Subject:
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Re: BricxCC on Win XP how
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.robotics.rcx
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Date:
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Fri, 21 Feb 2003 13:55:49 GMT
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Viewed:
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4224 times
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Again intriguing, again I thank you.
/// BricxCC Without Firmware ///
> 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?
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
BricxCC, `nqc -help` tells me I have "2.5 a5" of "Jan 27 2003". As yet I have
no pbForth and no leJOS.
/// The Green Light ///
> Does the tower light come on at all?
It never goes off, sorry. I'm the one who posted:
http://news.lugnet.com/robotics/rcx/?n=1947&t=i&v=a
Date: Thu, 6 Feb 2003 12:29:35 GMT
Subject: constant green light
In short, here in Win XP SP1, the green LED light of my serial/IR tower stays
On unless I open a COM port and then I don't speak for about five seconds.
Merely closing the COM port turns the light back On, reopening the COM port and
waiting turns the light back Off. I don't know how to fix this, except by
booting Linux in place of Win XP SP1.
/// NQC Port In Use ///
> > nqc reports port in use by exiting immediately
> > without complaint
>
> If the port is in use NQC always reports, in my
> case, the following message:
> Could not open serial port or USB device
I think the "always" is at issue here.
One way I keep my port in use for an appreciable time is to open a Dos box and
enter the nqc beebeep request:
nqc -SCOM1 -TRCX -remote 0080 1 -remote 0000 12345
Seemingly this keeps my port in use until I strike Ctrl+Break.
When I try that same nqc command in a second Dos box, nqc completes immediately
without complaint. I wonder if everyone can repeat this result? I can repeat
yours, I think. If I put my port in use but then in parallel I try `nqc -SCOM1
-TRCX -watch now`, then I see:
Could not open serial port or USB device
> Are you running ActiveSync with a Pocket PC by any
> chance?
No, although often I do have Ethernet going via Pcmcia card, either wired or
wireless.
/// Pat's Second Trial ///
> I don't understand the procedure you are describing
> ... Too many afters and befores, I think. :-)
Thanks for giving me a second chance to say this intelligibly.
I meant to say, my second time around, I could reproduce my first report only
if I followed the procedure:
1) Use Lego RIS, nqc, or javax.comm to demo that the RCX is talking.
2) Launch BricxCC and watch it talk too, but then exit.
3) Secretly erase the standard Lego firmware.
4) Relaunch BricxCC and watch it persistently fail to talk without specifically
complaining of the standard Lego firmware being absent.
/// BricxCC on Win XP how ///
> If BricxCC can't open a port, again in my case,
> it always reports:
> No connection to programmable brick. Certain
> options will be unavailable.
I always see BricxCC ends its connection attempt with this Information, no
matter whether I press Escape or fail to communicate for some other reason. I
now think that the "no connection" mentioned here is optimistic programmer
English: it means precisely that communication isn't wholly working, without
meaning to comment on whether communication is partially working or not. For
example, it doesn't mean that we don't have CTS = RTS, it doesn't mean we have
no IR echo, it just means communication isn't wholly working.
> 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.
Ummm, from the discussion here, I'd guess BricxCC is designed to work without
firmware and with standard Lego firmware and with certain others ... but not
with arbitrary firmware. So a message to say we do have CTS = RTS and we do
have IR echoes although we don't have intelligible replies could be useful?
> I'm still a bit muddled as to your current
> situation re BricxCC and your RIS with or without
> the firmware installed.
Me too.
> > My BricxCC results vary in detail according to
> > whether I try the automagic or I explicitly
> > specify COM1.
I'm certain now, my results vary over time and place. That is, we have some
unidentified variable at play.
Just now, I find I'm back in the mode where BricxCC never works, though I am
now in Win XP SP1 rather than Win XP.
But courtesy the help here, now I know to check my LCD says standard Lego
firmware present, and now I know to check that `nqc -SCOM1 -TRCX -watch now`
completes without complaint, and now I know to check that `nqc -SCOM1 -TRCX
-remote 0080 2 -remote 0000 1` makes my RCX beebeep. Yet still BricxCC doesn't
talk.
To my surprise, I also find that `nqc -SCOM1 -TRCX -remote 0080 2 -remote 0000
1` (i.e. two tries and one) works always but `nqc -SCOM1 -TRCX -remote 0080 1
-remote 0000 1` (i.e. one try and one) only works sometimes. This surprises me
because my own javax.comm software reports, just now, that I'm getting perfect
echoes and no errors, with the tower and RCX placed and powered as I have them
now, with the room (dimly, incandescently) lit as it now is. So the 2nd retry
shouldn't be needed, but seemingly it is. Seemingly, I need the 2nd retry only
after `nqc -SCOM1 -TRCX -watch now` or after javax.comm. Once I do hear a
beebeep, then thereafter repeating `nqc -SCOM1 -TRCX -remote 0080 1 -remote
0000 1` works every time.
