Shopping Cart
mcbuilder 0.5.0 available
Forgot your password?
New user?
Document Actions
Getting Started
An overview of what mchelper does.
How to use mchelper (Make Controller Helper)
Page
1
of
3.
mchelper (Make Controller Helper) is an application that runs on your desktop and helps work with your Make Controller(s). The main functions it serves are:
- Send manual commands to the Make Controller over USB and Ethernet.
- Provide a quick glance of some of the board's pertinent properties.
- Upload new firmware to your Make Controller.
- Provide a bridge for Flash movies (or other XML based apps) to communicate with the Make Controllers currently connected.
The very first step, of course, is to download mchelper - check the Downloads page for the latest version. This guide assumes that:
- You're running mchelper 2.0 or later on your computer.
- You're running Heavy 1.2.0 or later on your Make Controller.
Dialog View
The main view in mchelper shows:
- A list of connected Make Controllers - on the left, this window shows all Make Controllers (both USB and Ethernet), showing first their name and then their location. The location for Ethernet boards is their IP address. USB boards show their COM port number on Windows, or just "USB" otherwise.
- The dialog window - shows a transcript of all the messages going to and from the boards. The left column shows where the message was to/from, the middle column is the message itself, and the righthand column shows the time at which the message was sent.
- The text entry line, at the bottom, is where to type new OSC messages to the board. Either press the "Send" button to send it, or simply press return. Messages get sent to the board that's currently selected in the list on the left, so first click on the board you'd like to send the message to, then enter your message and send it.
The mchelper "Dialog" view
Messages in the dialog window are color-coded to indicate where they came from:
| Blue messages are messages that you've typed in and sent to a board. | |
| White messages are responses coming back from a board. | |
| Orange messages are responses from the board that contain error information. | |
| Red messages indicate an error within mchelper itself. | |
| Green messages are messages from Flash (or anything else connected to mchelper's XML server). | |
| Gray messages are info or status messages from mchelper. |
Summary View
The mchelper "Summary" view
The summary view provides a quick look at some of the important pieces of information about the currently selected board:
System
- Name - each Make Controller can be given a unique name. This field is editable within mchelper - simply type in a new name.
- Serial Number - each Make Controller should have a unique serial number. This is used mainly to create a unique Ethernet address for each board - boards on the same network must all have different serial numbers to work properly. This field is editable - simply type in a new serial number.
- Version - shows the version of the firmware running on your Make Controller, "Heavy 1.2.0", for example. This is not editable.
- Free Memory - shows the free memory available on your board. This is not editable, and is usually only helpful as a diagnostic when writing your own programs for the Make Controller.
Network
- IP address - the network address of the currently selected Make Controller. This is editable - type in a new address to set it. However, if DHCP is selected this will have no effect.
- Router - the address of the router the board is currently using. This is editable - type in a new rounter to set it. If DHCP is selected this will have no effect.
- Mask - the currently selected board's network mask. This is editable - type in a new mask to set it. If DHCP is selected this will have no effect.
- OSC Listening Port - the port that the board is listening on for incoming OSC messages.
- OSC Sending Port - the port that the board will send outgoing OSC messages on.
- DHCP - whether the board is using DHCP. DHCP allows the Make Controller to automatically get an address when connected to a network. This is generally recommended unless you're connecting the Make Controller directly to your computer.
- Webserver - whether the board is running its demo webserver. This can be a helpful diagnostic, but if you're not using it, it's recommended to turn it off as it consumes a good chunk of the board's resources.
Note - as of firmware 1.5.0, this checkbox does not work. Send the OSC message /webserver/active 1 instead to turn the webserver on.
Each of these properties corresponds to an OSC message that you can send manually to the board if you like. The summary view is mostly just a convenience for viewing and editing some of the most common ones.
