Verdex / RoboStix : JamVM PWM

[Michael Caughey]

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Ok I've taken about 6m onths off from this project, but I'm back at it again.  When I left off I was stuck at how to get my application running on a Verdex under JamVM to communicate ot a Servo.  I have a robostix which I plan to use to communicate to a number of servos.  When I last emailled this group about this problem someone suggested I use i2c-io.  how ever this looks to be a command line application, which means that the communication from a Java aplication would be slow.  So controlling servos at a high rate would be cumbersome  The servos will be controlling a UAV Throtle, Airelons left and right, rudder, elevator, camera pan and tilt.  The pan an tilt might only see a few instructions a second but the others would see between 1 and 50 a second.  At the very least each would be seeing a couple per second.

 

1) So my first question has anyone come up with a better solution in the past 6 months?

 

Next if the anwser is no then how about this:

 

2) I have not yet flashed the robostix with the i2c-io.hex.  I'm assumming this application listens to the i2c interface for a set of commands and a seperate i2c-io application runs on the verdex, which when executed passes some message over i2c interface to the robostix that then executes the command on the robostix.  Ff this is the case then could I use java to communicate over th i2c interface directly. 

 

3) If so how easy is that? 

 

4) Are there any examples of how to do this?

 

5) Is the command set for the i2c-io that runs on the robostix itself defined anywhere?

 

  

Thanks,
Michael

 

"In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities. In the expert's mind there are few."
-Shunryu Suzuki

 

 

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[Dave Hylands]

Hi Michael,

On Mon, May 12, 2008 at 7:14 AM, Michael Caughey <michael@...> wrote:

> Ok I've taken about 6m onths off from this project, but I'm back at it
> again.  When I left off I was stuck at how to get my application running on
> a Verdex under JamVM to communicate ot a Servo.  I have a robostix which I
> plan to use to communicate to a number of servos.  When I last emailled this
> group about this problem someone suggested I use i2c-io.  how ever this
> looks to be a command line application, which means that the communication
> from a Java aplication would be slow.  So controlling servos at a high rate
> would be cumbersome  The servos will be controlling a UAV Throtle, Airelons
> left and right, rudder, elevator, camera pan and tilt.  The pan an tilt
> might only see a few instructions a second but the others would see between
> 1 and 50 a second.  At the very least each would be seeing a couple per
> second.
>
> 1) So my first question has anyone come up with a better solution in the
> past 6 months?

You could also use serial.

> Next if the anwser is no then how about this:
>
> 2) I have not yet flashed the robostix with the i2c-io.hex.  I'm assumming
> this application listens to the i2c interface for a set of commands and a
> seperate i2c-io application runs on the verdex, which when executed passes
> some message over i2c interface to the robostix that then executes the
> command on the robostix.  Ff this is the case then could I use java to
> communicate over th i2c interface directly.

You should be able to talk over i2c using java. I'm not a java person,
so I have no idea if java supports this directly or if it requires
writing some custom code to allow this to happen.

> 3) If so how easy is that?

Not sure.

> 4) Are there any examples of how to do this?
>
> 5) Is the command set for the i2c-io that runs on the robostix itself
> defined anywhere?

The robostix/Shared/i2c-io.h file describes the commands and data
which are passed over the i2c bus. Personally, I just created i2c-io
as an example of how you might use i2c and it was never really
intended to be used as a final application. I was expecting people
would create their own commands which they would send over i2c.

--
Dave Hylands
Vancouver, BC, Canada
http://www.DaveHylands.com/

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[Michael Caughey]

I guess i'm trying to keep from writing c code here.  So it sounds like i
need to use the i2c app as a demo application and extend it to do what i
need.  I have found some reference to the ability to communicate i2c.
Serial would be nice, but I have a GPS, IMU and Video cam on my serial
ports.

aye, yah yah, so i have to write c ocde. Any suggestions of a good free c
IDE?