/// NQC Without Firmware ///
> 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
Yes thanks, this result I have repeated. I remember I saw this message when
first you suggested I try `nqc -SCOM1 -TRCX -watch now`, after I had
unconsciously erased my firmware.
/// BricxCC Without Firmware ///
> BricxCC ... 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).
My javax.comm software tells me ping works perfectly here. x 55 FF 00 10 EF 10
EF goes out, then echoes, and then x 55 FF 00 EF 10 EF 10 comes back in reply.
Also the same again except with x18 and xE7 substituted for x10 and xEF.
> If there is no firmware on the brick then BricxCC
> should work regardless of the Firmware setting on
> the "Searching for the brick" dialog.
Glad we agree, thanks for saying.
> Once you've started BricxCC you can download any
> firmware you wish (standard or otherwise) via the
> Tools/Download Firmware option.
Sounds like Goodness. I wonder if this is a Faster download than Lego RIS
offers?
/// Fast Discharge ///
> > 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.
Thanks for finding the time to tell me I'm not alone in wishing to risk this.
/// Etc. ///
> If you would like to try a test application that
> opens the COM port I can send you one
I'd very much like to learn to use MinGW gcc to talk to serial COM ports and
USB. I'd be interested in learning to use MSVC too, but mostly as a way of
moving towards making MinGW gcc work.
> I'm trying to open the COM port exclusively
> (shareMode = 0). It may be the case that some
> other software has already opened the port with
> FILE_SHARE_READ or FILE_SHARE_WRITE.
Ah, I wonder what nqc and javax.comm do.
> Which COM port is RIS using?
I don't exactly know, but Lego RIS chooses COM1, nqc and javax.comm work if I
specify COM1. and BricxCC sometimes works if I specify COM1.
> Are you using the very latest release of BricxCC
> (3.3.7.2)?
I think so, per the Help About quoted above. I did do a fair amount of
uninstall and install. I don't know how to prove I have a clean install now.
> Does the tower light come on at all? • ...
> you can just watch the tower for signs of life
> (i.e., lights)
My light is always on, as explained above.
Once I buy a USB/IR tower, I could listen with that. Meanwhile, I suppose we
could write a firmware that echoed traffic to the LCD?
I wonder if nqc and/or BricxCC have options to say trace all communication via
a background thread that won't perceptibly disturb the timing of communication?
> You may be experiencing a timing problem related to
> how fast the brick responds to Pings.
Bricks vary here? Or is it just that PC's vary in how fast they copy in the
reply?
> I like the idea of showing the notes on sheet music.
Thanks for saying.
> I like the idea of showing the notes on sheet music.
> Unfortunately, its not an easy task.
I imagine I'll solve this in .java, but I appreciate Java is a multi-megabyte
download that many folk have not already chosen to endure.
> From: "Philippe Hurbain" <philohome@free.fr>
> Date: Tue, 18 Feb 2003 15:42:25 GMT
> Did you try to fix communication port instead of
> using automatic configuration ? On my machine
> (Win2000) where I have both a serial Spybotics
> cable and a RIS USB tower, I have to specify the
> port that BricxCC must use.
Thanks for the hint. Sometimes my results do vary if I try Automagic or COM1.
(COM1 is always better, when different.)
> From: "Philip Thompson" <pct@v21.me.uk>
> Date: Tue, 18 Feb 2003 15:15:08 GMT
> BricxCC (latest version) works 100% fine with my
> Win XP setup.
Thanks for finding the time to tell me I am alone here.
> ...
Still a fun puzzle: I'm holding steady at about two hours of entertaining
thought & experimentation per post. Thanks again everyone for contributing.
Pat LaVarre
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Message has 1 Reply:
 | | Re: BricxCC on Win XP how
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| (...) If your green light is on all the time I am amazed that you are successful with any communication. Do you need to do the "open the port and wait 5 seconds" procedure to get RIS, javax.comm, and nqc to work? Something BIOS or hardware-related (...) (22 years ago, 21-Feb-03, to lugnet.robotics.rcx)
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Message is in Reply To:
| | Re: BricxCC on Win XP how
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| (...) 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. (...) If the port is in use NQC always reports, in my case, the following message: Could not open serial port (...) (22 years ago, 20-Feb-03, to lugnet.robotics.rcx)
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