Hi all,
I received my #twatch from Seeed Studios this morning. I got the version without the LCD because I have many 20X4 LCD's lying around from other projects..... Anyway, when I connect the unit to my network and to a wall wart power supply (7VDC), I never see the network configuration screen. Rather, I see a bunch of seemingly random static gibberish. I say 'seemingly random' because similar characters will appear when I cycle the power, but not exactly. I see things like:
I:6925.1.1
AK:2525500GTE16.25.1
NS:6925411
Interestingly, when I plug in the network cable, the display becomes animated, and more gibberish seems to scroll by. Some of it even appears readable, but I'm not sure (it may be my imagination). If I run Netscan and scan the IP addresses in the range of my network, the #twatch does appear with an IP address of 192.168.1.170. If I unplug the unit and scan again, this address goes away.
I'm wondering if I have some sort of mongrel firmware on my board? I'm not sure what else might be the explanation?
BTW, I installed a jumper to prevent the bootloader from running, but that did not change the situation!
Ideas?
Thanks,
John
It sounds like the delay for writing characters is too small for your LCD. I can make a custom firmware compile for you with bigger delays. When I developed the #twatch I encountered this when I tried to speed up the LCD writes too much.
Hi Ian,
Thanks for the reply!
I'd appreciate that!
John
I increased the setup delay by 10% and the hold delay by 25-33%. Hope this helps, if not, please let me know, it only takes a second to compile a new version.
File attached.
Hi Again,
Well, that clearly helped! I can now read most of the text that is being sent to the LCD, but I'm still getting a lot of garbage characters. For example, line #1 of my display reads:
Trndig nw: instead of Trending Now:, so it's much better!
Could you bump up those parameters a little bit more, and send me a new .hex file?
Thanks,
John
FYI:
#define LCD_SETUP_DELAY 20 //setup delay for LCD data default is 10(us)
#define LCD_HOLD_DELAY 37 //LCD clock hold time default is 24(us)
If it works, then we remember :)
FYI:
#define LCD_SETUP_DELAY 20 //setup delay for LCD data default is 10(us)
#define LCD_HOLD_DELAY 37 //LCD clock hold time default is 24(us)
If it works, then we remember :)
Forgot the file, sorry.
Hi Ian,
My #twatch is now working 100%!! Still displaying a lot of gibberish, but at least now it's Twitter gibberish ;-)!
Looking forward to playing with this new toy!
Thanks again!
John
is it possible to create a set of commands that would make these sort of settings changeable from external.
like being able to send a command to turn on or off the backlight via script maybe it would be possible to change these settings via a script and have then saved somewhere so they are stored while its off.
damm,
i just checked and this pic has no eeprom, and with the limited write cycle of the flash im not sure it would be a good idea.
ah well worth a thought
Yeah... Eventually Microchip is going to release a PIC32 with USB, Ethernet, etc. It's sampling now, but I couldn't get any for a project to sell. It doesn't have a PHY (only MAC), but that's a 44tqfp chip with only 8 or so connections (not terrible). It will have all the ingredients for a better #twatch - USB upgradable, integrated ethernet. On the other hand, if you have to use an external PHY, then why not use an ENC28J60 + 64pin USB PIC24? So many options!
I have been looking at those new pic32 chips as well,
I for one would be interested in a mini development board based on say the 64pin version.
but thats a topic for another thread i guess.
Hi
Had the same toubles with my self built twatch, missing characters and connection error. After uploading the code version posted in this thread my twatch is working now.
Only one thing, my twatch consumesv 160 mA and the pic gets pretty hot.
Is this normal ?
cheers
Michael
merry xmas
Yes, the integrated ethernet MAX/PHY consumes a lot and gets pretty hot.
Thank you ian
cheers
rubi