Author Topic: The Duinomite Project  (Read 8534 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline Bryan1

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 152
  • Karma: +10/-0
The Duinomite Project
« on: February 01, 2012, 02:55:43 am »
G'day Guy's,
                   Last year I got involved with these pic32 based boards which run a Basic language very similiar to GW Basic. The beauty of these boards is they have over 20 I/O's and it real easy to interface them with real world applications.

This is the Duinomite Mega Board



Some of the features

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    * PIC32MX795 microcontroller
    * micro SD card
    * USB OTG which allow it to act both as Host and Device, so it can accept Android ADK, Printers, Cameras, Keyboards, Mouses, etc USB devices.
    * VGA connector
    * Composite Video connector
    * CAN driver and connector - note: CAN driver works on 5V and will not working when board is powered by Li-ion battery
    * RS232 driver and connector
    * two UEXT connectors allowing Olimex modules to be connected one inside the box one outside the box
    * PS-2 keyboard
    * Audio output connector
    * Arduino like format i.e. can work with Arduino shields

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 Now there is a 26 pin IDC connector for accessing the I/O's, an Arduino pinout for interfacing boards so there a few ways to get external circuits connected.

 There are 3 ways to power the board

1. By USB
2. By a LIPO Battery and there is an inbuild LIPO charger onboard
3. 8-30 volts DC input

Now the easiest way to get started is just fire up a serial terminal like Putty or Tera Term, have the drivers set for the Duinomite then plug in the usb to the board and fire up the terminal. One will be able to view, upload, download files all within the serial terminal and get a good feel around.

Also one can hook up an old VGA monitor and PS2 keyboard to the connectors on the board and have a standalone computer running good old basic.

The first major project I undertook was writing an online help file so anyone can access any command/function and read the description along with some code examples. I did this all in basic and it was great program but soon on I found I was running out of memory and it was pointed out that a text based system would be much better and it could load each needed file without clearing the program memory. So I undertook to converting every file into a text file and finally got Version 1 done after 123 text files. Working with the code developers I asked for F1 to be included for invoking the help file and it was done.

Here is a link Don made to show the help file system

http://www.duinomite.com/duinomite-on-line-help-menu/

There is an 'autobas file' that is loaded on bootup and the settings in that file are used so we dedicated F1 for the help menu. Other F keys can also be assigned to commands like 'run', 'load' etc so it is a very handy item to use when programming.

Remember the old pacman and space invaders games well both of them and many more games have been re-written so these games can be played.


Below is a screen dump taken from TeraTerm showing the setup menu and also the setup help file.

 DuinoMite Setup Menu - V1.5  Dec 28 2011
 -----------------------------------------
 Hardware Platform - DuinoMite
 V) Video Mode     - PAL
 R) RTC On Boot    - Off
 D) Date Format    - DD/MM/YY
 T) Show Time Date - Disabled
 N) Screen Saver   - Disabled
 S) SD Card        - Enabled
 U) Usb Console    - Enabled
 C) Serial Console - Disabled
 B) Baud Rate      - 115200
 M) Custom Video Mode
 P) Print Custom Video Mode
 -----------------------------------------
 Q) Quit Dont Save Settings
 X) Exit Save Settings
\> help "setup

                " Setup "

        Setup will set power on defaults for DuinoMite Boards

        DuinoMite Setup Menu - V1.5  Dec 20 2011
        -----------------------------------------
        Hardware Platform - DuinoMite
        V) Video Mode     - PAL
        R) RTC On Boot    - Off
        D) Date Format    - DD/MM/YY
        T) Show Time Date - Disabled
        N) Screen Saver   - Disabled
        S) SD Card        - Enabled
        U) Usb Console    - Enabled
        C) Serial Console - Disabled

        B) Baud Rate      - 19200
        M) Custom Video Mode
        P) Print Custom Video Mode
        -----------------------------------------
        Q) Quit Dont Save Settings
        X) Exit Save Settings

        Video Mode
        PAL
        Custom   - Use with M command to set values
        Disabled - Completely Disables ALL Video
        NTSC
        NTSC-480 (wide screen NTSC)

        RTC On Boot
        Will read RTC off I2C port and set MMBasic Time and Date


        Date Format
        Switches between DD/MM/YY and MM/DD/YY

        Show Time Date
        Switches between Enabled and Disabled

        Screen Saver
        Swicthes between Disbaled and 5 - 60 minutes in 5 minute increments

