Does the PROPELLANT Software do This?

DavidM

HI,

Can the PROPELLANT software do this..

I need to send my clients FIRMWARE upgrades via email / web page download / CD etc

My propeller based products will have a USB port on them so they can simply plug a USB cable into it and connect to a PC.

The file would look something like eg. " MyUpgradeFirmwareV1.1.exe "

I would like to create some kind of .EXE file which they can simply download , double click and a GUI appears with simple instructions how to upgrade the firmware ( NOTHING TECHNICAL PLEASE, and NO COMMAND LINE/DOS stuff etc) and also no suggestion of the kind of processor used i.e "PARALLAX" or "PROPELLER CHIP" . No offense, but my customers ( and competitors!) do not need to know this.

The Application/exe would say , "please turn on the device and make sure the USB cable is attached" if not done so already.
The Application might read the current firmware version so the customer knows what version they have before installing.
The Application would hava button saying "UPGADE NOW"
The Application would show a progress bar and let the user know what is happening
Any errors would be displayed on the screen, and possible "simple" fixes would be suggested

I guess what I am asking for is a very SIMPLE ( for non technical people) to use as an firmware installer for upgrading

Is this what the PROPELLANT Software is used for?
Or do I need to create my own application in something like REALBASIC ( which I know)

Thanks

Dave M

Mike Green

You could do it either way.
1) You could use Propellent as just a downloader even though it includes a compiler and assembler as well. That part doesn't have to be used.
You'd have to write your own GUI application like in RealBasic and that would "run" Propellent with the proper parameters and interpret any error codes returned by Propellent. You'd have to bundle the application along with Propellent and your update in binary format maybe as a self-extracting ZIP file that automatically runs the GUI after the pieces are extracted.

2) You could write your own downloader in RealBasic as part of the GUI. It's not a lot of code. There are versions already written in Python and in Spin and they could be easily enough translated to RealBasic.

DavidM

HI Mike,

Thanks for the reply,

So I gather that PROPELLANT CAN upload to the propeller chip, but not in a GUI interface and not without some techie-goo-gaa that the user sees?

I will look at creating an interface using REAL-BASIC as I can compile on PC , MAC and LINUX

So will REAL-BASIC be able to be "LINK IN"" with PROPELLANT ?

Could this be done on a MAC? Intel Based ?


Thanks

Dave M

Mike Green

Propellent will only download under Windows since it uses Windows I/O calls. The compiler / assembler portion will run under WINE on a Intel-based Mac or under Linux with an Intel processor. Your best bet is to use the Python downloader or write your own in RealBasic using the Python and Spin versions as a model. If Windows-only is ok, you should be able to "run" an external "command line" program from a RealBasic program.

DavidM

Thanks Mike

I will look into it

Dave M

Praxis

Have a look at this thread.

http://forums.parallax.com/showthread.php?p=731833