A new open source hardware project every month
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A new version of the Bus Pirate SPI sniffer helper application and source is ready to download.
This version adds clock edge and idle phase configuration settings. It also has new command line parsing.
Download links and updated instructions are on the wiki.
Tags: binmode, power tools, SPI sniffer
MrHijets’ BIOS update [machine translation] went sour, but he revived it with the Bus Pirate and FlashRom:
In my case, Flashrom and the Bus Pirate saved my motherboard…
FlashRom support is an example of how open source and community driven development can extend a project beyond it’s original design. Thank you to everyone who has contributed to the Bus Pirate project.
Get a Bus Pirate for $30, including worldwide shipping at Seeed Studio. Adafruit also has the Bus Pirate and probe cables in stock and ready to ship.
The Bus Pirate PIC 24F programmer will now successfully erase a PIC 24F and read the chip ID. In the future this could be a handy way to unbrick one Bus Pirate with another. Our goal is to make all Dangerous Prototypes projects repairable via a Bus Pirate programmer.
We couldn’t get the commands in the programming specification to work, even though everything looked perfect on a logic analyzer. Eventually we had to sniff the ICSP pins while we erased the chip with an ICD2. The actual commands were way off from our understanding of the datasheet. The erase operation seems to included an undocumented command.
A test programmer application should be finished very soon. Then we’ll add support for other 3.3volt PICs. The 18F24J50 in the Logic Sniffer is our next target.
We still have one of Ril3y’s laser-cut Bus Pirate cases to give away, we’ll send it to anyone who makes a contribution to the programmer effort (more below).
The latest source, executable, and scripts are in the SVN.
Tags: PIC programmer
will_j posted a Bus Pirate script that controls a Sure Electronics 8×32 LED marquee:
Here’s a quick and dirty perl script to display ‘BPv3′ on a Sure Electronics 8×32 LEd Matrix display.
You can also use a 16×24 display if you change the second command code to 44 from 40.
Any improvements gratefully received – i.e. a nice character lookup table process would be good!
View a copy in the Bus Pirate scripts folder. We demonstrated a slightly different Sure LED matrix a in a demo: post a few weeks ago.
Thanks for the tip!
There’s a new Bus Pirate v2.9 nightly that adds several small features and improvements. The primary binary mode now has commands to access the voltage probe and setup pulse-width modulation on the AUX pin. Binmode documentation is updated with these new commands. We also improved the code behind the frequency generator and frequency measurement features in user mode.
Tags: firmware updates
See the latest version in the documentation wiki.
Raw-wire binary mode provides access to the Bus Pirate’s raw 2- and 3-wire libraries. This new mode will make it easier to script operations on arbitrary serial protocols used by devices like smart cards, shift registers, etc. A completed raw-wire binary mode will be in the next firmware release, for now you can grab the latest v2.9 nightly compile.
Here’s all the binmode documentation so far. Binary raw-wire mode specification follows after the break.
For the past week we’ve been collecting your demo scripts for the Bus Pirate’s new binary interface mode. All the entries were excellent. Thank you for participating!
Everyone who submitted a script will get a probe cable kit, courtesy of Seeed Studio.
If you didn’t finish a script in time for the giveaway, we’d still like to host your script in the Bus Pirate project SVN.
Tags: giveaway
audiohacked wrote a cross-platform ROM programmer GUI for the Bus Pirate after seeing James’ Windows EEPROM programmer in C. Check out the development here, here, and here.
We want your scripts! We’ll send Bus Pirate probe cable kits to two authors of binmode scripts posted by the end of the weekend. Any language is fine, but something widely available and cross-platform is best.
The Bus Pirate has five new binary access modes that can be scripted from a PC: 1-Wire, UART, I2C, SPI, and bitbang. We’ve already gotten some excellent demo scripts, and there’s more basic Perl demos in the example scrips folder. If you script something for any of the new modes, in any language, we’d like to host it with the other examples.
Tags: giveaway
This Perl script demonstrates a way to get the Bus Pirate hardware and firmware version from binary mode. The approach is pretty simple: enter binary mode, reset from binary mode, parse the version information shown on reset (same as ‘i’ in the user terminal).
Note that the latest firmware, v2.8, changes the order of version info in the display. The current formatting will be retained for the foreseeable future. If this inconsistency with earlier versions is a problem for your script, you could search the output for key words that precede the version strings (“Firmware v” and “Bus Pirate v”) for a more robust identification routine.
Submit your scripts by the end of this weekend for a Bus Pirate probe cable kit.
Here’s a roundup of the binary mode scripts we’ve collected so far. Submit your scripts by the end of this weekend for a Bus Pirate probe cable kit.
blue.zener wrote a Ruby class to interface the Bus Pirate, and demonstrated it with a Nokia 3310 LCD. audiohacked recently updated pyBusPirate, a comprehensive Python interface library. James wrote an example I2C EEPROM programming script in C for Windows.
