Visual Studio Code extension for GSE GSatMicro Tools

This extension provides remote access to GSatMicro Core series products.

Main features:

• Edit your Python code, upload it to the device and execute it
• Full remote access to all the mounted file systems on the device
• Upload/download files to/from the device
• Interact with the Python REPL on the device

Support is available at support@gsat.us

Prerequisites

This extension needs Python 3.12 or higher, pip and virtualenv.

Python can be be installed from www.python.org. This is the recommended installation method in Windows. For Linux, using the distro's package manager might be preferable because it also provides package upgrades, but only if the distro has a compatible Python version. On macOS, Homebrew is a popular option. Note that Homebrew works in Linux too and can genrally install newer Python versions than the ones in the distro's package repository.

No matter what installation method you choose, make sure that the Python executable is in your system path. To check this:

1. Open a shell (cmd or powershell in Windows, bash or similar in Linux/macOS).
2. Type python3 --version.
3. Python should display its version.

Since pip is bundled with Python, the procedure above will also install pip.

The extension will attempt to install virtualenv if it's not already installed. If that fails, the error message Unable to install virtualenv will be displayed in Visual Studio Code and the extension will exit. To fix this issue, install virtualenv manually:

1. Open a shell (cmd or powershell in Windows, bash or similar in Linux/macOS).
2. Run pip install virtualenv.
3. Run python -c "import venv". If the command doesn't display any errors, virtualenv is successfully installed.
4. Restart Visual Studio Code.

Usage

After all the prerequisites above are installed:

• Install this extension. On the first run, it will automatically download and install the required tools. Note this step requires a working Internet connection and might take a while to complete.
• Connect the device to your computer.
• Click on the extension's icon in the activity bar.

You should be able to browse the file system(s) on the device in the "File explorer" window.

To connect to the device's console and access the Pyrhon REPL, click on "Open console" in the "Device control" window.