Man, just relax and get your computer fixed. The Hex isn’t going anywhere…literally not without your program.
I’m not rushing you at all. Take your time. The servos are yours no matter what. I just appreciate that you would even make an effort for me. When you get your PC going again and you get time, take a stab at it for me.
Kurte was very kind and sent me his coverted Hexapod program for Atom Pro that he has been working on. I’m getting ready to try it now but I can’t get my computer to connect to the ssc-32.
I built a new computer last week for doing CAD and video processing on and this is the first time connecting it to the SSC-32. I tried it in Powerpod, Lynxterm, Sequencer, RIOS, and even tried all the programs hooked to the SSC-32 on my 209 Scout. Nothing. The power LED is on on the SSC-32 (well the scout one was working before anyways) but it won’t connect.
I checked in the device manager and setup the com port 1 (only com port there is) and set it to :
Bits per second = 115200 (my SSC-32 usually works on 115200 baud rate)
Data bits = 8
Stop bits = 1
Parity = None
Flow Control = None
And still the programs won’t connect to any of the ssc-32’s. But they still work hooked to my laptop?
My laptop was set to 9600 for bit rate on com 1 so I tried that but nothing. Not even with the scout. I tried updating the driver for the port but I already have the latest driver.
OS differences? User rights differences? Is the serial port plugged in if a dongle style to pin header and is it plugged into the COMM1 header? Is the serial port a USB dongle (which tend to not always work right)? Is the serial port actually turned on and assigned an address in the BIOS?
I use a female DB9 with short wires connected to the desired pins like rx, tx, and ground to check the operation of the serial port. You can connect the tx and rx lines, start hyperterminal, turn off the echo, and then see if you see the letters you type.
Both are XP Pro with SP2
Both are Admin
Serial is MB integrated
It’s not a USB Serial Port
I haven’t checked the bios but it is assigned 04 and has a mem range int he properties. It also claims to be operational. I’ll check the bios though.
I assume that the comm port details shows that there are no resource conflicts?
Please pardon if I ask so really obvious questions or give obvious suggestions, but maybe …
Since you mentioned that it still works from your laptop you did not make the mistake I did once, I forget to put the jumpers back on the SSC32 to allow RS232 communications.
I believe that you mentioned that the serial support is on your mother board. Is the external serial connection properly plugged into the MB?
My next step would be to do what zoomkat mentioned with making DB9 connection with RX connected to TX to see if echo works. Or if you have a serial cable that is configured to copy files between computers you might try to connect it to your portable and see if the two can talk.
Funny thing, I tried hooking my laptop to my new desktop to transfer files via serial cable and for some reason it didn’t work. It’s like my serial port isn’t doing anything.
Ok, I’ve tried everything you suggested and no response. Everything I try tells me that the com port could not be accessed? Or that com 1 was not found. I only have a com1 and com3. Com 3 is something else. And the serial port is configured to com 1, no conflicts, functioning according to windows, latest driver, enabled in Bios, etc.
I even tried running the Atom Pro IDE with a pro 28 hooked up and it can’t find the atom. It says “com port not found”.
A typical comport issue is that some “hot sync” applications and the like grab the comport when the computer starts up preventing other applications from using it. There is a free program on the net called “portmon” that might give some insight on what is going on with the port. Can you open the port with hyperterminal or does it give some type of error?
I was going to try portmon but I got it working now. Just in time too, I was about to lose my mind. I checked all other programs and hardware for resource conflict and nothing. Checked through the devices as well.
What worked? I used an older driver for the com port.
I had a 2005 driver for a “common com port” preinstalled. A search revealed nothing for new drivers.
But I found an older 2001 driver for the com port on the Black Canon and installed it for the heck of it.
Opened the Atom PRO IDE and bang, she found the Atom right away. Opened the SEQ program and hooked up the SSC-32 on the Hex, and bang, there she is, click all 1500 and the legs shoot out to horizontal position. Yaaaa.
I don’t get it but it works now. Just for fun I reinstalled the 2005 driver and nothing works. Installed the 2001 driver and everything is good again. Beats me.
So I used the SEQ to set my offsets and centers, then set it down under it’s own power. No problem. I lifted one leg at a time until it was sitting on the front 2 legs with the back end propped up un some books. Then did a couple “pushups”. Not the least bit of struggle.
So I added a 5 pound weight on to the front and did a few more “pushups”. No problem. I added 10 pounds of weight and it started to struggle a bit, but barely. So with the 28 cell packs and a total weight of 25 pounds (with the 10 pound weight) it can do a 2 legged pushup. lol Probably only lifting about 18 to 20 pounds of it.
Then I used the middle 2 legs and balanced the hex with my hands. Did the same pushup routine with the middle legs no problem.
Now I’m trying to figure out how to load a program onto the Atom pro from the IDE. I can open the .bas program but can’t find the “button” I push to load it onto the BB.
Congrats on getting your serial working! I ordered a new computer from DELL this week and it no longer has a serial port…
I am using 8.0 of the PRO ide.
On this I have buttons at the top that say, build, program, debug. Note the build command is sortof funky as it will default to the last file loaded. So sometimes I have to unload the file I want and reload it.
If these commands are not there, you might look at the view menu, toolbars and make sure “User Tools” are checked.
I have the program, debug, etc, tabs. When I click them they don’t do anything though. I’m using 8.0 as well.
I open the bas file and it shows the code in the big window. I see the buttons on the top right that say build debug and program. But they aren’t highlighted (clickable) even when I’ve opened the file. I selected AtomPro 28 in the window next to them as well.
I might just have to read through the tutorial cause I’m not sure what half of that stuff means. Like all the terminal windows, debug and build tabs at the bottom.
I got called into work earlier though so I have to go back later today. I might not get to test the hex until tomorrow. I’m busy trying to finish packing up Joe’s brackets and Helicopter for him so I’ll update as soon as I can with some video or pictures if I get it working.
Make sure the View/ToolBar/Output option is selected. Then when you press the compile button, it should show the compile going on in the output window.
My Hex appears to be walking reasonably well now with my Atom Pro and the updated software as I described in different posts.
For the fun of it, I put most of the differences for inline versus round Hex in #if statements and sent a copy of it to you an email. I did not do any testing of this code as I do not have an inline version.
Also the Leg dimensions are for my robot legs. You will need to change these for your setup.
My code also depends on a second line going between the SSC32 card and the AAB card to enable bidirectional communications. This allowed me to query the SSC32 to see if the previous command completed before issuing a new command.
linuxguy, glad to hear the computer is up and running.
Kurte, thanks alot for sending me an updated version and for changing it over to inline. If you need anything, let me know, I’ll help you out however I can.
I’ll try the programs tomorrow.
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