[Library] adding library to flutterArduino

[cromer]

Hey everyone!

I'm trying to add the flutter library to the custom Arduino 1.5 build. I have the the custom Arduino build running and when I put the "FlutterWirelessLibrary" folder into the "libraries" folder under .../Arduino/libraries and relaunch Arduino, I can see the examples when I go to File->Sketchbook but I don't see them when I go to File->Examples. When I open the examples under the Sketchbook and try to compile any of them, I get errors suggesting that Arduino doesn't see the library (error: Flutter.h: No such file or directory ).

I haven't worked with Arduino 1.5.x very much but I looked through the library format docs and it seems alright. I even downloaded the zip (I originally cloned it into the libraries folder) and used the built in library import feature on Arduino which said it succeeded but the examples still don't show up in File->Examples nor does the library show up under Sketch->Import Library.

Anyone have any suggestions?

[taylor]

Hello!
I will need to add this to the notes - Arduino requires the folder to be named "Flutter" but for clarity we give it a longer name on github. If you change the name of the folder to Flutter it should work.

[cromer]

I actually thought of that in my original attempts. I thought it was insignificant so I didn't include it in my first post. My Arduino folder looks like this... ~/Arduino/libraries/Flutter. When I execute "ant run" to start the IDE, towards the end it says "WARNING: Spurious .git folder in 'Flutter' library". Removing the git folder doesn't change anything but I feel like that warning at least shows that Arduino is picking up the library but just isn't including it for some reason.

[taylor]

Ah! So the libraries folder needs to be in your Arduino sketchbook folder. Go to file->preferences in Arduino and see where the sketchbook is. Then put a library folder there and put Flutter in that. Unless that is your Sketchbook folder...

Oh, also make sure to pick a Flutter board from the board type menu or the examples don't show up. It only shows examples for the selected architecture.

[cromer]

Yeah that was the default location that Arduino made the sketchbook folder. Just for a little extra info, I'm running this all in a Flutter dedicated ubuntu 14.4 VM.

So I changed the board selection to the Flutter Basic and the library showed up finally(!) however the Range Test still doesn't compile. The error looks like this:

Arduino: 0155 (Linux), Board: "Flutter Basic"

Using library Flutter in folder: /home/cromer/Arduino/libraries/Flutter

/home/cromer/Programming/Flutter/ArduinoCodebase/build/linux/work/hardware/tools/g++armnone_eabi/bin/arm-none-eabi-g++ -c -g -Os -w -ffunction-sections -fdata-sections -nostdlib --param max-inline-insns-single=500 -fno-rtti -fno-exceptions -Dprintf=iprintf -mcpu=cortex-m3 -DF_CPU=64000000L -DARDUINO=155 -DARDUINO_FLUTTER_R2 -DARDUINO_ARCH_SAM -D__SAM3S1A__ -mthumb -g -I/home/cromer/Programming/Flutter/ArduinoCodebase/build/linux/work/hardware/arduino/sam/system/libsam -I/home/cromer/Programming/Flutter/ArduinoCodebase/build/linux/work/hardware/arduino/sam/system/CMSIS/CMSIS/Include/ -I/home/cromer/Programming/Flutter/ArduinoCodebase/build/linux/work/hardware/arduino/sam/system/CMSIS/Device/ATMEL/ -I/home/cromer/Programming/Flutter/ArduinoCodebase/build/linux/work/hardware/arduino/sam/cores/arduino -I/home/cromer/Programming/Flutter/ArduinoCodebase/build/linux/work/hardware/arduino/sam/variants/flutter_r2 -I/home/cromer/Arduino/libraries/Flutter/src /tmp/build1129823936881061649.tmp/RangeTest.cpp -o /tmp/build1129823936881061649.tmp/RangeTest.cpp.o

I'm also attaching a screen shot of my setup to see if anything looks obviously wrong.

[taylor]

Oooh, looks like some fun issues we need to sort out!

The error on the IDE window says "Cannot run program", but I can't reach which program. Is that an error with the bossac executable? It may have incorrect permissions. Stretch out the window so you can see the error, and if the program is called "bossac", navigate to it and make sure you have execute permissions. I may have messed that up. let me know how that works out.

[cromer]

So its not bossac, it's "No such file or directory" for the arm compiler or something it looks like. Heres a screen cap of the expanded error since Arduino doesnt let you copy that part of the error.

I just looked at that file does exist however even when I try to execute it from the terminal with no parameters, it throws the same "bash: ./arm-none-eabi-g++: No such file or directory". I do have the correct permissions on it, I even gave it 777 just to see what would happen, no change.

[cromer]

Ok so I think I might know whats going on. I think its because I'm on a 64 bit system and the toolchain for 1.5.2 r2 shipped with only a 32 bit toolchain so I'm missing the 32 bit dependencies. I just installed the 32 bit dependencies (after taking a snapshot of the VM so I can roll it back) and it actually starts compiling! This post helped me out: Arduino Forum

The only hiccup I had was i threw me an error telling me to set the frequency. It took me a while to find it in Network.h. I may not have looked through the docs enough, but it would probably be a good idea to make a point of telling people in the readme how to select the frequency. Once I figure out how to get VMware to see the Flutter under the list of USB devices I'll get the range test running and see how it goes!

