Programmer

[guerra]

Stefan Kyupop from WF Wolves have finished the design of the robot programmer board. I got the files from him and did some very minor changes to make it conform with the DRC specifications of BatchPCB. The files can be found in the attachment.

Thank you very much Stefan!

[guerra]

Just added this to the CVS in SourceForge, module name "firmware-programmer".

[guerra]

I just realized one important thing that should be explicitly mentioned: The above programmer board alone is not sufficient for programming the robots. The programmer board is an interface board that provides access to the normal-sized connectors but one still needs to connect the usual firmware programming devices into these connectors in order to be able to upload firmware into the robots.

The devices needed in order to make full use of the programmer interfaces are:

• ARM JTAG Programmer: This is the device that uploads and debugs firmware on the ARM processor. One such device is this one.
• AVR ISP: This is the device that uploads and debugs firmware on the AVR processor. One such device is this one
• USB cable: This can be used for communication with the ARM and also for uploading firmware to the ARM.
• Serial null cable: This can be used for log debugging in order to receive output from the program running in the ARM.
• AC Adapter: Anything from 6 to 12 volts DC current, for power.

[neda]

Rodrigo,

Would you please specify what kind of serial cable we need for ARM? (Is that USB to IEEE1394 or what?)
Also about serial null cable, is that a DB9 cable?

thanks

[Henning]

Hello,

for Programming the ARM using the Programmer board you can use a standard USB A/B Cable like used for printers usually. You do not need to buy
a programmer.

For Debugging you need a Serial to USB Cable with a FTDI232 chip, like these here:
http://www.ftdichip.com/Products/EvaluationKits/USB-Serial.htm - but this is only for sending debug messages from the ARM to PC  - so if you only want to flash the firmware without developing all you need is:

AVR Programmer -> for AVR firmware uploading
USB A/B -> for ARM firmware uploading
AC Adapter -> for power supply to the programmer board.

And the assembled programmer board

regards,

Henning

[guerra]

Thanks Henning.

Please use AC adapter of something between 5V and 6V. Theoretically it should work with voltages up to 12V but the board gets really hot and I am afraid the delicate connectors could start to melt or something else just burn.

The firmware is almost finished and will most likely be released this week.

Regards,
Guerra

[StefanKrupop]

Please use AC adapter of something between 5V and 6V.

Just a short note: Of course the programmer/bot needs a DC power supply. Applying AC current would probably destroy the voltage regulator on the bot.

Stefan

[guerra]

Yes, thanks for clarifying. This is exactly what I mean with AC adapter, the adapter that transforms AC current from the plug in the wall into DC current. Perhaps it would be more correct to say AC/DC adapter.

Rephrasing, please avoid using DC voltages bigger than around 6V for the supply of the programmer.