Platformio-vscode-ide: Serial monitor UnicodeEncodeError: 'ascii' codec can't encode character u'\ufffd' in position 0: ordinal not in range(128)

[chris-gunawardena]

When I open the Visual studio code serial monitor I get this error:
UnicodeEncodeError: 'ascii' codec can't encode character u'\ufffd' in position 0: ordinal not in range(128)

Works fine in the Arduino IDE Serial Monitor with the same baud rate.

MacOS with Python 2.7
$LANG en_GB.UTF-8

--- Miniterm on /dev/cu.usbserial-DN01J4DW  115200,8,N,1 ---
--- Quit: Ctrl+C | Menu: Ctrl+T | Help: Ctrl+T followed by Ctrl+H ---
Exception in thread rx:
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/local/var/pyenv/versions/2.7/lib/python2.7/threading.py", line 530, in __bootstrap_inner
    self.run()
  File "/usr/local/var/pyenv/versions/2.7/lib/python2.7/threading.py", line 483, in run
    self.__target(*self.__args, **self.__kwargs)
  File "/Users/chris/.platformio/penv/lib/python2.7/site-packages/serial/tools/miniterm.py", line 453, in reader
    self.console.write(text)
  File "/Users/chris/.platformio/penv/lib/python2.7/site-packages/serial/tools/miniterm.py", line 68, in write
    self.output.write(text)
UnicodeEncodeError: 'ascii' codec can't encode character u'\ufffd' in position 0: ordinal not in range(128)

[kaline]

Me too
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/usr/lib64/python2.7/threading.py", line 801, in __bootstrap_inner
self.run()
File "/usr/lib64/python2.7/threading.py", line 754, in run
self.__target(self.__args, *self.__kwargs)
File "/home/lapada/.platformio/penv/lib/python2.7/site-packages/serial/tools/miniterm.py", line 453, in reader
self.console.write(text)
File "/home/lapada/.platformio/penv/lib/python2.7/site-packages/serial/tools/miniterm.py", line 68, in write
self.output.write(text)
UnicodeEncodeError: 'ascii' codec can't encode character u'\u2402' in position 0: ordinal not in range(128)

[ivankravets]

Could you try this? Does it work?

$ platformio device monitor -f printable

[raffidil]

I have the same problem
Exception in thread rx: Traceback (most recent call last): File "/usr/lib64/python2.7/threading.py", line 801, in __bootstrap_inner self.run() File "/usr/lib64/python2.7/threading.py", line 754, in run self.__target(*self.__args, **self.__kwargs) File "/home/raffi/.platformio/penv/lib/python2.7/site-packages/serial/tools/miniterm.py", line 453, in reader self.console.write(text) File "/home/raffi/.platformio/penv/lib/python2.7/site-packages/serial/tools/miniterm.py", line 68, in write self.output.write(text) UnicodeEncodeError: 'ascii' codec can't encode character u'\u303d' in position 0: ordinal not in range(128)

[chris-gunawardena]

This issue eventually went away, from memory I had to uninstall all other installs of platform-io. eg from cli using npm install etc. and only end up with the VSC one.

[nickdex]

I've installed only the VScode version and getting this error. In normal operations serial monitor works, but this error comes up when

• I reset my ESP8266
• I do PlatformIO: Uload, (in cases when platformio does not automatically closes the monitor)
• When I am running seven segment code, it won't run from the get go

--- Miniterm on /dev/ttyUSB1  115200,8,N,1 ---
--- Quit: Ctrl+C | Menu: Ctrl+T | Help: Ctrl+T followed by Ctrl+H ---
Exception in thread rx:
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/lib64/python2.7/threading.py", line 801, in __bootstrap_inner
    self.run()
  File "/usr/lib64/python2.7/threading.py", line 754, in run
    self.__target(*self.__args, **self.__kwargs)
  File "/home/nick/.platformio/penv/lib/python2.7/site-packages/serial/tools/miniterm.py", line 453, in reader
    self.console.write(text)
  File "/home/nick/.platformio/penv/lib/python2.7/site-packages/serial/tools/miniterm.py", line 68, in write
    self.output.write(text)
UnicodeEncodeError: 'ascii' codec can't encode character u'\u2400' in position 0: ordinal not in range(128)

[koromkorom]

Could you try this? Does it work?

$ platformio device monitor -f printable

$ platformio device monitor --baud 115200 -f printable
--- Miniterm on /dev/ttyUSB0  115200,8,N,1 ---
--- Quit: Ctrl+C | Menu: Ctrl+T | Help: Ctrl+T followed by Ctrl+H ---
ets Jun 8 2016 00:22:57
rst:0x1 (POWERON_RESET),boot:0x3 (DOWNLOAD_BOOT(UART0/UART1/SDIO_REI_REO_V2))
waiting for download
Exception in thread rx:
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/threading.py", line 801, in __bootstrap_inner
    self.run()
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/threading.py", line 754, in run
    self.__target(*self.__args, **self.__kwargs)
  File "/home/pi/.local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/serial/tools/miniterm.py", line 453, in reader
    self.console.write(text)
  File "/home/pi/.local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/serial/tools/miniterm.py", line 68, in write
    self.output.write(text)
UnicodeEncodeError: 'ascii' codec can't encode characters in position 0-4: ordinal not in range(128)

I have to say, that I used tmux and for this and then updated the esp32 in another thread.
Still there should be a way to just ignore unknown characters ...

[ivankravets]

Could someone provide a simple firmware to reproduce this issue?

