mchelper-2.5.0 working on Linux with OSC over USB and Ethernet

Hi all, Tonight I just finished getting OSC over USB and Ethernet working for mchelper-2.5.0 on Linux. These patches have not been uploaded to SVN, but if I can get a couple of more beta testers to try it out, that would be nice. The new implementation uses the Hardware Abstraction Layer (HAL) and should work on FreeBSD, Solaris, OS X, and plenty of others. So, just ping me over on IRC #makingthings and I'll email you the diffs to mchelper-v25. Cheers! EBo --

I think it is fantastic that you're doing that.

I'd offer to help you test, except that I don't use mchelper... or even the standard firmware.  So I'd have to tackle the newbie learning curve.

Still, unless you've got other testers, I might have to do exactly that, just to benefit the community.

I got my MC because Sparkfun was out of the SAM7S256 header boards (which would have required a particularly unpleasant mod to get it to work properly with USB if it wasn't out of stock).  It was that or a Lego NXT or one of several even more expensive dev boards.  I went with the MC with an eye toward using it for its intended purpose once I'm done developing my own firmware for a SAM7S64 header board.

I needed the extra RAM so that I could test firmware in RAM instead of wearing out the FLASH and NVRAM bits.  Some days, I load new firmware dozens of times.  FLASH would hold up awhile under those conditions, but the NVRAM bits would wear out in a month or less of that kind of use.

Of course, the work you're doing will help me when the time comes for me to do repurpose my MC for its intended function.  I'll have to tackle that learning curve then if not now.

Lou, I want to thank you for taking some time and helping out with the beta testing. With any luck we will have these tool just working. So, if there are other Linux users out there I would love to have you help with the testing. EBo --

Previously John (EBo) David wrote:

Lou,

I want to thank you for taking some time and helping out with the beta testing. With any luck we will have these tool just working. So, if there are other Linux users out there I would love to have you help with the testing.

EBo --

You're welcome.  As it turns out, the learning curve wasn't as bad as I expected.  And, so far, the testing isn't too intrusive.  It actually takes more time to compose a thoughtful test report than it does to perform the actual test.  Which is to say not terribly much.

I get enough benefit from open source software that I might as well help out when I can.

Thanks for taking the time, and I am glad the the learning curve is not that high. With any luck we'll get the HAL issues ironed out AND the reset without having to unplug working (I love that you have found a possible way to pull that one off Laters, EBo --

After working with Lou some more the Linux HAL port enumeration is working. Liam has since added those changes to mchelper/branches/v25. So, enjoy. EBo --