Is it possible to activate or watch the TinyTv mini via the USB c connection?

Yes! Use Google Chrome and connect your TV to this page: https://tinytv.us/Streaming/

You'll still have to click the power button and exit USB mode but then you can stream anything from your computer to your TV.

OK, and at the very last step, it says

Now you can press the upload button (after choosing a port and/or putting the device into bootloader mode)

How do I put the device into bootloader mode?

You can follow the animation here to do that: https://tinytv.us/Update/?screen=tv2_step_3

sometimes it has a mini seizure, sometimes it freezes up and flips upside-down, have changed some things but reformatted and updated it several times and nothing's worked. what do I do?

This sounds like a hardware issue to me.

Send a message detailing the issue and this forum post through this form: https://tinycircuits.com/pages/contact-us

There's no way to add more than 50 videos at the moment. This may be something we look into in the future.

Instead of disabling the GPS module with the A3 pin, you could try stopping its UART before WiFi transmission with `Gps_serial.end()`. This will stop some interrupts and maybe get things working. Hopefully you can start it again with `Gps_serial.begin(GPSBaud)`

You could also try testing while on USB power. Trying while plugged into your computer might be a good start but finding a 5V power supply that can provide >1A of current might be a good test too.

Let me know if any of this helps!

I'm not exactly sure what's going on but here are some general ideas that might change things:

• Add delay between uploading data (just a couple ms)
• Buffer everything you are going to send and then send it in <100 sized byte chunks, with delay between sending chunks

Hi. The TV works fine, but when I try to convert a video (mp4) using the converter it will only convert to .avi. I've tried multiple videos and always get the same result. Hoping some kind soul can suggest a solution. Cheers.

You are mistakenly using the new "TinyTV Converter App" that requires your TV to have new firmware.

You can find the old "TSV Converter" here: https://tinytv.us/TinyTV-DIY-Kit/TSV-Converter-Tutorial/

The firmware is MicroPython, which we haven't modified for Thumby. The latest version that Thumby uses is 1.19.1 downloadable here: https://micropython.org/download/rp2-pico/

The Python files that we made for Thumby are available here: https://github.com/TinyCircuits/TinyCircuits-Thumby-Code-Editor/tree/master/ThumbyGames

That is more cumbersome than it should be.

You can try updating Thumby's firmware by following the steps outlined here: https://thumby.us/FAQ/#:~:text=Lastly%2C%20you%20can%20try%20reloading%20the%20most%20recent%20firmware%20version%3A (this will delete all the files you've uploaded).

Unfortunately the converter isn't working at all for me. I'm a tech savvy person. It's Mp4 files and everything, some ripped from youtube (so maybe they have extra data or something) and others just normal Mp4s. IN all cases the converter just crashes as soon as it open the file

What operating system are you using? (Windows 7/8/10/11, Linux, or macOS 12/13)

Windows 10. But I think I found the problem. It was the mp4 files in question. I'm ripping them from youtube and I think youtube puts some data in the files to that is incompatible with the TSV converter. I've managed to get some non youtube MP4s to convert just fine. I'll be able to figure it out soon im sure.

Thanks for letting me know, that's useful information for future debugging.

Hi,

I purchased a Thumby, but have been unable to connect it to either a windows 8 PC or a windows 7 PC.  I have read the FAQ at https://thumby.us/FAQ/ and have followed the instructions there.  I know that it is not the cable, as I am able to load/see the directory/device when I turn the Thumby on in USB flashdrive mode (I find exactly two files in the loaded dirive when turn on the Thumby with down arrow pressed).

Thumby's power is on, the cable is connected, I can see the "start" game select menu on the Thumby, but the Zadig driver loader doesn't find it at all.  Ie, it shows "no devices found", the upper pulldown is empty.  I have tried earlier versions of Zadig with no difference.  The Device Manager says "unknown USB-device", and I know that is the active one because it disappears if I unplug the Thumby (or if I turn the Thumby off). 

I have tried loading the device driver anyway, restarting the PC and/or all connected devices in various sequences -- no change.  Does not seem to matter what PC I use either.  Is it just bad firmware on the Thumby?  Something I am missing?  How do I even diagnose this?

Anyone have any suggestions aside from telling me that I have just bad luck?

Thanks,
Forrest

I don't think this would be a firmware issue. Thumby uses MicroPython as its base firmware, which is a commonly by a lot of other devices/users. All we added were Python files for game launching, settings, etc.

Searching Google for "zadig not finding device" results in:

"Check your computer's Device Manager (if using Windows) to make sure that the computer sees the device is plugged in. The name of the device will often be "Unidentified USB device". Go back to Zadig, click on the "Options" menu, and make sure there is a check-mark next to "List All Devices""

You could try giving that a try to try and get the Thumby to show up in Zadig.

Let me know if that doesn't work, we'll figure it out.

Thanks

Hi there!

Just wondering if instead of videos was it possible to upload photos into the TinyTv (basically like a rotating gallery)? If so, is there anything special that needs to be done (like specific conversion)? Also, can there by a mix of photos + videos that are able to play on the tv?

Thanks!

Displaying photos is not possible currently. You could probably figure out a way to turn each photo into a still video of some duration but we don't have a documented way to do this.

Hi, I hope you're all doing well.

I am new to the platform, and I am super excited to be here.

I need some help with my project, I am using the TinyZero processor and the Tiny Shield combo sensor, I have downloaded the example files but I am unable to load it to the board, the error I see on the screen is:

In file included from /Users/migueljauregui/Documents/Arduino/Temperature_Humidity_TinyShield_example2/Temperature_Humidity_TinyShield_example2.ino:21:0:
/Users/migueljauregui/Documents/Arduino/libraries/SI7021-master/SI7021.h:26:12: fatal error: pgmspace.h: No such file or directory
   #include <pgmspace.h>
            ^~~~~~~~~~~~
compilation terminated.

exit status 1

Compilation error: exit status 1

Would you please guide me in the right direction as how can I fix it.

Thanks in advance,
Mike Jauregui

Just to be sure, have you followed the steps starting from here? https://learn.tinycircuits.com/Processors/TinyZero_Setup_Tutorial/#:~:text=%27Additional%20Boards%20Manager%20URLs%27%3A%20https%3A//files.tinycircuits.com/ArduinoBoards/package_tinycircuits_index.json

Also, be sure to use the library download we provide: https://github.com/TinyCircuits/TinyCircuits-TinyShield-Sensor-ASD2511/raw/master/libraries/SI7021.zip (it may be a slightly modified version).

I tried converting that file myself and video and audio play fine.

I'm assuming that using Wine has something to do with it, though I don't have any initial assumptions as to why.

Here are some things you could try

• Use a Windows machine to run the TSV converter
• Perhaps using a Windows Virtual machine would also work
• Maybe try adjusting the Windows version in Wine? I assume you're using 10 (if that's possible, it has been a while since I last used it)

Sorry I'm not able to offer a better solution for your situation.

Hi, I recently got the TinyTV Kit for my birthday and I'm having problems customizing it with my own videos. I use Linux, so I'm running the converter app for Windows through Wine. I also realized that my firmware is old so it only plays .tsv files instead of .avi.
Playing back the .avi files on my PC, everything looks fine, but I can't play the .tsv files on my computer so I can't see if the files themselves are broken or not.
When I'm playing the videos on the TinyTV, the audio is incredibly loud and distorted, and the video frames are going all over the place, and looks a bit like a VHS tracking error. I'd appreciate it if I could get help with this.

Can you send an email to info@tinycircuits.com with the videos before they're converted? We'll try converting them and see what we can find.

Please link this forum post in your email.

Thanks.