Messages

301

TinyDuino Processors & TinyShields / Re: lipo batery?

« on: December 30, 2015, 09:21:41 PM »

That post was talking about an older revision of the processor board. The +/- you've found are correct and meant for any battery about 3-4v, ie most lithium cells. Keep in mind your coin cell board does not have the charger on it, and there's no under-voltage protection- our cells have that built in, so make sure you have something in place.

Thanks,
Ben

302

TinyDuino Processors & TinyShields / Re: TinyArcade and memory usage

« on: December 30, 2015, 09:18:46 PM »

Knowing that, I can answer a bit better. Arduino's 'programming language' is C++ with a few layers of libraries to make it look pretty. I believe new/delete may not be implemented, but malloc/free are available(although often avoided since most Arduino platforms have so little RAM). There is in fact a main.cpp hidden away that calls setup and loop. The .ino is pre-processed(function declarations are added in) and everything is compiled(all libraries have source code). If you check the Arduino github account, all the source/build files are available but not necessarily presented in an obvious way.

303

TinyDuino Processors & TinyShields / Re: TinyShield BLE - LSBFIRST and MSBFIRST

« on: December 28, 2015, 08:31:40 PM »

That's in there because many SPI devices(especially among those on TinyShields) are MSB first. So, it's simply flipping it for the NRF8001 when necessary, then flipping it back. Common stuff like an SD card, TinyScreen, CC3000 WiFi, etc uses MSB first, and the associated libraries won't work if the bit order is flipped by other code while running.

A better way to take care of this issue is using something along the lines of the newer Arduino SPI 'transaction' interface, but unfortunately very little code out there actually uses this- something we'd like to work on, but rarely get to.

304

TinyDuino Processors & TinyShields / Re: Smart Watch documentation

« on: December 28, 2015, 08:23:27 PM »

There's not much documentation for the phone app. The source is on our github, beyond that you might want to take a look at how others have done it- https://github.com/matejdro/PebbleNotificationCenter-Android is a really comprehensive notification handler written for use with the Pebble watch, but maybe you can make some use of the source. Anything in particular you're looking for?

305

TinyDuino Processors & TinyShields / Re: TinyArcade and memory usage

« on: December 28, 2015, 08:18:47 PM »

Hi Magnus,

Keeping topics separate is fine-

Correct- the TinyScreen+ board inside the arcade cabinet has the same processor as the Zero with 256KB FLASH and 32KB RAM.

Code executes from FLASH by default, so the 32KB SRAM is free.

Memory handler? At software level, everything is C++, so the answer might depend on what programming background you have

306

General Discussion / Re: attiny841 in tinyshield dual motor

« on: December 21, 2015, 07:13:12 PM »

Hi- the firmware zip is included with the library, available at https://github.com/TinyCircuits/TinyCircuits-TinyShield_Motor_Library

You should be able to see how there's a register access mode plus a PWM command mode, which allows faster/simple transfer of PWM settings.

How are you measuring the output voltage of the PWM? Based on how the PWM hardware is used, the PWM duty cycle percentage should be linear to the set PWM value over the set PWM period. Depending on how you're measuring it, you'll probably need a small load resistor/low pass filter.

307

TinyDuino Processors & TinyShields / Re: Clarification of comment in TinyShield_NRF8001_BLE_Example.ino

« on: December 17, 2015, 06:37:42 PM »

That's just to allow for a difference in how the compiler(or maybe pre-compiler) is set up in codebender versus the IDE- The IDE wants other .ino files in the sketch folder which it includes automatically, while codebender wants .cpp which are included manually. This may have changed since I wrote the example.

Unfortunately the whole NRF8001 library from Nordic is pretty ungainly in codebender- all those included files have small changes.

Another thought I have is that you might want to check out some alternate software- https://github.com/sandeepmistry/arduino-BLEPeripheral is a library for the NRF8001 that avoids NRF studio with a different set of complexities- maybe it's interesting to you.

308

User Projects / Code Examples / Re: Tiny Game Player

« on: December 14, 2015, 05:29:36 PM »

Really cool- do you have the design files available? We would like to be able to link to designs that print well on consumer printers.

As I'm sure you've noticed, the kit is much more fun in a housing with big top buttons

309

TinyDuino Processors & TinyShields / Re: Basic nRF8001 Advertising Data

« on: December 14, 2015, 05:26:10 PM »

Hi Evan,

The example uses Nordic's default UART service. Nordic's site has the UUIDs and example iOS/Android code, their github example has the XML file.

https://www.nordicsemi.com/eng/Products/nRFready-Demo-Apps/nRF-UART-App
https://github.com/NordicSemiconductor/ble-sdk-arduino/tree/master/libraries/BLE/examples/ble_uart_project_template

This should get you going.

Ben

310

TinyDuino Processors & TinyShields / Re: TinyShield Accelerometer missing INT1 & INT2?

« on: December 14, 2015, 05:05:12 PM »

Sorry about that, we need to update that product page. Another sensor has the Rev5 schematic, which is identical to Rev4: http://www.tiny-circuits.com/Downloads/Schematics/ASD2511_Rev5.pdf

311

TinyDuino Processors & TinyShields / Re: SD Card Module power drain

« on: December 14, 2015, 04:05:16 PM »

I can't find a good reference for this, but I believe that the default SD card library included with the Arduino IDE does not put the card to sleep. Try some of the SDFat library examples and see if you can get a lower sleep current.

Keep in mind that SD cards shouldn't really be used under 3.3V, so a coin cell/SD card option isn't a good solution. The straightforward alternatives are EEPROM or external flash that's happy under 3V, or switching to a 3.7v rechargeable lithium battery.

312

TinyDuino Processors & TinyShields / Re: TinyShield Protoboard

« on: December 14, 2015, 03:51:13 PM »

Everything shares the same 20 I/O that are available on the proto board- you'll need to check each schematic(on the product page or our github) and see which pins are still available at the proto board, as our compatibility matrix at https://www.tiny-circuits.com/index.php/tiny-duino/tinyshield-compat/ only covers whether or not our shields are compatible.

313

TinyDuino Processors & TinyShields / Re: Is the TinyShield BLE Nordic FCC certified?

« on: December 14, 2015, 03:36:27 PM »

If you're developing a product that needs FCC certification, you might want to start with a pre-certified module with a built-in antenna. Then certification is relatively easy. If you have a chipset like the NRF8001, you'll need intentional radiator certification- much more difficult and expensive.

314

General Discussion / Re: Does anyone know where the code for performance/diagnostic display on Tinyscreen

« on: December 14, 2015, 03:29:01 PM »

Hi,

This is a project we didn't flesh out- It's just displaying some random values. But here's the code with a nice looking font, it should get you started with displaying similar data.

Ben

315

TinyDuino Processors & TinyShields / Re: Combining different shields

« on: November 24, 2015, 03:15:10 PM »

Grimstone got just about everything. Some extra details:

1. Hardware compatibility is one thing, but keep in mind software can become increasingly difficult if you're trying to do lots at once.

2. The board that ships with the Arcade cabinet will have one joystick and two pushbuttons. So your user input code for games should be a bit flexible. The SD slot will work exactly the same as our current board on our current processor, but the audio works in a different way. Depending on the code, audio support may need to be significantly rewritten.

So TinyScreen, GPS, RTC, uSD code should be relatively easy to get working on the new board- audio may not.