Subject:
|
Re: BricxCC on Win XP how
|
Newsgroups:
|
lugnet.robotics.rcx
|
Date:
|
Thu, 20 Feb 2003 17:27:32 GMT
|
Viewed:
|
8415 times
|
| |
|
|
In lugnet.robotics.rcx, Pat LaVarre writes:
> Wow, key tips, great questions, fun links, thanks again for leading me into
> hours of enlightening experimentation.
You are welcome. I'm still a bit muddled as to your current situation re
BricxCC and your RIS with or without the firmware installed.
> As a newbie, I'm surprised to think I see nqc reports port in use by exiting
> immediately without complaint, and BricxCC reports standard Lego firmware
> not present as "No connection to the programmable brick".
If the port is in use NQC always reports, in my case, the following message:
Could not open serial port or USB device
If BricxCC can't open a port, again in my case, it always reports:
No connection to programmable brick. Certain options will be unavailable.
This is with or without the brick having the firmware present (since, of
course, neither NQC nor BricxCC get far enough to find out whether the
firmware is present).
If NQC can open the port but no firmware is on the brick (standard or
otherwise) and you try to set the watch (via -watch now) it says:
No firmware installed on RCX
Starting up BricxCC when it can open the port and there is no firmware on
the brick it should connect without any errors or complaints (in my
experience). It does not need any firmware on the brick for it to
successfully ping the brick (which is what it does to verify that the brick
is alive).
If you have leJOS on the brick then all bets are off. I have never tried
running BricxCC against a brick with leJOS on it. It mostly only works with
either a brick without any firmware or a brick with the standard firmware
installed. It also works with brickOS installed (I've tested that) and
pbForth installed (I've also tested that - but it was a while ago and it is
entirely possible that it doesn't work anymore). One of these days I will
get around to trying leJOS. In theory it should work with leJOS since the
change I made to make it work with brickOS was to simply assume the brick
was alive if I could open the port. Having not tried it, however, I can't
say for sure.
If there is non-standard firmware present on the brick then BricxCC must be
told this fact in order for it to successfully connect to the brick when it
starts up. If there is no firmware on the brick then BricxCC should work
regardless of the Firmware setting on the "Searching for the brick" dialog.
Once you've started BricxCC you can download any firmware you wish (standard
or otherwise) via the Tools/Download Firmware option.
> I find now I can't reproduce those earlier results except by secretly
> erasing the standard Lego firmware, after I finish using the other comm
> software, and after I begin using BricxCC, but before I finish trying to use
> BricxCC.
I don't understand the procedure you are describing above. Too many afters
and befores, I think. :-)
> I find I can instantly erase the standard Lego firmware if I loosen one
> battery enough to break contact and then I press On-Off button of the RCX.
> (I wonder if this procedure risks damage to my RCX?)
I use this same approach for removing the firmware (except in my case it
involves pulling the power supply plug out of the power jack on my RIS 1.0
brick). I've done it a bunch of times without any sign of damage to the brick.
> Sorry to say I've lost control of one experimental variable. I have been
> moved to Win XP SP1 from Win XP, so I can only say that BricxCC now always
> works fine for me on Win XP SP1, provided I first use some other technique
> to ensure that standard Lego firmware is present. For example, I can check
> to see the LCD doesn't have blanks in place of the "00.00" that powering on
> standard Lego firmware puts there.
I don't see how the absence of all firmware can make BricxCC not work for
you. It is designed to work in the absence of firmware. Does anyone else
have this problem?
> > .\BricxCC.exe
>
> My BricxCC results vary in detail according to whether I try the automagic
> or I explicitly specify COM1. In all failures I see:
>
> Information
> No connection to the programmable brick. Certain options will be unavailable.
>
> Sometimes first I see:
>
> Warning
> Cannot find brick. Switch it on or move it closer and press OK.
>
> Never do I see English suggesting standard Lego firmware not present.
And you never should see a message suggesting that the standard Lego
firmware is not present since (as previously mentioned herein) it is
supposed to (and as far as I am aware normally does) work fine in its absence.
Are you using the very latest release of BricxCC (3.3.7.2)? I ask because
it is easier for me to look at the code to try and see what situations would
cause the messages you mention to be displayed if I know which release you
are using.
In the latest version, for instance, the "No connection" error will display
if 1) the tower port could not be opened or 2) you specified that the brick
(will) contain the standard firmware and the brick fails to respond to a
Ping command. To figure out which of these two possibilities might be
occuring you can just watch the tower for signs of life (i.e., lights) when
you click OK on the Searching for the brick dialog. If BricxCC can't even
open the port then (obviously) the tower should do absolutely nothing. So
if you see any lights come on then that suggests that for some reason the
Ping is failing.
The second message you mention ("cannot find brick...") can occur only if
BricxCC expects that the brick (will) contain the standard firmware and the
brick fails to respond to a Ping (i.e., possibility 2 in the previous
paragraph).
You may be experiencing a timing problem related to how fast the brick
responds to Pings. I've had reports in the past from a Cybermaster user of
just such a problem. Unfortunately, it looks like I commented out the code
that let the user specify a longer PingTimeout value some time back. A
comment in the code would have been useful. Oh, well. :-)
John Hansen
|
|
Message has 1 Reply:
 | | Re: BricxCC on Win XP how
|
| Again intriguing, again I thank you. /// BricxCC Without Firmware /// (...) Yes, does BricxCC COM1 fail for anyone else when firmware is erased? Anyone? /// Versions /// BricxCC Help About tells me I have "3.3.7.2" of "2/12/2003". Bundled with (...) (21 years ago, 21-Feb-03, to lugnet.robotics.rcx)
|
Message is in Reply To:
| | Re: BricxCC on Win XP how
|
| (...) Wow, key tips, great questions, fun links, thanks again for leading me into hours of enlightening experimentation. As a newbie, I'm surprised to think I see nqc reports port in use by exiting immediately without complaint, and BricxCC reports (...) (21 years ago, 20-Feb-03, to lugnet.robotics.rcx)
|
9 Messages in This Thread:
  
- Entire Thread on One Page:
- Nested:
All | Brief | Compact | Dots
Linear:
All | Brief | Compact
This Message and its Replies on One Page:
- Nested:
All | Brief | Compact | Dots
Linear:
All | Brief | Compact
|
|
|
|