----- Original Message -----
From: "Dave Hylands" <dhylands@...>
To: "General mailing list for gumstix users."
<gumstix-users@...>
Sent: Monday, May 12, 2008 10:26 AM
Subject: Re: [Gumstix-users] Verdex / RoboStix : JamVM PWM

> Hi Michael,
>
> On Mon, May 12, 2008 at 7:14 AM, Michael Caughey <michael@...>
> wrote:
>> Ok I've taken about 6m onths off from this project, but I'm back at it
>> again.  When I left off I was stuck at how to get my application running
>> on
>> a Verdex under JamVM to communicate ot a Servo.  I have a robostix which
>> I
>> plan to use to communicate to a number of servos.  When I last emailled
>> this
>> group about this problem someone suggested I use i2c-io.  how ever this
>> looks to be a command line application, which means that the
>> communication
>> from a Java aplication would be slow.  So controlling servos at a high
>> rate
>> would be cumbersome  The servos will be controlling a UAV Throtle,
>> Airelons
>> left and right, rudder, elevator, camera pan and tilt.  The pan an tilt
>> might only see a few instructions a second but the others would see
>> between
>> 1 and 50 a second.  At the very least each would be seeing a couple per
>> second.
>>
>> 1) So my first question has anyone come up with a better solution in the
>> past 6 months?
>
> You could also use serial.
>
>> Next if the anwser is no then how about this:
>>
>> 2) I have not yet flashed the robostix with the i2c-io.hex.  I'm
>> assumming
>> this application listens to the i2c interface for a set of commands and a
>> seperate i2c-io application runs on the verdex, which when executed
>> passes
>> some message over i2c interface to the robostix that then executes the
>> command on the robostix.  Ff this is the case then could I use java to
>> communicate over th i2c interface directly.
>
> You should be able to talk over i2c using java. I'm not a java person,
> so I have no idea if java supports this directly or if it requires
> writing some custom code to allow this to happen.
>
>> 3) If so how easy is that?
>
> Not sure.
>
>> 4) Are there any examples of how to do this?
>>
>> 5) Is the command set for the i2c-io that runs on the robostix itself
>> defined anywhere?
>
> The robostix/Shared/i2c-io.h file describes the commands and data
> which are passed over the i2c bus. Personally, I just created i2c-io
> as an example of how you might use i2c and it was never really
> intended to be used as a final application. I was expecting people
> would create their own commands which they would send over i2c.
>
> --
> Dave Hylands
> Vancouver, BC, Canada
> http://www.DaveHylands.com/
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------
> This SF.net email is sponsored by the 2008 JavaOne(SM) Conference
> Don't miss this year's exciting event. There's still time to save $100.
> Use priority code J8TL2D2.
> http://ad.doubleclick.net/clk;198757673;13503038;p?http://java.sun.com/javaone
> _______________________________________________
> gumstix-users mailing list
> gumstix-users@...
> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/gumstix-users
>

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[Dave Hylands]

HI Michael,

On Mon, May 12, 2008 at 7:35 AM, Michael Caughey <michael@...> wrote:
> I guess i'm trying to keep from writing c code here.  So it sounds like i
> need to use the i2c app as a demo application and extend it to do what i
> need.  I have found some reference to the ability to communicate i2c.
> Serial would be nice, but I have a GPS, IMU and Video cam on my serial
> ports.
>
> aye, yah yah, so i have to write c ocde. Any suggestions of a good free c
> IDE?

I think IDEs are generally overrated. They hide lots of important
details from you, which makes trying to do somethings much harder.
For writing standalone apps, they're fine, but for making language
extensions (i.e. to java) you'll probably be fighting with the IDE.

I use a text editor and makefiles :)

If you really insist on an IDE, then you should look at Eclipse.

--
Dave Hylands
Vancouver, BC, Canada
http://www.DaveHylands.com/

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[Chris Dollar]

On Mon, May 12, 2008 at 8:35 AM, Michael Caughey <michael@...> wrote:
> I guess i'm trying to keep from writing c code here.  So it sounds like i
>  need to use the i2c app as a demo application and extend it to do what i
>  need.
You'd still have to write C code, but you might be able to write a JNI
object in C that would talk via i2c and make that data available for
you to use with java.  But it also sounds like speed is a big factor
for you, and my experience with java on a gumstix is that it is
waaayyy too slow to do any 'fast' processing, which leads you back to
C again.

>  aye, yah yah, so i have to write c ocde. Any suggestions of a good free c
>  IDE?
Since you're a java guy I'd suggest using Eclipse with the C/C++
developer plugin.

Chris

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[Michael Caughey]

Actually I read some place that you could use Basic to code on the robostix.
I have a copy of PICBasic Pro, is it possible to write an application using
that which could reside on the RoboStix that takes commands from the i2C
interface and converts them to the PWM interface?

