62 replies to this topic

[Gutworks]

4.2.2 SDK just went live on the downloads page. 

 

Interesting....

 

There seems to be a few new templates in the SDK. Are we expecting some announcements soon?!

[skobyjay]

Hi Chris,

 

Just Curious, the link in your original post NetduinoPlus2_Firmware_4.2.2.0.zip " why isn't that link on your "downloads" page on the main site? or are they located somewhere else? Also where is your codeplex URL? Also I think it would be helpful (for noobs like me anyway) if there was a "posted" date in parenthesis on the firmware source page.

 

Sorry if I'm asking dumb questions.

[Chris Walker]

Hi skobyjay, Good point. We'll look into adding firmware links to the Downloads page. Date is also a good idea. Chris

[Russ Black]

according to the specs the netduino Plus2 has 3 UART ports, but opening COM3 fails?

[Verdris]

How exactly do I flash this firmware? I have MFDeploy, but I don't seem to have anything like STDFU.

[Gutworks]

How exactly do I flash this firmware? I have MFDeploy, but I don't seem to have anything like STDFU.

Hmm, it looks like the post is missing the link to the STDFU Tester and ST DfuSe Demonstrator. Once you have these two applications downloaded just follow the instructions found at the beginning of this thread. 

 

Perhaps Chris can add the links in his original post 

 

Cheers,

Steve

[Verdris]

Hmm, it looks like the post is missing the link to the STDFU Tester and ST DfuSe Demonstrator. Once you have these two applications downloaded just follow the instructions found at the beginning of this thread. 

 

Perhaps Chris can add the links in his original post 

 

Cheers,

Steve

Thanks Steve, I got things working just as I saw you posted this! The 4.2.2 upgrade has solved my I2C problems!

[Gutworks]

The 4.2.2 upgrade has solved my I2C problems!

Awesome!!! That's great news. Thanks for the update.

[EnergySmithe]

Does anyone know if the .NET Micro Framework Toolbox still works after flashing this version of the firmware and upgrading framework/sdk?

 

Thanks

[Gutworks]

Does anyone know if the .NET Micro Framework Toolbox still works after flashing this version of the firmware and upgrading framework/sdk?

 

Thanks

I haven't come across any issues myself, and if anything I have found this firmware release to be fairly stable except for some issues surrounding various SPI modes. Do you have anything device on the .NET Micro Framework Toolbox that you're having issues with at the moment with the new firmware?

 

And welcome to the community EnergySmithe! I just realized this was your first post. 

 

Steve

[Chris Walker]

Hi Russ,

according to the specs the netduino Plus2 has 3 UART ports, but opening COM3 fails?

Netduino Plus 2 has 4 UARTs. COM3 is on pins D7/D8. What error are you getting when trying to open up COM3? Could you please share your code? Also, what version of the SDK are you using? The January 2013 update is 4.2.2. Chris

[FMode]

Does Netduino 2's Firmware support "peek" and "poke" (direct memory manipulation) - in order to manipulate a cpu register directly? I wrote a LIN driver (which I can share) but it needs UART Break signal (writing bit in the UART control register).

[John West]

So I had tried different values for the setup and hold time, and also tried reversing the sampling clock edge.  However, I had never tried all three at once.  The following below is giving much better results.

 

So here's my concern.  I don't use logic analyzers and such.  So if something doesn't work, I'm going to have a heck of a time figuring it out.  Should I try to find NP and not use NP2s?  It seems like the NP2 isn't backwards compatible as I'm used to the concept.  Sure, you can make it work, but existing code seems very likely not to work due to inconsistencies like this?  Or, do you think this is something that, now you're aware, will be fixed in a firmware release?

 

device = new SPI.Configuration(

Pin, // SS-pin

false, // SS-pin active state

1, // The setup time for the SS port

1, // The hold time for the SS port

false, // The idle state of the clock

false, //DEVICE DOCS SAY TO SET TO TRUE // The sampling clock edge

250, // The SPI clock rate in KHz

SPI_Devices.SPI1 // The used SPI bus (refers to a MOSI MISO and SCLK pinset)

);

 

Hi John, As long as the DLL versions in Visual Studio are 4.2.2 on the new DLLs, there's no difference. The SDK installer just makes it easier to make sure you get the right DLLs in the first place. Do you have a logic analyzer? Can you share a capture of the data, so we can see what your device is seeing? It may be that the STM32 is so much faster at de-asserting SPI_SS after transmission that the device is missing out on a byte. Also...for diagnostics purposes...if you pad your transmission with a zero byte at the end...does your device see the rest of the packet? Chris

[Chris Walker]

Does Netduino 2's Firmware support "peek" and "poke" (direct memory manipulation) - in order to manipulate a cpu register directly? I wrote a LIN driver (which I can share) but it needs UART Break signal (writing bit in the UART control register).

