Subject:
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Re: problem downloading srec file to RCX
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.robotics.rcx.legos
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Date:
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Tue, 30 Nov 1999 03:58:47 GMT
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Viewed:
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1243 times
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In article <FLtn3J.KF3@lugnet.com>, "Neal Oden" <noden@erols.com> wrote:
> Bad things happen when I try to use the firmware download tool from the NQC
> environment to download an SREC file produced by either Web cross compilor.
> After a long wait, during which the bar graph that tracks loading progress
> lengthens, I get "Firmware download failed." Yet this same tool happily
> downloads the standard lego firmware (firm0309.lgo). If I use NQC directly in
> DOS via the -firmware option, things are worse: initially, I get "downloading
> firmware" and a row of dots, but finally the RCX makes an ascending beep, and
> I get "No reply from RCX". Then the RCX powers off, and I have to
> remove/replace a battery to proceed. I am running LEGO version 1.5 on Windows
> 98. I tried to include the sample SREC file below, but lugnet cannot accept
> binary posts. Can anyone help?
In the process of adding support for quad-speed download to nqc I noticed
a bug in the firmware download code that caused problems with short
downloads. This may (or may not) account for your problem. Either way,
the bug will be fixed next release (in a week or so).
Another potential problem is that after downloading firmware NQC attempts
to check the status of the RCX and get the actual firmware version using
some bytecodes from the standard firmware. If you're using NQC to
download something other than standard firmware, this final check may
cause NQC to believe things have failed even though the download itself
was successful. If this was the problem, then I'd expect the RCX to be in
whatever state it should be after a download of your program.
If you e-mail me the srec file I'll try downloading it with debugging
turned on so I can see exactly what the problem is. I can also verify if
the problem is due to the already known bug.
---
The firmware checking code brings up an interesting dilema. I want NQC to
be as bullet proof as possible for normal use, so I want to keep the
firmware version check in place. However, if a lot of people are using
nqc to download non-standard firmware, then perhaps some other handling is
in order. There are a few options...
1) No Change - just ignore the error. Personally I don't like this since
it potentially hides a real problem. However, if only a few people are
using nqc for downloads other than standard firmware, then we'll just
leave NQC alone.
2) Add an option to supress the firmware check. This is easy to do, but
the command line is already a bit unwieldy. Perhaps this complicates the
usage more than it is worth in the long run.
3) Soften the firmware version check to a "warning" rather than an
"error". The error message could indicate that it couldn't detect
standard firmware and leave it at that. I'd probably alter return codes
from NQC to make this event non-fatal (return 0 from main). I like this
option the best.
Any thoughts?
Dave Baum
dbaum@enteract.com
--
reply to: dbaum at enteract dot com
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Message has 2 Replies:
 | | Re: problem downloading srec file to RCX
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| Dave ... although at this point I'm not using non-standard firmware, I'd like to cast my vote for option (2). The command line may be a bit "unwieldy", but (2) gives the best solution. Thanks, - Nick - Dave Baum wrote: [snip] (...) (25 years ago, 30-Nov-99, to lugnet.robotics.rcx.legos)
| | | RE: problem downloading srec file to RCX
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| (...) Since I use nqc for non-standard firmware uploads, I vote for 3), with a command line option to suppress in 2) You can never have enough command line options, right? Cheers, Ralph Hempel - P.Eng ---...--- Check out pbFORTH for LEGO Mindstorms (...) (25 years ago, 30-Nov-99, to lugnet.robotics.rcx.legos)
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Message is in Reply To:
| | problem downloading srec file to RCX
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| Bad things happen when I try to use the firmware download tool from the NQC environment to download an SREC file produced by either Web cross compilor. After a long wait, during which the bar graph that tracks loading progress lengthens, I get (...) (25 years ago, 26-Nov-99, to lugnet.robotics.rcx.legos)
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