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Programming/Updating the Propeller via REALBASIC? — Parallax Forums

Programming/Updating the Propeller via REALBASIC?

DavidMDavidM Posts: 630
edited 2007-11-05 13:51 in Propeller 1
Hi,

What is involved in loading/programming the propeller via a dedicated piece of software written in say REALBASIC? ( for PC or MAC)


The reason I want to do this is to allow users of my FINISHED PRODUCTS to UPGRADE the PROPELLER FIRMWARE via a SIMPLE STANDALONE SOFTWARE UPDATER APPLICATION? This would be download from the internet.

I do not want the user to use the SPIN application for this!

Any Ideas?
has anyone done something similar?


regards

Dave M

Comments

  • Mike GreenMike Green Posts: 23,101
    edited 2007-11-05 07:41
    There is a Propeller loader in Python that has been posted here in the past. There is also a Propeller loader that has been written in Spin which could be translated into something like RealBasic, but no one has done that yet. It's pretty straightforward once you've got the code to select and open both a serial port and the binary file produced by the Propeller Tool. That's the hardest part to do cross-platform.

    Check out this thread (cataloged in Graham Stabler's thread index): http://forums.parallax.com/showthread.php?p=591445.

    Post Edited (Mike Green) : 11/5/2007 7:46:23 AM GMT
  • Nick MuellerNick Mueller Posts: 815
    edited 2007-11-05 07:48
    > What is involved in loading/programming the propeller via a dedicated piece of software written in say REALBASIC? ( for PC or MAC)

    I would be interested in such a thing too. It would have to support an RS232 port.


    Nick

    ▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
    Never use force, just go for a bigger hammer!

    The DIY Digital-Readout for mills, lathes etc.:
    YADRO
  • DavidMDavidM Posts: 630
    edited 2007-11-05 08:01
    Thanks Mike,

    I had a quick read of that thread, but I did not understand it. I found another thread regarding PYTHON, I had a look at the code in XCODE as the MAC does PYTHON, no explanation and it seems messy NO GUI , Isn't it just a matter of creating a FILE from SPIN, then transmitting that BINARY FILE to the prop via serial? I can easliy creat a NICE interface in real basic, How hard can this be?


    My main query is that IT CAN BE DONE, as I don't need it yet ( but down the track), But I need to know if there are any special hardware requirements, I just want to use the standard serial port!

    If I get to do this I will share the REAL BASIC app with anyone, ( thats assuming it works!)
    Regards


    Dave Metus
  • Nick MuellerNick Mueller Posts: 815
    edited 2007-11-05 08:27
    > Isn't it just a matter of creating a FILE from SPIN, then transmitting that BINARY FILE to the prop via serial?

    This is a rough scetch.

    The downloader has to reset the Propeller (via DTR? line) send some snc-bytes and then download the code. This was a not-so-rough scetch. The pointer to the PYTHON script was meant as a reference of how to do it in detail.


    Nick

    ▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
    Never use force, just go for a bigger hammer!

    The DIY Digital-Readout for mills, lathes etc.:
    YADRO
  • DavidMDavidM Posts: 630
    edited 2007-11-05 08:32
    Thnaks Nick

    So other info would be

    BAUD RATE??,
    BIT/BYTE Manipulations?
    VERIFICATION?

    etc

    Dave M
  • Nick MuellerNick Mueller Posts: 815
    edited 2007-11-05 09:07
    There are so many infos if you look for them in the formum. Just do a search on "PYTHON" and by chance you'll find a bunch of loaders.

    Some threads:
    <http://forums.parallax.com/forums/default.aspx?f=25&m=211304&g=211339#m211339&gt;

    <http://forums.parallax.com/forums/default.aspx?f=25&m=150887&gt; At the end of the page is a code sniplet in Pascal.

    <http://forums.parallax.com/forums/default.aspx?f=25&m=161911&gt; The Python loader.

    Looking at the Python loader, I see it works with 115200Bd. But the speed is not critical.
    The trick to understand is, that the bits to be sent to the Propeller are coded into bytes of the RS232-stream. Think of it as abusing the RS232 for Morse code.

    Nick

    ▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
    Never use force, just go for a bigger hammer!

    The DIY Digital-Readout for mills, lathes etc.:
    YADRO
  • DavidMDavidM Posts: 630
    edited 2007-11-05 09:46
    Hi Nick,

    Ok , I can see that there has been some work already done on this subject, I shall read some more!

    Thanks

    Dave M
  • hippyhippy Posts: 1,981
    edited 2007-11-05 13:02
    My own VB6 loader is at the bottom of the first page of http://forums.parallax.com/showthread.php?p=670593 ( AiLoad32.zip ) which may help with creating a REALbasic version.

    Getting to grips with the Eeprom image encoding when sending is the key to success and there are a number of different ways to do that, via a serial port uses some 'clever trickery' which isn't too hard to understand once things fall into place.
  • rjo_rjo_ Posts: 1,825
    edited 2007-11-05 13:51
    David,

    Is there any way in VB to make an application scriptable?

    Rich
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