Comments: Hacking Your Maker Faire Badge
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Also - could some share the complete schematics of the badge? Thanks !
They are in the GitHub repo listed in the Resources and Going Further.
Hi, I have a so-called "Nokia" (CA-42) usb-to-serial cable, with just four wires out (GND, Vcc, RX, TX). Can I use this to program the badge? Should I use the Vcc connection (if so, why)? How's the upload sequence (no DTR wire here)?
All right, I think I've figured it out how to use the reset-button procedure for the upload, in absence of the DTR signal. I use the GND and RST pins of the ICSP header for it (I followed the lines on the board and they are indeed hooked to the RESET pin on the ATMega328).
Sketch uploading procedure like follows:
1) power the board (makes no difference if through the cable Vcc, or battery; if on battery, cable Vcc is disconnected) 2) connect USB-to-Serial cable (tried inverting RX/TX; no difference either) 2) push the reset (i.e. gnd-rst short) 3) click the "upload" icon on the Arduino IDE (I modified the "blink led" sketch to make the RGB led flash) 4) open the gnd-rst short as soon as the IDE has reached the "upload" step, after skecth compiling is done (timing is crucial) 5) green "STAT" led on board flashes three times, then upload is done (check success message on IDE) 6) new sketch is executed on the board
HI, I attached the FTDI breakout board and sent the blink code to pin 9. Arduino IDE gave me and error "avrdude: stk500_recv( ): programer is not responding". I choose Pro or Pro Mini (3.3, 8mhz) w/ ATmega328 for the board. The badge did flash and blink. The power LED on the badge was lit. Did I miss something?
Did you verify you had the correct serial port selected for your FTDI board? Also, double check you don't have any shorts on any of your header pins -that could also affect programming the board.
Hi, same issue here. Not able to communicate with the badge. FTDI adapter is ok, shorting RX/TX and echoing chars, Ok, it is able to program a Watterott vCard (it uses the same 328p and no external oscillator). However the badge keeps giving out that error.
I also did a try with bootloader reprogramming. The error is the quite common "device signature = 0x000000", the RGB red flashes green once, then everything is dead. Something happened, because the badge is no more programmed with the blinking of the Faire workshop participant, only the PWR red led is turned on when the board is powered through battery.
any help would be appreciated.. :)
Just to add debug info:
the working badge from the faire, with just and FTDI adapter doesn't work on Linux (ubuntu 14.04): (avrdude: ser_recv(): programmer is not responding avrdude: stk500_recv(): programmer is not responding
and works fine on (OMG) Windows.
What did you use for the bootloader reprogramming? Also, is your FTDI adapter able to program your Watterott vCard under Linux (i.e., is it just the badge having trouble under Linux and not Windows, or are you seeing other devices exhibit the same behavior)?
What is the pinout of the FTDI header? I can identify a GRN (does it stand for GND?) a 3.3V and a BLK pin: my USB 2 TTL board provides 5V, 3.3V, RX, TX and GND (no auto reset).
Can you help?
The nice thing about FTDI headers is you can just plug in your FTDI. The BLK and GRN labels actually stand for black and green. Our FTDI cables do not have any markings, but the wires on either end are black and green so we use those labels to distinguish. Also our FTDI boards have the BLK and GRN labels on them so you know which side is which. Because all the FTDI headers are the same we don't have to really label anything else. In case you are wondering the pinout on your board should be GND, CTS, VCC, RX, TX, DTR (from BLK to GND). On the FTDI basic boards it is GND, CTS, VCC, TX, RX, DTR (note the RX and TX are reversed since you need to connect TX to RX and RX to TX).
Please post other things we can do with the Maker Faire Badge.
As this badge basically functions like an Arduino, you can really do anything with it as you would an Arduino. If you need some guidance or ideas to get started, check out this tutorial section here.