How-To : Install and Use Alta Multitool Software

[Caryder]

Anyone have issues getting the CANUSB to connect to the virtual environment? I get a failed message in the virtual environment even though it connects normally in windows initially. The first time I launched the Alta application it implied the CANBUS adapter was connected (but I wasn’t connected to the bike). After that, it failed to connect even though Oracle implies the USB is “captured” when I float the mouse over the icon.

Tried closing everything, shutting down, booting fresh with adapter attached or plugging adapter in after boot, etc...

 

[C5tor]

Anyone have issues getting the CANUSB to connect to the virtual environment? I get a failed message in the virtual environment even though it connects normally in windows initially. The first time I launched the Alta application it implied the CANBUS adapter was connected (but I wasn’t connected to the bike). After that, it failed to connect even though Oracle implies the USB is “captured” when I float the mouse over the icon.

Tried closing everything, shutting down, booting fresh with adapter attached or plugging adapter in after boot, etc...

Take a look at @TCMB371 “How to use Alta Multitool” video at about the 2:15 mark. It shows how to transfer the usb adapter to the VirtualBox environment. That is assuming you are using VirtualBox, of course.

 

[Caryder]

Take a look at @TCMB371 “How to use Alta Multitool” video at about the 2:15 mark. It shows how to transfer the usb adapter to the VirtualBox environment. That is assuming you are using VirtualBox, of course.

To get where I am, I watched both installation videos, following instructions, pausing, completing instructions, every step of the way. No problems up to actually getting my USB to work with VirtualBox. In settings it only allows USB 1 configuration. My PC supports up to USB 3. I was wondering if that had something to do with it. If I configure Oracle VB for USB2 or 3, it tells me I need to install an extension. Since the multitool instructions imply it’s a simple mouse click process I’m assuming aiming for USB 2 or 3 isn’t really the problem.

I screenshot the error I get. I’ll try to attach the jpg.

 

[Caryder]

Well, I installed Oracle VM on my newer laptop, installed multitool, connected to the bike no problem. Not sure what the issue was with the other PC. Settings and process were identical.

 

[leeo45]

Well, I installed Oracle VM on my newer laptop, installed multitool, connected to the bike no problem. Not sure what the issue was with the other PC. Settings and process were identical.

Does anyone have the hardware requirements for a Windows machine to run the MT? I am thinking about buying a minimal laptop for dedicated use in the workshop for the ALTA MT and the diagnostic software for one of my cars. It would be nice to remove the clutter of the Oracle VM and everything else on my daily use MacBook; plus it seems like almost everyone else is running the MT in a Windows environment. I already have the cables so hoping I can do this relatively easily and inexpensively.

 

[Silent But Dirty]

Does anyone have the hardware requirements for a Windows machine to run the MT? I am thinking about buying a minimal laptop for dedicated use in the workshop for the ALTA MT and the diagnostic software for one of my cars. It would be nice to remove the clutter of the Oracle VM and everything else on my daily use MacBook; plus it seems like almost everyone else is running the MT in a Windows environment. I already have the cables so hoping I can do this relatively easily and inexpensively.

I picked up a cheap laptop and just installed unbuntu directly. Running a virtual machine will use more resources.

 

[C5tor]

I’ve been experimenting quite a bit, and I now have 3 Thinkpad Yoga 11e machines running dual-boot with Windows & Ubuntu. I didn’t like the overhead required with the Oracle Virtualbox on an underpowered laptop, which seemed to be very laggy. Dual boot seemed to give me the best balance of performance in Windows and Ubuntu, since you don’t have both loaded at the same time. But you still have access to your Windows and Linux apps when needed. I did upgrade each machine to 8GB of RAM, and that helped Windows performance quite a bit. But if you just want a nice Multitool laptop, just install Ubuntu on it, and skip Windows. A 4GB machine with a small hard drive is more than sufficient for that config.

 

[leeo45]

I’ve been experimenting quite a bit, and I now have 3 Thinkpad Yoga 11e machines running dual-boot with Windows & Ubuntu. I didn’t like the the overhead required with the Oracle Virtualbox on an underpowered laptop, which seemed to be very laggy. Dual boot seemed to give me the best balance of decent performance in Windows, and quicker performance in Ubuntu. I did upgrade each machine to 8GB, and that helped Windows performance quite a bit. But if you just want a nice Multitool laptop, just install Ubuntu on it, and skip Windows. A 4GB machine with a small hard drive is more than sufficient for that config.

Thanks. That helps define a lower limit of what is needed. I should be able to get something relatively inexpensive that will exceed that minimum.