----- Original Message -----
From: "Michael Caughey" <michael@...>
To: "General mailing list for gumstix users."
<gumstix-users@...>
Sent: Monday, May 12, 2008 10:35 AM
Subject: Re: [Gumstix-users] Verdex / RoboStix : JamVM PWM

>I guess i'm trying to keep from writing c code here.  So it sounds like i
> need to use the i2c app as a demo application and extend it to do what i
> need.  I have found some reference to the ability to communicate i2c.
> Serial would be nice, but I have a GPS, IMU and Video cam on my serial
> ports.
>
> aye, yah yah, so i have to write c ocde. Any suggestions of a good free c
> IDE?
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Dave Hylands" <dhylands@...>
> To: "General mailing list for gumstix users."
> <gumstix-users@...>
> Sent: Monday, May 12, 2008 10:26 AM
> Subject: Re: [Gumstix-users] Verdex / RoboStix : JamVM PWM
>
>
>> Hi Michael,
>>
>> On Mon, May 12, 2008 at 7:14 AM, Michael Caughey <michael@...>
>> wrote:
>>> Ok I've taken about 6m onths off from this project, but I'm back at it
>>> again.  When I left off I was stuck at how to get my application running
>>> on
>>> a Verdex under JamVM to communicate ot a Servo.  I have a robostix which
>>> I
>>> plan to use to communicate to a number of servos.  When I last emailled
>>> this
>>> group about this problem someone suggested I use i2c-io.  how ever this
>>> looks to be a command line application, which means that the
>>> communication
>>> from a Java aplication would be slow.  So controlling servos at a high
>>> rate
>>> would be cumbersome  The servos will be controlling a UAV Throtle,
>>> Airelons
>>> left and right, rudder, elevator, camera pan and tilt.  The pan an tilt
>>> might only see a few instructions a second but the others would see
>>> between
>>> 1 and 50 a second.  At the very least each would be seeing a couple per
>>> second.
>>>
>>> 1) So my first question has anyone come up with a better solution in the
>>> past 6 months?
>>
>> You could also use serial.
>>
>>> Next if the anwser is no then how about this:
>>>
>>> 2) I have not yet flashed the robostix with the i2c-io.hex.  I'm
>>> assumming
>>> this application listens to the i2c interface for a set of commands and
>>> a
>>> seperate i2c-io application runs on the verdex, which when executed
>>> passes
>>> some message over i2c interface to the robostix that then executes the
>>> command on the robostix.  Ff this is the case then could I use java to
>>> communicate over th i2c interface directly.
>>
>> You should be able to talk over i2c using java. I'm not a java person,
>> so I have no idea if java supports this directly or if it requires
>> writing some custom code to allow this to happen.
>>
>>> 3) If so how easy is that?
>>
>> Not sure.
>>
>>> 4) Are there any examples of how to do this?
>>>
>>> 5) Is the command set for the i2c-io that runs on the robostix itself
>>> defined anywhere?
>>
>> The robostix/Shared/i2c-io.h file describes the commands and data
>> which are passed over the i2c bus. Personally, I just created i2c-io
>> as an example of how you might use i2c and it was never really
>> intended to be used as a final application. I was expecting people
>> would create their own commands which they would send over i2c.
>>
>> --
>> Dave Hylands
>> Vancouver, BC, Canada
>> http://www.DaveHylands.com/
>>
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> This SF.net email is sponsored by the 2008 JavaOne(SM) Conference
>> Don't miss this year's exciting event. There's still time to save $100.
>> Use priority code J8TL2D2.
>> http://ad.doubleclick.net/clk;198757673;13503038;p?http://java.sun.com/javaone
>> _______________________________________________
>> gumstix-users mailing list
>> gumstix-users@...
>> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/gumstix-users
>>
>
>
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------
> This SF.net email is sponsored by the 2008 JavaOne(SM) Conference
> Don't miss this year's exciting event. There's still time to save $100.
> Use priority code J8TL2D2.
> http://ad.doubleclick.net/clk;198757673;13503038;p?http://java.sun.com/javaone
> _______________________________________________
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> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/gumstix-users
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[Michael Caughey]

Thanks for your help, looks like I'll be getting a C/c++ plugin for my
Eclipse.  I fee like I'm crawling again.  Its been 9 years since I've done
any real C/C++ programming.