        SD Card
        Enable or Disable micro SD Card
        Will default to internal A: flash drive if disabled

        Usb Console
        Enable or Disable USB completely


        Serial Console
        Enable Console on serial port
        COM1: 19200 Max Baud on pins 15-rx 16-tx

        COM2: 19200 Max Baud on pins 19-rx 20-tx

      Will have to disable Video on DuinoMite to use COM2:

        COM3: 115200 Max Baud UART2 on UEXT

        COM4: 115200 Max Baud UART5 on DB-9 DuinoMite Mega

        Custom Video Mode (Advanced Setting)
        C_VRES
        C_HRES

        C_LINE_N
        C_LINE_T
        C_VSYNC_N
        C_PIX_T
        C_HSYNC_T
        C_BLANKPAD

        Print Custom Video Mode
        Shows Custom Video Settings

        Quit Without Saving

        Exit Save Changes
        Saves Settings to Flash. Do a reboot after saving settings!

\>

So as one can see there a quite a few options one can set for different applications. Once any changes are made just reboot the board and those changes will take effect.

More to come.......

Regards Bryan

Offline Wolvenar

  • Senior Moderator
  • Hero Member
  • *******
  • Posts: 1474
  • Karma: +40/-0
  • Mr. Murphys pawn
Re: The Duinomite Project
« Reply #1 on: February 01, 2012, 03:14:22 am »
Very nice write up Bryan, one day I am not so busy I will get myself a couple of these and start playing
Trying to make power from alternative energy any which way I can.
Just to abuse what I make. (and run this site)

Offline WooferHound

  • Technowhiz
  • Global Moderator
  • Hero Member
  • ******
  • Posts: 897
  • Karma: +40/-3
  • Huntsville Alabama USA
    • My personal webpage
Re: The Duinomite Project
« Reply #2 on: February 01, 2012, 09:56:07 am »
Wow ,  Those are cool. Suddenly I want one, the Duinomite Mega looks awesome.
I can't seem to find a seller in the USA.
----- W o o f e r h o u n d -----
My Renewable Energy Projects

Offline Bryan1

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 152
  • Karma: +10/-0
Re: The Duinomite Project
« Reply #3 on: February 01, 2012, 01:20:10 pm »
Wow ,  Those are cool. Suddenly I want one, the Duinomite Mega looks awesome.
I can't seem to find a seller in the USA.

G'day Woof,
                  Mate Dontronics will ship over to the US and all around the world and I'm sure you will be surprised how quick it will be too.

Regards Bryan

Offline tomw

  • Not as bad as you might think
  • Senior Moderator
  • Hero Member
  • *******
  • Posts: 739
  • Karma: +35/-0
  • hoplophobic people will fear my lifestyle
    • Zubbly's photos!
Re: The Duinomite Project
« Reply #4 on: February 01, 2012, 02:05:02 pm »
Wow ,  Those are cool. Suddenly I want one, the Duinomite Mega looks awesome.
I can't seem to find a seller in the USA.

G'day Woof,
                  Mate Dontronics will ship over to the US and all around the world and I'm sure you will be surprised how quick it will be too.

Regards Bryan

well, whatever you do, don't give us a link or contact info  ;D

Tom
Do NOT mistake me for any kind of "expert".

( ?° ?? ?°)


24 Trina 310 watt modules, SMA SunnyBoy 7.7 KW Grid Tie inverter.

I thought that they were angels, but much to my surprise, We climbed aboard their starship and headed for the skies

Offline oztules

  • Forum Advisors
  • Hero Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 1177
  • Karma: +105/-8
  • Village idiot
Re: The Duinomite Project
« Reply #5 on: February 01, 2012, 03:31:07 pm »
Yes Woof, if I can find some more time, I may have a play too.

There are no resellers on Flinders Island  :D... but there is one here that Brian may be referring to on the mainland.

http://www.dontronics-shop.com/olimex-duinomite-mega.html

Odd country this, it would be cheaper for me to get anything from America or China or even England than from the mainland most of the time. That 100 miles of ocean seems to cause havoc ..... or more likely Australia Post are just thieves compared to USPS and China post etc.