There is no direct register access, although NETMF unintentionally supports some unsafe pointers. So you might be able to manipulate the CPU registers via some hacking there... Chris

[Chris Walker]

Hi John,

So I had tried different values for the setup and hold time, and also tried reversing the sampling clock edge.  However, I had never tried all three at once.  The following below is giving much better results.

SPI is fairly standardized, although there are a few implementation inconsistencies between platforms. But we're continuing to make tweaks to bring Netduino gen1 and Netduino gen2 as close as possible. The two issues we're aware of at this point are some CPOL/CPHA tweaks we're working on and setup/hold time. In the first case, we're working on bringing the core NETMF STM32 implementation closer in line to the traditional CPOL/CPHA settings (which are mapped from the SPI Config). In the second case, the STM32 MCU is much quicker than the SAM7X MCU so for some devices you might want to add a little bit of setup or hold time--to give the target device enough time to process the chip select transitions. There's not much else we can do about being too speedy. Chris

[JerseyTechGuy]

Chris,

 

I installed the new 4.2.2.0 SDK.  When I create a new ND+2 Project the template creates a reference to the SecretLabs.NETMF.Hardware.Netduino.dll version 4.2.1.0 not the 4.2.2.0 SecretLabs.NETMF.Hardware.NetduinoPlus.dll.  Did the templates not update?  Should the previous SDK have been removed prior to installing?

[Gutworks]

Chris,

 

I installed the new 4.2.2.0 SDK.  When I create a new ND+2 Project the template creates a reference to the SecretLabs.NETMF.Hardware.Netduino.dll version 4.2.1.0 not the 4.2.2.0 SecretLabs.NETMF.Hardware.NetduinoPlus.dll.  Did the templates not update?  Should the previous SDK have been removed prior to installing?

Ohh, good eye. I see the same with my updated SDK. 

[Chris Walker]

Hi Dave,

I installed the new 4.2.2.0 SDK.  When I create a new ND+2 Project the template creates a reference to the SecretLabs.NETMF.Hardware.Netduino.dll version 4.2.1.0 not the 4.2.2.0 SecretLabs.NETMF.Hardware.NetduinoPlus.dll.  Did the templates not update?  Should the previous SDK have been removed prior to installing?

That is on purpose. All of the gen2 Netduinos use one standard hardware provider. This makes it possible to deploy Netduino 2 applications to Netduino Plus 2 and Netduino Go. The SecretLabs.NETMF.Hardware.NetduinoPlus assembly is for Netduino Plus 1. We also tweaked it so that it will still map to the updated pins on Netduino Plus 2...for backwards-compatibility purposes. BTW, the "Netduino 2" and "Netduino Plus 2" application templates are identical. This is one of many things we're doing to simplify development and deployment even further. Chris

[JerseyTechGuy]

Hi Dave, That is on purpose. All of the gen2 Netduinos use one standard hardware provider. This makes it possible to deploy Netduino 2 applications to Netduino Plus 2 and Netduino Go. The SecretLabs.NETMF.Hardware.NetduinoPlus assembly is for Netduino Plus 1. We also tweaked it so that it will still map to the updated pins on Netduino Plus 2...for backwards-compatibility purposes. BTW, the "Netduino 2" and "Netduino Plus 2" application templates are identical. This is one of many things we're doing to simplify development and deployment even further. Chris

 

So am I miss understanding how this works? I upgraded the ND+2 board to 4.2.2.0.  I took an SPI LCD test app and deployed to the ND and SPI still doesn't work correctly.  When I look at the Netduino Dll it is showing version 4.2.1.0 dated from October.  Are the recent fixes not dependent on that DLL?

[Chris Walker]

Hi Dave,

So am I miss understanding how this works? I upgraded the ND+2 board to 4.2.2.0. I took an SPI LCD test app and deployed to the ND and SPI still doesn't work correctly.

Do you know what isn't working properly? Is the MCU too fast (i.e. needing a bit of setup/hold time added to the SPI config)? Is the data state wrong? If you can share a logic analyzer capture, we can diagnose it and help update the C# code or tweak the firmware a little bit. We have received reports that a few CPOL/CPHA modes are implemented differently in the STM32 core than in the SAM7X core...and are working to align those...but we aren't aware of any other SPI-related NETMF issues. If there's a NETMF bug, we'd like to squash it

When I look at the Netduino Dll it is showing version 4.2.1.0 dated from October.  Are the recent fixes not dependent on that DLL?

Correct. The Netduino dll is mostly just a mapping of pins to resources. So when you type "Pins.ONBOARD_LED" it knows which pin to use. And so that when you type PWMChannels.PWM_PIN_D7, it knows which physical microcontroller pin to use for PWM. The problem was that the NetduinoPlus dll mapped directly to the SAM7X pins instead of "looking up" which pin to use on the board it was deployed to...so you'd get the wrong pin mappings (of MCU pins to header pins) if re-deploying an existing app to the gen2 boards. Chris