xmus
09-30-2007, 11:28 PM
Hey All,
(My ZIF is installed and is working fine, i slightly mangled my programmer and had to run a bit of wire from one side of the board to the other, but no harm, no fowl. Turns out I had to remove the previous DIP socket to get the ZIF on, lets just say it was "non trivial" repair work!)
As a disclaimer for those who might be joining this conversation late...
I have already harassed everyone and explained they should really be programming their own pics, and that they should expect somewhat frequent code changes, and it may be a pain to constantly ship their pics to get them programmed, etc etc. Having said that, tomorrow it is October, and some feel they are a bit behind schedule, and so in an attempt to give everyone a boost ahead, I've offered to program pic's for the XMUS co-op participants.
Previously I have said that I would try to increase the serial frequency used to the PICs. (from 57600 upwards). However Phil pointed out an important point, EVERYONE else (Renard8, Renard24, etc etc, I honestly don't even know a lot about all the other derivative designs) is using 57600BPS. To ensure compatibility with all the other designs, it seems prudent to distribute only 57600 baud code. So at this point, I'm very confident in the setup at that baud rate (because everyone has, or will, pounded on the code at that frequency) so that is how I will program pics. If you wish to go to a "non standard" baud rate.... you will need to obtain your own programmer and go that route, this season we are confident (no guarantee's) that 57600 will work quite well. Next season we may push higher if necessary. If you wish to hack your code to a higher frequency, change this line to the speed you desire: #define BAUDRATE 57600
The revision of firmware that the XMUS co-op will use is attached. I've attached both the HEX file (had to zip it first, unzip, then just import and download to a pic, I hope this works, it was meant to save you a few steps and some time) and the source code configured for us (57600baud, external oscillator, PWM off). PWM off means that this firmware can not dim LED's, the reason I choose this configuration is because it draws so much less power on the 12V side in the CAT5 cable to the controllers. For example, I'm currently running two XMUS boards (4 pics, 4 RS485 chips, 2 oscillators, etc etc,) and at 12.0V I'm drawing 1.5Watts Peak! This means I'm drawing exactly 1/8th of an Amp peak. This is fantastic. Assuming i run the max number of controllers (which would be 6 @ 25mS resolution), i would expect a total of 3/8's of an Amp PEAK!.... very low....
Should you desire to dim LED's, you would need to enable the PWM flag near the top of the code as follows: #define PWM_build 1
(It currently is 0 for us)
Should you wish to use the internal oscillator (presumably to save money on parts, you didn't want to buy an oscillator, or you wanted to save the power an oscillator draws (almost nothing) and you want to run at a very slow speed such as 19200 or 38400....) look for the last few words on the line that starts with "__CONFIG". Currently the __CONFIG line with _EC_OSC is not commented out (meaning there is no ";;" in front of it to cause the compiler to ignore it. ) If you want to use the internal oscillator, you would comment out that line with ";;" at the beginning, and remove the ";;" from the next line down that has "_INTOSCIO" at the end. That action would enable the internal oscillator, and disable the external oscillator. Don't forget to set your frequency (as noted above) to 19200 or 38400 in this case.
(Search the paragraphs below for UPDATE to find the new stuff)
The plan: You ship me the pics with a return envelop
inside with postage on it rather than sending me money for shipping.
If you are sending me your pics in an IC tube, the tubes are pretty
durable, an envelope would probably be just fine... I don't know how
Jayson has packaged the pics. I hope they are in those tubes. But
i'll leave shipping decisions, packaging, and insurance and tracking
options (And obviously the liability for loss/damage in shipping would
be your responsibility also) completely up to you guys.
I also recommend having a couple of extra pic's for the diagnostic
firmware.... If you have some. 2 or 3 (spares are good) with the
diag firmware is good, then I'll load the rest with the normal release
code.
So for pic programming:
1) Self addressed prepaid postage (box, envelope, whatever, you decide)
2) donations accepted, not mandatory (PM me for my email address)
3) be sure to indicate how many pics you want with diag code vs. renard code.
4) PM xmus for my address to ship to, this will also give me a heads up that it is inbound.
5) In general I'll shoot for 1-2 week turn around time, but no
guarantees (hopefully by now folks understand that i am reliable and generally ahead of schedule, but I'm just tying to set the stage that I'm a volunteer dude, so go easy on me! I have other hobbies a family etc, you know the drill...) , if it is urgent, drop me an email and I can try to pull it in.
Update (For this current co-op it will be MUCH faster, expect 1 to 2 days in my hands)
UPDATE 6) I would also request an email indicating "inbound" for those of you that already have my address.