............oztules
Flinders Island...... Australia

Offline Bryan1

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 152
  • Karma: +10/-0
Re: The Duinomite Project
« Reply #6 on: February 02, 2012, 04:02:58 am »
G'day Guy's,
                   Ok time for another installment  8)

Here is a link to the user manual and I'm sure it will be a good read for some.

http://www.olimex.com/dev/DUINO/DUINOMITE/DuinoMite-UM-1-03.pdf

Now Olimex the makers of these boards has been busy(having fun) writing new projects

http://olimex.wordpress.com/

The main support forum for the Duinomite is hosted by Mr. Ken Seglar who is also the software guru porting the code over to suit the Duinomite.

http://www.kenseglerdesigns.com/cms/forums/index.php

Ok Last of the Links  ;)

Don from Dontronic's has made a blog and it does show a heap of good info so it worth checking out, also when new firmware, the help file etc, updates are done Don hosts a neat style page where everything is available.

http://www.duinomite.com/


Well now I got that Help File done and future updates for it won't be a huge task my next major project is having a go at doing a Basic program for an electronics calc. To start with I'll do the OHM's Law and other simple stuff like voltage dividers and as I get better on the code side do opamps etc so I do hope in the end it will be one handy online tool people can use so to workout hardware values won't need a full blown computer.

Regards Bryan.........still fishing  8)


Offline Bryan1

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 152
  • Karma: +10/-0
Re: The Duinomite Project
« Reply #7 on: February 03, 2012, 01:46:02 am »
Hi Guy's,
             I emailed Don about sending over to the US and he did say for 5,10,50 units there are discounts which are shown on his site. Now he did say if multiple say 5 or 10 are ordered then the cost of shipping is still $12 as they will be going on the one package. So it may be an idea as the shipping cost is so low for one guy to pay for and recieve the package then post them out to the other guys. Then each user will only have to pay for the distance over there and not ripoff charges Mouser want etc.

      Oz,
           Mate what price did Don quote on shipment to that colony ( oops home) as if it's only $12 to international it shouldn't be more within Oz, but if it is let us know. I'm thinking if Ozripoffpost are going to slug you for flights over to the colony maybe ask one of the guys who do the run to receive it. Then it won't get lost like that last shipment of finger biters I sent you. By the way it will be interesting to see that said quote.......

  Now back on track Ok guys if you do want to take up with the DM(slang for Duinomite) when a new firmware hex file is available I will post it here.

By the way going for a new job and should be starting late next week, now with my big interest in electronics this job will entail looking after a mass pcb house and fixing robot arms that are pic and place machines. Talk about a kid in a candy shop..... But eh it pays more and that is what matters....

Cheers Bryan

Offline Bryan1

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 152
  • Karma: +10/-0
Re: The Duinomite Project
« Reply #8 on: March 06, 2012, 02:50:51 am »
G'day Guy's,
                        well I went ahead and redid this old P4 1.6 gig puter into a dual boot so I could try the Duinomite under linux, I am running Ubuntu 10.04LTS and had a bit of fun getting connected to it but with some good help from Wolv I finally got there. I did find as soon as the Duinomite is connected the SDCard is shown up as an external device and all the files on the SDCard can be edited in Gedit etc.

                       Now to find where the Duinomite is I typed  dmesg | grep tty
bryan@bryan-desktop:~$ dmesg | grep tty
[    0.000000] console [tty0] enabled
[    0.220458] serial8250: ttyS0 at I/O 0x3f8 (irq = 4) is a 16550A
[    0.220623] serial8250: ttyS1 at I/O 0x2f8 (irq = 3) is a 16550A
[    0.221281] 00:08: ttyS0 at I/O 0x3f8 (irq = 4) is a 16550A
[    0.221528] 00:09: ttyS1 at I/O 0x2f8 (irq = 3) is a 16550A
[11547.321913] cdc_acm 2-1:1.1: ttyACM0: USB ACM device

As shown on the last line is the location of the Duinomite at ttyACM0, now I used 'putty' to try it out and set the speed to 115200, serial and /dev/ttyACM0 as the connection.

Here is a screenshot showing that Help File I made as my first major project.

[ Guests cannot view attachments ]


Now if one wants to do this inside the terminal screen should already be installed so by typing in screen /dev/ttyACM0 will bringup the Duinomite in the terminal window.

[ Guests cannot view attachments ]

Now once i can learn a bit more about linux and the terminal it should be possible for the Duinomite to invoke commands within the terminal so other events can be logged or other programs started etc.

Regards Bryan