 

[OneLapper]

But if you just want a nice Multitool laptop, just install Ubuntu on it, and skip Windows. A 4GB machine with a small hard drive is more than sufficient for that config.

Absolutely +1.

I bought a cheap new Lenovo 11e, dumped Windows, install Ubuntu and love it. It's my go to laptop now. 4gb ram, 128gig SSD, no performance issues at all.

 

[Caryder]

Well, I installed Oracle VM on my newer laptop, installed multitool, connected to the bike no problem. Not sure what the issue was with the other PC. Settings and process were identical.

I couldn’t leave the HP Pavilion alone. It’s been a slowpoke since I bought it several years ago, lived with it since it was “adequate”, but eventually too many Windows upgrades made it unbearable. So it seemed a good candidate as a garage laptop for redshift_multitool. As I originally reported, never could get the dongle to work using Oracle VM, so I took the afternoon to install a dual OS (W10/Ubuntu). Setup that way, the canusb dongle works fine, so... now I have two laptops that work. I elected to let the HP collect the data files from the bike this evening. Also, I kind of like Ubuntu in general so I might make my other laptop dual boot as well. I was an IBM OS/2 user while the rest of the Intel world was heading towards MS Windows, so a multi-boot machine was a common configuration back then. I never played around in the Linux sandbox, so here’s a good reason to.

 

[C5tor]

I couldn’t leave the HP Pavilion alone. It’s been a slowpoke since I bought it several years ago, lived with it since it was “adequate”, but eventually too many Windows upgrades made it unbearable. So it seemed a good candidate as a garage laptop for redshift_multitool. As I originally reported, never could get the dongle to work using Oracle VM, so I took the afternoon to install a dual OS (W10/Ubuntu). Setup that way, the canusb dongle works fine, so... now I have two laptops that work. I elected to let the HP collect the data files from the bike this evening. Also, I kind of like Ubuntu in general so I might make my other laptop dual boot as well. I was an IBM OS/2 user while the rest of the Intel world was heading towards MS Windows, so a multi-boot machine was a common configuration back then. I never played around in the Linux sandbox, so here’s a good reason to.

Same with me. The last dual boot setup I had done was with OS/2. Fortunately, there are some good instructions on Youtube to setup windows/Ubuntu dual boot. Fit my needs a lot better, and was a lot snappier performance for Multitool when not running under Windows.

 

[Silent But Dirty]

I am trying to install MT on this Ubuntu system. I followed all the steps, but MT does not fully start. I attached the log files, as I seem to have a lot of errors going on.

 

[TCMB371]

I am trying to install MT on this Ubuntu system. I followed all the steps, but MT does not fully start. I attached the log files, as I seem to have a lot of errors going on.

Do you have a "uuid" directory inside /.alta? If not, create it. You might need to take ownership of the directory first.

 

[C5tor]

Did you “launch” version 3.36 before installing 3.37? That was a step that was skipped in the instructions, but called out by @TCMB371 in his video. If so, did 3.36 load okay?

 

[Silent But Dirty]

Thanks, that did the trick. Not too sure why I didn't have this issue other times.

 

[Silent But Dirty]

Hmmm., something still not right. MT is saying the CAN Bus is not connected.

lsusb command in terminal shows that it is indeed connected to my system though.

 

[TCMB371]

Hmmm., something still not right. MT is saying the CAN Bus is not connected.

lsusb command in terminal shows that it is indeed connected to my system though.

Make sure you're using sudo in the terminal when launching multitool.

sudo redshift_multitool

 

[Silent But Dirty]

Make sure you're using sudo in the terminal when launching multitool.

sudo redshift_multitool

Turns out I only see this issue if I start MT with the desktop shortcut. Starting through terminal, everything works as expected.

 

[C5tor]

Turns out I only see this issue if I start MT with the desktop shortcut. Starting through terminal, everything works as expected.

That makes sense. I actually modified the shortcut on my own desktop slightly, so I never had this issue. I changed the command from “redshift_multitool” to “sudo redshift_multitool”, and I switched the terminal property from false to terminal=true in the .desktop file for the shortcut. Not sure if that was the proper linux way to do it, but it works.

 

[Silent But Dirty]

That makes sense. I actually modified the shortcut on my own desktop slightly, so I never had this issue. I changed the command from “redshift_multitool” to “sudo redshift_multitool”, and I switched the terminal property from false to terminal=true in the .desktop file for the shortcut. Not sure if that was the proper linux way to do it, but it works.

I did try changing the Exec line to be "sudo redshift_multitool" but that change makes it so that nothing happens when I use the shortcut. It's not a big deal, I don't mind using the terminal.