Getting back to the original error, I assume we want this to run on 64 bit machines so I have a backup of my VM without the 32 bit dependencies so I can keep testing on 64 when needed and just flip between the two architectures.

[taylor]

Ah, yeah I mentioned in one place that the frequency needs to be set. I just don't want europeans illegally broadcasting. I need to make that an intentional error statement with some instructions spat out by the compiler, and add a note about that to the docs. I have a lot of work to do on the docs, I'm going to get Katelynn on that as soon as possible.

Did you run the setup.sh script to install the compiler? I think that may be necessary. Also that script has some errors as it was intended for use with a different folder arrangement. I need to fix that. Or maybe we just need to include these compiler binaries in the distribution? As soon as [Team Bossa] gets windows and mac support going, we'll sort out all the installers.

I really appreciate all your work! Try the "Range Test" example and let me know if it works. Set one as a transmitter and one not (using the #define at the top and commenting it out for one).

[cromer]

Ah yeah its alright, just thought I'd point it out, no worries, I know this is very much a work in progress. Ah yeah, I only wonder about the legal implications of letting people switch between frequencies at will... but thats not my department haha.

Ah yeah so I did run the setup script on the 64 bit side and got it all working!

...and now for the new problem haha. So I've been trying to get the Range Test uploaded but I cant get the Flutter to show up under the list of VMware usb devices. I've now gone a bit deeper listing out the usb devices on my mac and I don't see any new device listing when I plug in either of the Flutter units I have. I've also swapped out usb cables for a known working cable to no avail. I even got the custom Arduino build working on OS X with all of the little modifications that we've done to get it working on linux and it compiles and everything but it cant upload it because the device doesn't show up. Is there anything I need to do to get a driver working? Do you think a non-VM of linux would work?

It's no problem, I have some time this week to dedicate to Flutter since I have to tread water on my main focus. I also just love this project and I honestly just cant wait to get using this on my own projects!

Hey, side question (that is probably worth its own thread and I'll eventually make one I'm sure), how hard do you think it would be to integrate the Flutter into an RTOS like ChibiOS/RT?

[cromer]

Ok, I really really should have read your "getting started" post better. I only glanced at it once last week. I'm sorry, half of these problems I could have probably solved myself if I had just read that post a bit closer. It might be a good idea to sticky the post to the top of the dev forum or something. The problem was the board being in the factory test mode or whatever. But now I again have hit a wall... and on two different OSes to boot.

When I try to upload on my mac I get this error:

Flash for chip ID 28890561 is not supported
Set binary mode
readWord(addr=0)=0x20000800
readWord(addr=0x400e0740)=0x28890561
chipId=0x28890561
Connected at 921600 baud
readWord(addr=0)=0x20000800
readWord(addr=0x400e0740)=0x28890561

And on the Linux VM I get this one:

SAM-BA operation failed

Thoughts?

[cromer]

AH HA, Success! I finally got it to work on the linux side! I'm not sure what was happening since I'm pretty sure I was doing the reset each time on linux as well as on mac... but maybe something with the VM and how it handles USB was messing up the hard reset. But anyways, I got the range test working on both, one as a transmitter and one as the receiver!

[taylor]

Wooooottt!

I have made some changes in the last few days, including doubling the packet transmission rate and fixing a sync bug. I haven't pushed them yet as I have put code away to work on the update, but if you run into issues I can push the changes.

What do you want to work on?

[cromer]

Well, I'm only just now getting aquatinted with the code so I don't know really where to begin. I will probably be somewhat distracted the next couple days but is there anything you want me to take a look at and try to work out? I've been mostly just messing around with the range test program trying to understand how each part of that works, changing up variables and such. I'm somewhat of a noob when it comes to large projects like this, I've mostly only worked on my own code, though I'm hoping I can still be of some help.

I've been using a separate FTDI chip connected to the HW serial to get debug printing to work. Is there any way at the moment to get the onboard serial working? I only have 1 FTDI board and I'd love to be able to see output from both units.

[taylor]

Yeah, unfortunately the USB is waiting on [Team USB], and that will be a lot of work to get going. Definitely going to happen though as that is a major function of the unit.

Do you have any sensors to hook up to it, or a servo to move? I won't be focusing a lot on code this week either so it's okay if development is slow. I'm glad it is working!

[cromer]

Yeah I figured usb serial is in the pipeline. Its alright for now since things are moving slowly and I do have the one FTDI board to help with debug. I was more just curious if there was a quick hack to get it to work or something.

Yeah I have sensors a plenty and a couple of servos I think. I can just start hooking them up and try controlling/sensing remotely. Anything in particular you want me to test? I take it sensors that have odd communication/timing and servos since they also require timers are the best to test since they're most likely to break things. I'll list out what I have to test out to see if there is anything that pops out to you as good to test.

• gps unit (really old one but I think it still works)
• PIR motion sensor
• Ping range finder
• IR range finder
• pulse sensor
• servo
• LED strip (non addressable)
• various buttons and pots

I'm really excited about this project and I was to help in any way I can!