Flashing Pixhawk

A] Setup:

Ubuntu 18.06
QGroundControl software
Build on ubuntu tuto from ardupilot website: using waf

B] Flashing Process:

1/ Flash a default firmware:

check the output from the consol to get which version they compile
You can also connect to Mission Planner (Windows) and see in the section "Messages"

2/ Build Ardupilot

2.1/ Try to compile the code for the board

./waf configure --board ****
./waf copter

Encountered Error:

- Build failed
-Traceback (most recent call last):
-  File "/home/ben/Documents/Edge_drone/ardupilot_dev/ardupilot/modules/waf/waflib/Task.py", line 338, in process
-    ret = self.run()
-  File "Tools/ardupilotwaf/chibios.py", line 78, in run
-    if defaults.find():
-  File "/home/ben/Documents/Edge_drone/ardupilot_dev/ardupilot/Tools/scripts/apj_tool.py", line 93, in find
-    i = self.firmware[self.offset:].find(magic_str)
-TypeError: a bytes-like object is required, not 'str'**

Solution

Switch to a python2 environnemt (conda)

2.2/ Tested build

./waf configure --board fmuv3
./waf copter

./waf configure --board CubeBlack 
./waf copter

The firmware is generated in:

build/--board/bin/arducopter.apj and arducopter.bin

2.3/ Flash the board

Click to advance setting for custom firmware upload Select the firmware arducopter.bin that you want to upload and wait...

2.4/ Current result:

When configure with --board CubeBlack, the QGroundControl station cannot connect to the Pixhawk anymore but MissionPlanner can. When configure with --board fmuv3 both QGroundControl and MissionPlanner connect correctly to the board.