Is there any way I can update the firmware without a Windows PC?

Jan 11

I run my dome via the INDI server on a Linux machine running Ubuntu 20.4. I also have a Mac OSX machine that I use to connect to the Linux box via VNC.

Jan 11

Linux is fine.

Install AVR Dude (apt install avrdude).

As the arduino need a special "reset" to get in the programing mode I wrote a small python script to do that.

#!/usr/bin/env python2

import sys
import os
import random
import serial
import time

PORT = '/dev/cu.usbmodem1411'

def main():
	if(len(sys.argv) >1):
		serial_port = sys.argv[1]
	else :
		serial_port = PORT

	# Arduino reset
	ser = serial.Serial(serial_port, 1200, timeout=1)
	ser.DTR=0
	ser.close()
	time.sleep(1)

	while True:
		try :
			os.stat(serial_port)
			break
		except Exception, e:
			time.sleep(1)
			continue
	return 0

if __name__ == "__main__":
	sys.exit(main())

save the above in /usr/local/bin as arduino_pro.py and make it executable (chmod a+x arduino_pro.py)

and a function in my .bashrc :

prog_leonardo ()
{
/usr/local/bin/arduino_pro.py $1
avrdude -C/etc/avrdude.conf -v -patmega32u4 -cavr109 -P$1 -b57600 -D -Uflash:w:$2:i
}

Then you call it :

prog_leonardo /dev/ttyUSB0 Rotator-3.3.0.hex

assuming your controller is on /dev/ttyUSB0 (change this to the proper port)

Jan 11

Thanks! PS: I did get AVRdude installed and working on my Mac as well.

Jan 11

the above also work on macOS (that's what I use .. as well as Linux ;) ).

Jan 14

Rodolphe, thanks for your help. I would like to use my Mac to install this. In the command "prog_leonardo /dev/ttyUSB0 Rotator-4.0.0.hex" I assume I need to have Rotator-4.0.0.hex saved somewhere special? Right now it's in my download folder. How do I point to that file in the above command?

Jan 14

Also - I used NANO to save that prog_leonardo function to my .bashrc_profile file. Is that correct?

Release 4.0.0 · nexdome/Firmware

Jan 14

I have the function in my .zshrc (or .bashrc depending on what version of macOS you're on) and it uses my Arduino avrdude and the python script is in my dev stuff (it would also work with avrdude installed via Brew or Macports).:

prog_leonardo ()
{
~/src/Dev/python/arduino_pro.py $1
/Applications/Tools/Arduino.app/Contents/Java/hardware/tools/avr/bin/avrdude -C/Applications/Tools/Arduino.app/Contents/Java/hardware/tools/avr/etc/avrdude.conf -v -patmega32u4 -cavr109 -P$1 -b57600 -D -Uflash:w:$2:i
}

you can download the firmware there :

github.com

Breaking Change This release is a breaking change for two reasons. The memory layout of settings has changed, so on upgrading all settings will revert to factory defaults. Some response and notifi...

The just get the actual device on which the arduino show up ( /dev/cu.usbmodem144201 for in my case but this port will be different on yours depending on which usb port it's plugged in).

Then I call the function from zsh/bash from inside the directory where the firmware is :

prog_leonardo /dev/cu.usbmodem144201 Rotator-4.0.0.hex

this will reset the arduino and flash the new version of the firmware.

Do the same thing for the shutter but with Shutter-4.0.0.hex

Rodolphe

Jan 14

Ok, I'll give that a shot tonight. I jut came back from the observatory where I had a problem. My Mac wasn't recognizing the rotator or shutter at all. I checked in my system profile on the Mac and it wasn't showing any USB devices connected. ARGH!

Jan 14

This is weird. What version of macOS are you running as at some point there was an issue with Arduino on macOS on Catalina (which has been fixed).

And it works fine with Big Sur 11.1 (juts tested an arduino leonardo on mine).

Jan 14

I'm not a programmer - so your new function is too confusing for me. I don't know how your comment "it uses my Arduino avrdude and the python script is in my dev stuff" would translate to my system. I don't have "dev stuff" so all those file addresses won't on my Mac.

Jan 14

I am using Catalina.

Jan 14

And are you all updated to 10.15.7 ? I think this was fixed in 10.15.4

Jan 14

On my Mac I have installed the Arduino IDE .. which is what my "it uses my Arduino avrdude and the python script is in my dev stuff" comment means.

Aka.. that how avrdude is installed for me. I also have a macports version of it installed and you could use this and change the path to avrdude and its default config.

Jan 14

To make my life easier, I downloaded it too, and copied it to Applications/Tools so I can use your script as is.

Jan 14

10.15.6.

Jan 14

Ok, getting closer! I have the USB port working.

But when I run "rduino_pro.py" I get an error that there is no module named serial. peterkennett@Peters-Air bin % arduino_pro.py

Traceback (most recent call last):

File "/usr/local/bin/arduino_pro.py", line 6, in <module>

import serial

ImportError: No module named serial

Jan 14

And what does this mean: "Connecting to programmer: .avrdude: butterfly_recv(): programmer is not responding"

Jan 14

You get this error because the Arduino didn't reset to programing mode. So avrdude doesn't get an answer from the butterfly boot loader.

Jan 14Edited: Jan 14

You need to instal python serial library.. which is not simple if you're using the system python.

I'll need to see how to do that as I use macports.

Edit :

you might be able to do : sudo /usr/bin/pip3 install serial

Jan 14

Got it. pip3 install pyserial

Collecting pyserial

Downloading pyserial-3.5-py2.py3-none-any.whl (90 kB)

|████████████████████████████████| 90 kB 937 kB/s

Installing collected packages: pyserial

Successfully installed pyserial-3.5