Dangerous Prototypes Open Source Hardware

#twatch V1a

November 19, 2009, 01:49:22 pm

Well my free sunday board turned up a couple of days ago. thanks heaps.

i managed to sit down and go though my parts box and find alot of the parts needed. ( it helps to have ordered more than enough parts for your business card webserver)

I figure ill take your advice and upgrade the regulators from the smt packages you speced for the board.
I also have a 20x4 lcd sitting here so once the rest is working ill add that.
Strangly enough i couldnt find a 5v or 3.3v regulator in a ta220 package here at all. lots of smaller 100ma ones but nothing in a larger package.
I assume the fet isnt to specific, i have some 2n7000 fets here i was gonna check to see if they would work.

anyway here is a pic.

Re: #twatch V1a

Reply #1 – November 22, 2009, 12:55:26 am

Ian,

do you have a working .hex file for a v1a board you could post.

i just need somethig to verify the hardware i have.

Re: #twatch V1a

Reply #2 – November 22, 2009, 09:24:42 am

I didn't get a notice on this post, sorry for the delay.

I attached a v1 compile, but I'm afraid it isn't tested. I actually thought v1 compiles were included in the download, but I don't see them there, nor can I find a 'last working copy'. If this doesn't work, please let me know and I'll try to get it going on my development board.

Look for the announce packet and try to PING the board, that should tell you if it's going.

Re: #twatch V1a

Reply #3 – November 22, 2009, 09:39:44 am

thanks for that ian,

hopefully if its working i can start compiling my own . but i wanted to confirm the hardware was ok before trying to compile as i didnt want to be chasing both items at once.

Re: #twatch V1a

Reply #4 – November 22, 2009, 09:58:05 am

i forgot to ask, is it setup for the bootloader or as a standalone file?

if bootloader which should i use?

Re: #twatch V1a

Reply #5 – November 22, 2009, 10:03:53 am

There's no bootloader for v1, that was part of the motivation for a redesign Only the 18Fxxjxx ethernet pics support the TFTP network bootloader. I considered a serial bootloader for v1 (like the Bus Pirate), but that would require special equipment (MAX 232, or usb adapter, etc.), so I went with the other chips.

If I had to do it again, I'd use the USB 24F with USB bootloader and an external ethernet transceiver (like the v1 design).

Re: #twatch V1a

Reply #6 – November 22, 2009, 10:57:20 am

well.

first of all i didnt get any lights or anything.
once i worked out that i have the 3.3v regulator where the 5v one goes (i havnt installed a 5v reg yet) and then worked out that you didnt use the middle pin of the reg for power but the back pin, i now have a board that give an anouncement packet and mostly responds to a ping.

the led's work as expected

so next ill find a 5v reg with the correct pinout or hack a 7805 to fit and hook up the lcd panel.

Re: #twatch V1a

Reply #7 – November 22, 2009, 11:18:33 am

I'm glad you got it working.

The source for v1 is the same as v2, there's defines in the code that will use the correct pins, variable types, LCD driver routines (4bit vs 8bit on v2), depending on the processor configured in MPLAB. I lost my local copy of the MPLAB project file for the v1 somewhere (it's backed up off-site, but I have to go to the office to get it). I just saved-as the v2, then configured for C30 toolsuite (under project), removed some C18 library search paths under project->build options, and changed the processor to 24FJ64GA002.

Re: #twatch V1a

Reply #8 – November 22, 2009, 11:31:48 am

I just uploaded a v0b-a version of #twatch source to SVN. This differs from v0b in a few ways:
-includes fast text write to smooth scrolling (included in shipped firmware)
-includes back light on at start (enhancement, released in v0b-bl update)
-includes custom character fix (enhancement, untested)