Pluggy Reloaded

Using, learning, programming and modding the Gigatron and anything related.
Forum rules
Be nice. No drama.
RetroCode
Posts: 17
Joined: 13 Jun 2020, 10:33

Re: Pluggy Reloaded

Post by RetroCode »

Well, I have an update. Finally assembled mine at the weekend.

Decided I hate desoldering, especially ground pins. The week before I tried, and gave up desoldering a crystal oscillator, which I thought should have been easy. At least cutting off the pins made it much easier. Couldn't quite remove the solder from the grounded pad, but it pushed down okay with the soldering iron...
Gigatron_Pluggy-Reloaded-Assembled.jpg
Gigatron_Pluggy-Reloaded-Assembled.jpg (2.49 MiB) Viewed 4658 times
Next I'd like to try it out (perhaps at the weekend), but have a few questions:

1. Do I need to flash/program the Pro Micro (arduino) before I use it? (guessing if it's not programmed it may have potentially erratic or dangerous behaviour if output pins aren't set correctly)
2. Can I program the Pro Micro seated in Pluggy Reloaded?
3. And if so does it need the USB plugged into it directly for power?
4. Presumably I use the pin headers for programming it, is that correct?

Sorry for the stupid questions - I'm just a bit nervous about getting something wrong...
norgate
Posts: 50
Joined: 20 Oct 2019, 16:50

Re: Pluggy Reloaded

Post by norgate »

Very nice to see another assembled board! Removable headers are looking good!

Regarding your questions:
1. The Pro Micro does not come preprogrammed (or only with the Arduino Bootloader), so you will have to flash the BabelFish.ino sketch from https://github.com/kervinck/gigatron-ro ... /BabelFish for the board to work as intended. However, nothing bad or dangerous will happen if you try to use it as is.
2. Yes, you can program the Pro Micro in circuit.
3. The board is powered either from the Gigatron or via USB. You will need USB for flashing the program, but it can be disconnected afterwards.
4. No, you program the Pro Micro via the USB Port using the Arduino IDE. Instructions for setting up Pro Micro support in the Arduino IDE can be found here: https://learn.sparkfun.com/tutorials/pr ... -guide/all. Be sure to select the Pro Micro under Tools > Board and the 5V model under Tools > Processor in the Arduino IDE before uploading the sketch. For flashing you need to put the Pro Micro into Bootloader mode by pressing the reset button on the board. Timing is important, as it only stays in this mode for a couple of seconds. For me it works most reliably, if I press the reset button just after the upload button in the Arduino IDE.

Good luck on getting it to work.
Be sure to ask any question that comes up. There are no stupid questions!
at67
Site Admin
Posts: 647
Joined: 14 May 2018, 08:29

Re: Pluggy Reloaded

Post by at67 »

Just to add to Norgate's reply, here is a snapshot of the settings that you need to setup, (Marcel originally provided this pic).
Arduino IDE.png
Arduino IDE.png (130.97 KiB) Viewed 4644 times
Vyvvyan
Posts: 6
Joined: 14 May 2018, 01:03

Re: Pluggy Reloaded

Post by Vyvvyan »

@norgate, for some reason I am not able to DM you (even though I was among the first batch of users on this forum) - do you still have kits available? I’d like to order one if shipping to the US is not an issue...

Thx
norgate
Posts: 50
Joined: 20 Oct 2019, 16:50

Re: Pluggy Reloaded

Post by norgate »

Hi Vyvvyan,

I sent you a DM. Tell me if that worked for you. Maybe that's something @walter should look into.

I do still have some kits available, however shipping outside of the EU is still crazy expensive and slow at the moment due to covid.
walter
Site Admin
Posts: 160
Joined: 13 May 2018, 08:00

Re: Pluggy Reloaded

Post by walter »

Fixed the permissions of Vyvvyan, also fixed norgate's permissions.
Older users apparently are missing some options.
Vyvvyan
Posts: 6
Joined: 14 May 2018, 01:03

Re: Pluggy Reloaded

Post by Vyvvyan »

DM received, thanks @Norgate and @Walter. Still cannot reply but that seems to be because this is only my 3rd post :). I’ll look at the BOM first, time perhaps to hit up Mouser and/or Digikey.
Jalecko
Posts: 11
Joined: 23 Aug 2020, 10:47

Re: Pluggy Reloaded

Post by Jalecko »

Ok so i made one on a breadboard and connected it to my gigatron and i put a gt1 file in the root directory of the card. But how do i actually run gt1 files from it?
at67
Site Admin
Posts: 647
Joined: 14 May 2018, 08:29

Re: Pluggy Reloaded

Post by at67 »

Jalecko wrote: 04 Sep 2020, 21:59 Ok so i made one on a breadboard and connected it to my gigatron and i put a gt1 file in the root directory of the card. But how do i actually run gt1 files from it?
I assume you mean from the SD card interface? If so, you need a Terminal program running on your host PC that allows you to talk to Babelfish running on the Arduino hardware.

- Setup the Terminal program with the correct COM Port matching your PC's virtual COM port, (use Windows Device manager to find it if you are not sure, assuming you are using Windows).

- Setup the Terminal program with the correct Baud Rate, Data Bits, Parity and Stop Bits, Flow Control, (typically, 115200, 8, N, 1, None).

- Type 'J' in the terminal program and if everything works, you'll see a directory listing of the SD Card.

- Type 'K<file name>' to upload a program form the SD Card to the Gigatron hardware, e.g. 'Kblinky.gt1'

- 'V' and 'H' will give you version and help information respectively.
Jalecko
Posts: 11
Joined: 23 Aug 2020, 10:47

Re: Pluggy Reloaded

Post by Jalecko »

Ok so i figured out how that works but could it be possible to make a gt1 file that asks the promicro a list of all the available software
When you select it then the arduino could run a altered babelfish sketch that first resets the gigatron then opens the loader and then writes the requested software to ram.
Post Reply