[koromkorom]

Could someone provide a simple firmware to reproduce this issue?

Okay kind of false alarm, but still weird. The problem seems to be the pipe.
In my earlier post I took it out because I didn't think it mattered.

platformio.ini

[env:esp32dev]
platform = espressif32
board = esp32dev
framework = arduino

main.cpp

#include <Arduino.h>

void setup() {
  // put your setup code here, to run once:
  Serial.begin(115200);
}

void loop() {
  // put your main code here, to run repeatedly:
  delay(1000);
  Serial.print("Unknown utf8: ");
  Serial.println("\uFFFD");
}

Without pipe

$ platformio device monitor --baud 115200
--- Miniterm on /dev/ttyUSB0  115200,8,N,1 ---
--- Quit: Ctrl+C | Menu: Ctrl+T | Help: Ctrl+T followed by Ctrl+H ---
Unknown utf8: �
Unknown utf8: �
Unknown utf8: �

With pipe

$ platformio device monitor --baud 115200 | grep utf8
--- Miniterm on /dev/ttyUSB0  115200,8,N,1 ---
--- Quit: Ctrl+C | Menu: Ctrl+T | Help: Ctrl+T followed by Ctrl+H ---
Exception in thread rx:
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/threading.py", line 801, in __bootstrap_inner
    self.run()
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/threading.py", line 754, in run
    self.__target(*self.__args, **self.__kwargs)
  File "/home/pi/.local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/serial/tools/miniterm.py", line 453, in reader
    self.console.write(text)
  File "/home/pi/.local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/serial/tools/miniterm.py", line 68, in write
    self.output.write(text)
UnicodeEncodeError: 'ascii' codec can't encode character u'\ufffd' in position 13: ordinal not in range(128)

[Ross-cz]

I had to patch write method to make utf-8 chars and invalid chars prevent this crash:

        try:
            self.output.write(text)
        except UnicodeEncodeError:
            self.output.write(text.encode("utf-8", "replace"))

[rmgorman]

Could someone provide a simple firmware to reproduce this issue?

I have the issue occur when attempting to run this example: https://github.com/platformio/platform-espressif32/tree/master/examples/espidf-coap-server

Exception in thread rx:
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/lib64/python2.7/threading.py", line 801, in __bootstrap_inner
    self.run()
  File "/usr/lib64/python2.7/threading.py", line 754, in run
    self.__target(*self.__args, **self.__kwargs)
  File "/home/ryan/.platformio/penv/lib/python2.7/site-packages/serial/tools/miniterm.py", line 453, in reader
    self.console.write(text)
  File "/home/ryan/.platformio/penv/lib/python2.7/site-packages/serial/tools/miniterm.py", line 68, in write
    self.output.write(text)
UnicodeEncodeError: 'ascii' codec can't encode character u'\u241b' in position 0: ordinal not in range(128)

Can confirm adding -f printable showed output in my linux terminal. The default miniterm loaded in VSCode does not use the -f option.

[SvetoslavAsenov]

I have the same issue.
platformio.ini:
[env:nanoatmega328] platform = atmelavr board = nanoatmega328 framework = arduino lib_deps = Wire

main.cpp:
`#include

include

void setup()

{
Serial.begin (115200);
while (!Serial)
{
}

Serial.println ();
Serial.println ("I2C scanner. Scanning ...");
byte count = 0;
pinMode(13,OUTPUT);
digitalWrite(13,HIGH);
Wire.begin();
for (byte i = 1; i < 120; i++)
{
Wire.beginTransmission (i);
if (Wire.endTransmission () == 0)
{
Serial.print ("Found address: ");
Serial.print (i, DEC);
Serial.print (" (0x");
Serial.print (i, HEX);
Serial.println (")");
count++;
delay (1);
}
}
Serial.println ("Done.");
Serial.print ("Found ");
Serial.print (count, DEC);
Serial.println (" device(s).");
}

void loop() {}`

Error:

--- Miniterm on /dev/ttyUSB0 9600,8,N,1 ---
--- Quit: Ctrl+C | Menu: Ctrl+T | Help: Ctrl+T followed by Ctrl+H ---
0Exception in thread rx:
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/usr/lib/python2.7/threading.py", line 801, in __bootstrap_inner
self.run()
File "/usr/lib/python2.7/threading.py", line 754, in run
self.__target(self.__args, *self.__kwargs)
File "/home/sve/.platformio/penv/local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/serial/tools/miniterm.py", line 453, in reader
self.console.write(text)
File "/home/sve/.platformio/penv/local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/serial/tools/miniterm.py", line 68, in write
self.output.write(text)
UnicodeEncodeError: 'ascii' codec can't encode characters in position 0-1: ordinal not in range(128)

[SvetoslavAsenov]

Fixed my issue by changing:

Serial.begin (115200);

to

Serial.begin (9600);

[toxicpsion]

I had to patch write method to make utf-8 chars and invalid chars prevent this crash:

        try:
            self.output.write(text)
        except UnicodeEncodeError:
            self.output.write(text.encode("utf-8", "replace"))

worked for me, fixes problems with miniterm choking on boot garbage at 74880bps on 8266.

[stale[bot]]

This issue has been automatically marked as stale because it has not had recent activity. Please provide more details or it will be closed if no further activity occurs. Thank you for your contributions.

[stale[bot]]

This issue has been automatically marked as stale because it has not had recent activity. Please provide more details or it will be closed if no further activity occurs. Thank you for your contributions.