate not recreate. Again, wish me luck.

2

Thank you for the update and for sharing your approach.

We understand that managing the different components and their dependencies can be challenging. We hope the integration goes smoothly, and please let us know if you encounter any specific issues that we can assist with.

3

It’s not that you have to accomodate Pi 3b+ (way to slow for the application stack), Pi 4 ( seemed OK and will be trying it out on the old Picar-V2.0 using a Fusion Hat+ instead of the 3 separate and nowadays faulty Picar-V controller boards) and Pi 5 (with at least 4-8GB), I work with VSC and MS Python Extensions and VSC has committed several unforced errors:

  1. I used the same setup that I had for the Picar-V, my bad, I mean how was any VSC Python Ext users supposed to know that having a Python v3.11 .nenv and a v3.13.5 .nenv would get all tangled up at runtime.
  2. Added a bunch of code to cleanup orphaned processes in multiple systems for the test applications in the example directory.
  3. Having different LIB stacks for each .nenv and system terminal environment, is the way we do business integrating Python S/W libs from multiple vendors/sources, but you should be able to run the example test files in an .nenv or from a terminal env that has the proper PATH= env variables, right? If the car is going to run on power-on, then it’s behavior and S/W environment should be the same as where it was tested under VSC. Or, is that a bad model/pattern?

Sincerely,

KLH

4

Overall, your approach is feasible. The environment used for actual operation should include the same Python dependencies and libraries that were present during program testing.

Our PiCar‑X example programs are primarily tested using the installation method and runtime environment provided in our official documentation. You are welcome to use VS Code, custom virtual environments (.venv), or different Python versions, but you will need to ensure that the Python interpreter and all dependency configurations are correctly set up in each environment.

If you encounter a specific PiCar‑X example that runs in the standard environment but fails in your custom virtual environment, please provide the exact example program and the error message you are seeing. We will then assist you in diagnosing the issue.