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Trying again...

Posted: 15 Dec 2018, 12:11
by Stew
Hi all.
OK, a while ago, I had a nice clean Skyleader transmitter, and a collected bag o' bits including an Arduino of some description and an FrSky Module. My aim was/is, to remove the guts of the old transmitter, and replace it all with modern electronics, thereby having a transmitter with a nice case that looks retro, but with modern gubbins inside, all neatly done.
After some toil with programming the arduino, I have to admit I gave up, and sold it with the other bits as a job lot.
However...I'm back and keen to try again.
My questions are; What is the best Arduino to get, and with what mounting system?
Alos, I have a choice of computers I use at home, so which would be the best one to use for the programming tasks? My good lady's desktop running Windows 7, or my laptop, which runs Trisquel Linux. (8.0).

Any advice on how to proceed with the job will be most welcome! I will need a bit of hand holding here I should think.

P.S the transmitter I have now bought to butcher is a very clean and lightly used Fleet XP/FM with a silver case.
I bought it because I always really liked the look of them.

Re: Trying again...

Posted: 15 Dec 2018, 13:28
by Martin
What is your soldering skill level? Might make a difference as to which Arduino people will recommend.

You can use either Windows or Linux (or Apple for that matter) to run the Arduino IDE. Linux runs it quite a bit faster - even on the same dual booting PC - though unless you're developing your own code, a few seconds extra for each compile-program cycle is neither here nor there.

With Linux, the only slight complication is that you have to add the 'user' that is running the Arduino IDE to the group that has privileges to access the serial port / USB port hardware - but you only have to do that once and we can help you with that if necessary (you can find lots of advice on the web how to do it). Once you have the Arduino IDE installed and able to connect to your Arduino, the experience (speed excepted) is exactly the same on all operating systems.

Re: Trying again...

Posted: 15 Dec 2018, 13:53
by Stew
Hi.
My soldering skills are pretty good, (I have the gear too) and I much prefer a soldered joint to a screw tag type.
In fact one of the reasons for the project is to practice and improve my existing skills.

Re: Trying again...

Posted: 14 Jan 2019, 18:09
by Stew
Got my Arduino Nano programmed, got my Frsky hack module, so time to start snipping and soldering. Here we go...

Re: Trying again...

Posted: 15 Jan 2019, 04:37
by _AL_
My advice to you from someone who knows only too well the frustrations of learning to use Arduino is DON'T GIVE UP!!!

If you can solder then you can turn your radio into a really nice & functional unit with Phil's sketch & there are plenty of people willing to give you the time & support to get it working.

When I get a chance later tonight I'll come back & see if I can assist but for reference, where are you getting stuck?

Is it programming the arduino, connecting the hardware or something else?

Al

Re: Trying again...

Posted: 15 Jan 2019, 10:58
by _AL_
Seems I missed part of this while reading on the phone screen.... Sounds like you've got it under control so post pics & call out if you need help.

Al

Re: Trying again...

Posted: 16 Jan 2019, 18:31
by Stew
Hi Al.
Thanks ever so much for your offer of help! I had problems uploading the sketch to my Nano, but I have managed now, but unfortunately I had to use my partners Windows PC.
My own PC and laptop run Trisquel, which is based on Ubuntu Linux with all the 'non-free software' bits removed. I got the IDE on them but they wouldn't talk to the Arduino. Still, I'm there now.
I just need to chop the bits out of the Fleet XP/FM and wire in the arduino and the Hack Module. I want to make it look as 'pro' as possible, as if I'd taken my radio to Fleet and they'd upgraded it to 2.4....(I wish).
I'll let you know how it goes.

Stew.

Re: Trying again...

Posted: 16 Jan 2019, 21:13
by Martin
You should only need to do this once to get your linux machine working with the IDE. You don't need to connect the Arduino while you're doing this.

On your linux machine, in a terminal (command line) enter:

ls -l /dev/tt*

that's a lower case L after the minus sign.

You should see several lines (maybe lots) of results including something like:

crw-rw---- 1 root dialout 4, 64 Jan 16 20:44 /dev/ttyS0
crw-rw---- 1 root dialout 4, 65 Jan 16 20:44 /dev/ttyS1
crw-rw---- 1 root dialout 4, 74 Jan 16 20:44 /dev/ttyS10
crw-rw---- 1 root dialout 4, 75 Jan 16 20:44 /dev/ttyS11

Scroll back through the results if there are more than a screenful, and look for any ttyS lines like the ones above

Here you can see that the ttyS devices (the name linux uses for serial port stuff)

The first bit of each line with the r and w and --- shows read/write access for various users and groups. Then next part, "root dialout" in my case, shows that these ports are owned by the root user and can be used by members of the dialout group. It might be different on your computer but make a note of the group that's shown where 'dialout' is shown above

Now, still in the terminal, with your normal log on name (not using sudo or similar) enter:

groups

and you will get to see what groups you currently belong to. On my machine, my user name is martin and I'm already in the dialout group, as well as several others, so I see

martin adm dialout cdrom sudo dip plugdev lpadmin sambashare

What you need to do now is add yourself to the dialout group (or whatever name it has on your machine if it's not dialout):

sudo adduser martin dialout

(obviously change martin to your own user name and dialout to whatever group name it is on your machine if it's not dialout).

Then you need to log out and log back in, or you can just restart your computer.

If that doesn't work, post here what's happening and I'll try to help.

Re: Trying again...

Posted: 20 Jan 2019, 10:53
by Stew
Thanks Martin, I will have a go this week. I have 3 nights in a hotel this week due to a course with work, so it will give me something to do.