Please pardon my newbie SpokePOV question...

SpokePOV kit for bikes

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ghostwheel
 
Posts: 7
Joined: Tue Aug 22, 2006 4:48 pm

Please pardon my newbie SpokePOV question...

Post by ghostwheel »

After building the kit, is it necessary to download and install the firmware, or is that already programmed into the components in the kit? I have been operating under the impression that once I built the kit I just needed to upload an image via the SpokePOV 1.2 software. Is this an incorrect impression?

Please, I only have a day left before I head out to Burning Man, and I would really like to have my kits functional before I hit the road.

-Chris

ghostwheel
 
Posts: 7
Joined: Tue Aug 22, 2006 4:48 pm

adding to my confusion...

Post by ghostwheel »

One person has written me and told me that the SpokePOV needs to be programmed with the firmware prior to use, but Ladyada said in this post that it comes pre-programmed with the firmware:

http://www.ladyada.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=997

If it comes pre-programmed, then I don't understand why I can't get any of my four SpokePOV units to display the images I have uploaded to them.

Has there been a change since her post in March and they are now shipped without firmware?

-Chris

ghostwheel
 
Posts: 7
Joined: Tue Aug 22, 2006 4:48 pm

Last question before I give up and head to Burning Man...

Post by ghostwheel »

The firmware download comes with SpokePOV.hex, which I assume is a pre-compiled version of the firmware. Is there a simple utility that I can use to upload this precompiled firmware using the serial dongle?

-Chris

adafruit
 
Posts: 12151
Joined: Thu Apr 06, 2006 4:21 pm

Post by adafruit »

the boards are preprogrammed with the firmware. thats what makes the leds blink in order when you put the battery in. they dont come with a preprogrammed image: thats what the spokepov software is for
you shouldnt be reprogramming the spokepov firmware unless you really want to!

ghostwheel
 
Posts: 7
Joined: Tue Aug 22, 2006 4:48 pm

Post by ghostwheel »

Greetings,

I just want to say it was a pleasure meeting you at Burning Man, even if I had been drinking a little too much scotch prior to our encounter. :)

The only reason I tried to program the unit was that someone on the board here had written me a private message telling me that the SpokePOV kits came unprogrammed. I quickly realized that the person was incorrect, but it was a useful learning experience to get avr-gcc installed on my laptop. :)

My initial issues had to do with loading a color image into the SpokePOV software, and thinking it had picked up the active pixels. Turns out my image had been in the same color used by the software to indicate an active pixel, and that I had to convert the image from red-on-white to black-on-white to get it working.

I did discover, while out on the playa, that I was unable to get the blue and green SpokePOV modules to program from my laptop. I solved that isse by moving the microcontroller and the eeprom to a red module (I had to move the microcontroller to set the rotation offset) and that worked as a quick hack. I've been too busy settling back into the default world to sit down and run through a series of test cases to isolate the issue.

-Chris

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