There’s also three Perl examples in the demo scripts folder. The binmode test shows how to enter and exit the new modes. The self-test script demonstrates the new binary manufacturing test modes. The binary SPI sample script dumps EEPROMs to a file.
Tags: binmode
James submitted an example binmode script in C for Windows. It programs an ASCII hex file onto an I2C eeprom like the 24FC64. This is an excellent demo for anyone who wants to make a native Windows application that interfaces the Bus Pirate.
Don’t forget that we want your scripts too. We’re giving away two Bus Pirate probe kits to binmode script authors. Here’s all the binmode documentation so far.
Thanks for the tip!
Please join us in welcoming audiohacked to the Bus Pirate project. audiohacked wrote the excellent Python wrapper for the new Bus Pirate binary modes, and now he’ll be updating a copy in the project SVN too. pyBusPirate makes Bus Pirate scripting easy for Python developers, and it’s the most complete binmode reference implementation available.
Tags: developers, python
See the latest version in the documentation wiki.
The Bus Pirate’s new binary modes provide a consistent, logical way to script actions from Python, Perl, etc. We’ve already introduced the new binary bitbang, SPI, I2C, and UART modes. This post outlines the last planned binmode addition, 1-Wire functions. A completed binary mode will be in the next firmware release, for now you can grab the latest v2.7 nightly compile.
We want your scripts! If you script something for any of the new modes, in any language, we’d like to host it in the example scripts folder. We’ll send Bus Pirate probe cable kits to two authors of Bus Pirate binary mode scripts posted by the end of next week (October 24th, 2009). Here’s all the binmode documentation so far.
Binary 1-Wire mode specification follows after the break.
[vimeo http://vimeo.com/7139826]
blue.zener interfaced a Nokia 3310 LCD using the new Bus Pirate binary mode. He also wrote a general Ruby class for the Bus Pirate binmode. There’s a bit more in the forum, too. The step-by-step overview is excellent, great work!
Don’t forget that we want your scripts too. We’re giving away two Bus Pirate probe kits to binmode script authors. Here’s all the binmode documentation so far.
Thanks for the tip!
Tags: LCD, nokia 3310
See the latest version on the documentation wiki.
The Bus Pirate’s new binary modes provide a consistent, logical way to script actions from Python, Perl, etc. We already introduced the new binary bitbang, SPI, and I2C modes. This post outlines the binary UART functions. A UART is like a PC serial port. Binary mode will be complete in the next firmware release, for now you can grab the latest v2.7 nightly compile.
We want your scripts! If you script something for any of the new modes, in any language, we’d like to host it in the example scripts folder. We’ll send Bus Pirate probe cable kits to two authors of Bus Pirate binary mode scripts posted by the end of next week (October 24th, 2009). Here’s all the binmode documentation so far.
Binary UART mode specification follows after the break.
See the latest version in the documentation wiki.
Since v2 the Bus Pirate firmware has included a self-test that verifies the function of pins and peripherals. The latest v2.6-nightly build adds a self-test to the binary bitbang mode. This is a useful way for applications to test the Bus Pirate, and for manufacturing quality control.
Self-test details after the break. Don’t forget that we’re giving Bus Pirate probe cables to script authors.
Audiohacked developed pyBusPirateLite, a Python interface to the new Bus Pirate binmode. It includes libraries that manage each mode (bitbang, SPI, I2C), and an example SPI EEPROM reader built on the libraries. Download a copy from our example scripts folder, or get the latest code at Audiohacked’s git repository. You’ll also need pySerial if you don’t have it.
Don’t forget that we want your scripts too! We’re giving away two Bus Pirate probe kits to binmode script authors. Here’s all the binmode documentation so far.
Thanks for the tip!
See the latest version in the documentation wiki.
The Bus Pirate’s new binary modes provide a consistent, logical way to script actions from Python, Perl, etc. We already introduced the new binary bitbang and SPI modes, today we’ll document the binary I2C mode. Binary I2C will be in the v2.6 firmware release, for now you can grab the v2.6 nightly compile.
We want your scripts! If you script something for any of the new modes, in any language, we’d like to host it in the example scripts folder. We’ll send Bus Pirate probe cable kits to two authors of Bus Pirate binary mode scripts posted by the end of next week (October 24th, 2009).
Binary I2C mode specification follows after the break.
Here’s a Perl script that demonstrates the new Bus Pirate binary bitbang mode. You’ll need Perl with Win32::SerialPort or Device::SerialPort, and a Bus Pirate with firmware v2.4 or later. Edit the script to use the correct serial port number and device.
We chose Perl because we had never used it before, and we weren’t in the mood for a strongly typed language like Python. Perl’s serial port situation isn’t as clean or universal as Python’s pySerial. Since the Bus Pirate already uses a Python firmware updater, using Python for binmode scripts seems preferable. Hopefully we’ll have some Python examples soon, but if you come up with something first, please share it in the forum.
Tags: binmode, perl, raw access