I hope the wiki has good support for writing C Code.  Can all this be done
in C++?  are there libraries for C++ or is C more widely used?  I know that
I can use C from C++.  I know these are simple questions but I'm fixing to
be completely out of my element, but i think its time I got down and dirty.
I need the speed.

-Michael

----- Original Message -----
From: "Chris Dollar" <chris.dollar@...>
To: "General mailing list for gumstix users."
<gumstix-users@...>
Sent: Monday, May 12, 2008 10:44 AM
Subject: Re: [Gumstix-users] Verdex / RoboStix : JamVM PWM

> On Mon, May 12, 2008 at 8:35 AM, Michael Caughey <michael@...>
> wrote:
>> I guess i'm trying to keep from writing c code here.  So it sounds like i
>>  need to use the i2c app as a demo application and extend it to do what i
>>  need.
> You'd still have to write C code, but you might be able to write a JNI
> object in C that would talk via i2c and make that data available for
> you to use with java.  But it also sounds like speed is a big factor
> for you, and my experience with java on a gumstix is that it is
> waaayyy too slow to do any 'fast' processing, which leads you back to
> C again.
>
>>  aye, yah yah, so i have to write c ocde. Any suggestions of a good free
>> c
>>  IDE?
> Since you're a java guy I'd suggest using Eclipse with the C/C++
> developer plugin.
>
> Chris
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------
> This SF.net email is sponsored by the 2008 JavaOne(SM) Conference
> Don't miss this year's exciting event. There's still time to save $100.
> Use priority code J8TL2D2.
> http://ad.doubleclick.net/clk;198757673;13503038;p?http://java.sun.com/javaone
> _______________________________________________
> gumstix-users mailing list
> gumstix-users@...
> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/gumstix-users
>

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[Dave Hylands]

HI Michael,

On Mon, May 12, 2008 at 7:48 AM, Michael Caughey <michael@...> wrote:
> Actually I read some place that you could use Basic to code on the robostix.
>  I have a copy of PICBasic Pro, is it possible to write an application using
>  that which could reside on the RoboStix that takes commands from the i2C
>  interface and converts them to the PWM interface?

Well - you can use BASIC on the robostix, but not PICBasic Pro.
PICBasic Pro is for PIC processors. The robostix uses an AVR
processor.

So you'd have to buy a copy of one of the BASICs which run on the AVR.

If all you're going to do is to control the PWM of a servo then i2c-io
will work fine.

--
Dave Hylands
Vancouver, BC, Canada
http://www.DaveHylands.com/

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[Michael Caughey]

Ok then I"ll use the i2c-io.  I've been trying to stay away from the need to
code in C, but I convinced myself today that i have been fighting it for too
long.  So I'm back to the drawing board so to speak, with a number rather
basic things in order to get into the swing of it.

That said:

Which install of Linux would be best to use to build a cross compile
environment.  I had a VMWare instance of Fedora Core on XP.  However I'm
going to build a new linux box just for this project.

Thakns,
Michael

----- Original Message -----
From: "Dave Hylands" <dhylands@...>
To: "General mailing list for gumstix users."
<gumstix-users@...>
Sent: Monday, May 12, 2008 1:57 PM
Subject: Re: [Gumstix-users] Verdex / RoboStix : JamVM PWM

> HI Michael,
>
> On Mon, May 12, 2008 at 7:48 AM, Michael Caughey <michael@...>
> wrote:
>> Actually I read some place that you could use Basic to code on the
>> robostix.
>>  I have a copy of PICBasic Pro, is it possible to write an application
>> using
>>  that which could reside on the RoboStix that takes commands from the i2C
>>  interface and converts them to the PWM interface?
>
> Well - you can use BASIC on the robostix, but not PICBasic Pro.
> PICBasic Pro is for PIC processors. The robostix uses an AVR
> processor.
>
> So you'd have to buy a copy of one of the BASICs which run on the AVR.
>
> If all you're going to do is to control the PWM of a servo then i2c-io
> will work fine.
>
> --
> Dave Hylands
> Vancouver, BC, Canada
> http://www.DaveHylands.com/
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------
> This SF.net email is sponsored by: Microsoft
> Defy all challenges. Microsoft(R) Visual Studio 2008.
> http://clk.atdmt.com/MRT/go/vse0120000070mrt/direct/01/
> _______________________________________________
> gumstix-users mailing list
> gumstix-users@...
> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/gumstix-users
>

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