Software installation

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Software installation

Software installation to maintain the REGBOT code on the Teensy platform.

The description is tested on Ubuntu Linux 32bit and 64bit - version 20.04 (Long Time Stable (LTS) version)

Parts of this page are deprecated, as all platforms now are modified to use Teensy 4.1 (blue baseboard, version 6.3)

Toolchain installation

Install (unpack) arduino software from https://www.arduino.cc/en/Main/Software (tested with version 1.6.9 ... 1.8.5) on 32 bit and 64 bit (k)ubuntu linux and raspberry (noops) - see Teensy page for compatible version)

Unpack with (replase "1.6.9" and "linux32" with the version you installed)

tar xf arduino-1.6.9-linux32.tar.xz

This makes a directory called arduino-1.6.9

Then get and install the teensey tool installer from (this page also shows which version of arduino that is compatible): https://www.pjrc.com/teensy/td_download.html

It installes (only) as a merge with the Arduino installed directory (arduino-1.6.9).

NB! Teensyduino version 1.52 uses C++ features that are available in C++17 (constexpr including if statements) - i.e. in GCC compiler version 10 or higher. Check your GCC version before installing a newer version.

gcc -v

Ubuntu 20.04 uses GCC version 9.6 (as of nov 2020)

Teensy loader and udev rules

Teensy loader: Get the loader (or the command-line-loader - maybe better on Raspberry) - and udev rules - from

https://www.pjrc.com/teensy/loader.html

The teensy loader needs to be unpacked - on Linux it is:

gunzip teensy.gz
chmod +x teensy

For Linux get the udev rules and copy them to /etc/udev/rules.d to get read-write access to the USB connection (/dev/ttyACM0) and others:

sudo cp 49-teensy.rules /etc/udev/rules.d/

Teensy 3.1 memory issues

The teensy 3.1 using MK20DX256 32 processor from Freescale. It has 64kB of RAM, but it is divided into 2 x 32kByte.

0x20007fff  top of RAM <- stack starts here

    32kB Upper part of memory

            <- Heap starts just after static variable allocation
0x20000000    |
0x1fffffff    |  REGBOT uses about 40kB of static allocated RAM
              |
    32kB Lower part of memory
              |
0x1fff8000  Start of RAM <- static variables allocated from here

A variable placed in memory overlapping the boundary between upper and lower memory is not allowed - se test on this page: http://eleccelerator.com/kinetis-microcontroller-sram-region-hard-faults/

In the case of REGBOT, about 35kB of static memory is allocated for data logging; this means that this memory will overlap the boundary at 0x20000000.

This is handled when data is added or retrieved from the log, the chunk of data overlapping the boundary is left unused. The result is that one less line of logged data is available, but there is no gap in the data stream.

Heap space is used by some libraries, and usually no more than 1.5kB is allocated as heap space. This leaves about 20kB as stack space. How much of this is used has not been tested.

Regbot software

Then get the regbot software

From a command prompt in either Linux or Windows with SVN (Subversion (Apache)):

$ svn checkout svn://repos.gbar.dtu.dk/jcan/regbot

Thye regbot firmware is in a further 'regbot' subdirectory

$ cd regbot/regbot

The makefile need to be modified for the path to the Arduino libraries.

Modify Makefile

If svn version is older than 1561, then see the next section.

Modify the Makefile (in regbot/regbot, regbot/regbot/4.1, regbot/regbot/3.5 as needed)

Modify the BASEPATH to the Arduino/Teensyduino library about line 31 of the Makefile (for Robobot it should work as is):

ARDUINO_ROBOBOT := $(shell ls -d /home/local/Downloads/arduino-1.8.19/hardware 2>/dev/null)
ifeq ($(ARDUINO_ROBOBOT),)
  # home installation - modify as needed
  BASEPATH := /home/chr/Downloads/arduino/arduino-1.8.19/hardware
else
  # raspberry pi based RoboBot
  BASEPATH := /home/local/Downloads/arduino-1.8.19/hardware
endif

This change is actuated, as my development tool (Kdevelop) failed to work with the previous symbolic links, but it is also a more standard solution.

Teensy 4.1 special

Additional libraries from Ardufruit are needed for the small display:

• Adafruit_BusIO to get additional services from the I2C interface
• Adafruit-GFX-Library to get the paint functions for the display
• Adafruit_SSD1306 to get the specifics for the used display

git clone https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_BusIO.git
git clone https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_SSD1306.git
git clone https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit-GFX-Library
git clone https://github.com/pfeerick/elapsedMillis.git

The obtained libraries should be included in the Arduino/Teensyduino library list, e.g. if the GIT repositories are in a ~/git directory:

cd Arduino-1.8.19/hardware/teensy/avr/libraries
ln -s ~/git/Adafruit_BusIO
ln -s ~/git/Adafruit-GFX-Library
ln -s ~/git/Adafruit_SSD1306
ln -s ~/git/elapsedMillis

Teensy 3.2, 3.5 or 4.1 compile

To compile for the Teensy 3.2 based boards, compile from the base directory

cd ~/regbot/regbot
make
make upload

An alternative to the "make upload", which requires an X-display, is teensy_loader_cli (Teensy command line loader). A compiled version of teensy_loader_cli is available in the "4.1" subdirectory (compiled for Raspberry Pi and a teensy_loader_cli_ubuntu compiled for ubuntu).

To compile for the Teensy 3.5 board

cd ~/regbot/regbot/3.5
make
make upload

To compile for the Teensy 4.1 board

cd ~/regbot/regbot/4.1
make
make upload

NB! for Teensy 4.1 the produced regbot.hex file fails to work when compiled on Raspberry. Use the regbot.hex provided in the repository:

cd ~/regbot/regbot/4.1
svn revert regbot.hex
teensy upload

NB2! Remember to press and hold the "power" button during the "make upload" command. The Teensy will make all ports input-pins, and this is the same as power off.

Make runs faster if the number of CPU cores is increased. On Raspberry with little memory (1GB or less) or a small cooling plate, then use 3 CPU cores or less:

make -j3

Common errors

Teensy 3.5 SD-card error

Earlier than version 1.8.16 of Arduino: Compiling to teensy 3.5 (3.6) with SD card support fails,

These 2 files have an include error:

nano libraries/SD/utility/SdFile.cpp 
nano libraries/SD/utility/SdVolume.cpp

In these files, change '#include <SdFat.h>' to '#include "SdFat.h"' in one of the first code lines.

Upload to REGBOT

Remember to update and compile with the proper makefile.

Regbot board with Teensy 3.2 (green board)

cd regbot
svn up
make

Regbot board with Teensy 3.5 (red mainboard), you need to use the makefile in the 3.5 subdirectory.

cd regbot/3.5
make

Regbot board with Teensy 4.1 (purple mainboard), you need to use the makefile in the 4.1 subdirectory.

cd regbot/4.1
make

Use the teensy loader, and point it to the regbot.hex file and upload/auto. Then press the small button on the Teensy.

./teensy 

Select the correct regbot.hex, either

regbot/regbot.hex        - for Teensy 3.2 (green boards)
regbot/3.5/regbot.hex    - for Teensy 3.5 (red board)
regbot/4.1/regbot.hex    - for Teensy 4.1 (purple and blue board)

NB! If Regbot runs on battery, PRESS and HOLD the (red) "power" button BEFORE and DURING the teensy programming. During programming, the pin that keeps the Regbot ON will be disabled, thus powering off the Regbot (and the Raspberry Pi if on the same robot).

If you upload from a Raspberry Pi, this method requires access to a screen directly on the Raspberry or using x-forwarding (ssh -X local@...).

To upload, you can use

make upload