Thanks,
Dave
(My ZIF is installed and is working fine, i slightly mangled my programmer and had to run a bit of wire from one side of the board to the other, but no harm, no fowl. Turns out I had to remove the previous DIP socket to get the ZIF on, lets just say it was "non trivial" repair work!)
As a disclaimer for those who might be joining this conversation late...
I have already harassed everyone and explained they should really be programming their own pics, and that they should expect somewhat frequent code changes, and it may be a pain to constantly ship their pics to get them programmed, etc etc. Having said that, tomorrow it is October, and some feel they are a bit behind schedule, and so in an attempt to give everyone a boost ahead, I've offered to program pic's for the XMUS co-op participants.
Previously I have said that I would try to increase the serial frequency used to the PICs. (from 57600 upwards). However Phil pointed out an important point, EVERYONE else (Renard8, Renard24, etc etc, I honestly don't even know a lot about all the other derivative designs) is using 57600BPS. To ensure compatibility with all the other designs, it seems prudent to distribute only 57600 baud code. So at this point, I'm very confident in the setup at that baud rate (because everyone has, or will, pounded on the code at that frequency) so that is how I will program pics. If you wish to go to a "non standard" baud rate.... you will need to obtain your own programmer and go that route, this season we are confident (no guarantee's) that 57600 will work quite well. Next season we may push higher if necessary. If you wish to hack your code to a higher frequency, change this line to the speed you desire: #define BAUDRATE 57600
The revision of firmware that the XMUS co-op will use is attached. I've attached both the HEX file (had to zip it first, unzip, then just import and download to a pic, I hope this works, it was meant to save you a few steps and some time) and the source code configured for us (57600baud, external oscillator, PWM off). PWM off means that this firmware can not dim LED's, the reason I choose this configuration is because it draws so much less power on the 12V side in the CAT5 cable to the controllers. For example, I'm currently running two XMUS boards (4 pics, 4 RS485 chips, 2 oscillators, etc etc,) and at 12.0V I'm drawing 1.5Watts Peak! This means I'm drawing exactly 1/8th of an Amp peak. This is fantastic. Assuming i run the max number of controllers (which would be 6 @ 25mS resolution), i would expect a total of 3/8's of an Amp PEAK!.... very low....
Should you desire to dim LED's, you would need to enable the PWM flag near the top of the code as follows: #define PWM_build 1
(It currently is 0 for us)
Should you wish to use the internal oscillator (presumably to save money on parts, you didn't want to buy an oscillator, or you wanted to save the power an oscillator draws (almost nothing) and you want to run at a very slow speed such as 19200 or 38400....) look for the last few words on the line that starts with "__CONFIG". Currently the __CONFIG line with _EC_OSC is not commented out (meaning there is no ";;" in front of it to cause the compiler to ignore it. ) If you want to use the internal oscillator, you would comment out that line with ";;" at the beginning, and remove the ";;" from the next line down that has "_INTOSCIO" at the end. That action would enable the internal oscillator, and disable the external oscillator. Don't forget to set your frequency (as noted above) to 19200 or 38400 in this case.
(Search the paragraphs below for UPDATE to find the new stuff)
The plan: You ship me the pics with a return envelop
inside with postage on it rather than sending me money for shipping.
If you are sending me your pics in an IC tube, the tubes are pretty
durable, an envelope would probably be just fine... I don't know how
Jayson has packaged the pics. I hope they are in those tubes. But
i'll leave shipping decisions, packaging, and insurance and tracking
options (And obviously the liability for loss/damage in shipping would
be your responsibility also) completely up to you guys.
I also recommend having a couple of extra pic's for the diagnostic
firmware.... If you have some. 2 or 3 (spares are good) with the
diag firmware is good, then I'll load the rest with the normal release
code.
So for pic programming:
1) Self addressed prepaid postage (box, envelope, whatever, you decide)
2) donations accepted, not mandatory (PM me for my email address)
3) be sure to indicate how many pics you want with diag code vs. renard code.
4) PM xmus for my address to ship to, this will also give me a heads up that it is inbound.
5) In general I'll shoot for 1-2 week turn around time, but no
guarantees (hopefully by now folks understand that i am reliable and generally ahead of schedule, but I'm just tying to set the stage that I'm a volunteer dude, so go easy on me! I have other hobbies a family etc, you know the drill...) , if it is urgent, drop me an email and I can try to pull it in.
Update (For this current co-op it will be MUCH faster, expect 1 to 2 days in my hands)
UPDATE 6) I would also request an email indicating "inbound" for those of you that already have my address.
Thanks,
Dave