Mmdvm kicad Duplex hat 14mhz firmware issues

Help with Raspberry Pi Foundation Boards (Raspberry Pi, Pi Zero, Pi Zero W, Pi A, Pi B, Pi B+, Pi2 B, Pi3 B, Pi 3 B+)
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2E0WKS
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Joined: Sun Jul 21, 2019 10:00 pm

Mmdvm kicad Duplex hat 14mhz firmware issues

Post by 2E0WKS »

Having built 18 hotspots I have a number running kicad Duplex board and have had to update firmware as the pistar project evolves.

Hat Firmware 1.5.2 cuts out at least on fusion after 29 secs approximately, 1.4.17 works well.

The flashing issue is pi star identifying Pi4 as a pi3 which bulks up writing firmware.

Symptoms solid green light and firmware downgrade does not work.
Trying to reflash on Pi4 fails.

I have killed and brought back to life 2 hats by flashing on a pi 4 and then the same process on a pi zero to flash to 1.5.2 and downgrade to 1.4.17

I would appreciate some guidance on how to report the issue as it appears to be a firmware, stm32 controller and pistar issue.

I would very much like to be able to flash via Pi4 as I have several devices I need 1.4.7 firmware and they are not local to me.
Is there a way to alter gpio flash tool to see Pi4 as Pi4 or do pistar team need to look into this?

I'd prefer not to have hotspots posted back as I do this as a non profit hobby with fellow amateurs and team viewer easier.

Thanks
2E0WKS
Posts: 13
Joined: Sun Jul 21, 2019 10:00 pm

Re: Mmdvm kicad Duplex hat 14mhz firmware issues

Post by 2E0WKS »

Simply the argument isn't worth the effort, I can't see the benefit of posting further as your obviously looking for some kind of engagement or hostile response.
1)1.5.2 drops after 29 seconds on multiple devices 1.4.17 fine.
2) pi 4 the script identifies pi 4 as pi 3 and fails flashing hat, same sd card same hat pi zero it completes.

Pi zero far too slow for later versions of pi-star even overclocked.
Why would you want a pi 3 when a pi 4 2gb same price here.

The pi star project is great and I shall no longer bother posting here as I have more productive things to do than justify myself or have an argument.

I bid you good day
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G8SEZ
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Re: Mmdvm kicad Duplex hat 14mhz firmware issues

Post by G8SEZ »

2E0WKS wrote: Fri Dec 04, 2020 7:37 pm Simply the argument isn't worth the effort, I can't see the benefit of posting further as your obviously looking for some kind of engagement or hostile response.
1)1.5.2 drops after 29 seconds on multiple devices 1.4.17 fine.
2) pi 4 the script identifies pi 4 as pi 3 and fails flashing hat, same sd card same hat pi zero it completes.

Pi zero far too slow for later versions of pi-star even overclocked.
Why would you want a pi 3 when a pi 4 2gb same price here.

The pi star project is great and I shall no longer bother posting here as I have more productive things to do than justify myself or have an argument.

I bid you good day
Hmm, from that description it looks like you need to update pistar and upgrade it too the recognition code has had a few tweaks for Pi 4 boards, use sudo pistar-update and then sudo pistar-upgrade, it might take a couple of cycles of these commands. Not a bad idea to upgrade the OS, if you go in via SSH then this will happen during the pistar-update process.

If you're having flashing problems it could be because the JP1 jumper on the dual HAT isn't shorted.
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Brian G8SEZ
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VK7HSE
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Re: Mmdvm kicad Duplex hat 14mhz firmware issues

Post by VK7HSE »

Generally one wouldn't need to roll back on firmware releases, but you can manually download prior releases


https://github.com/juribeparada/MMDVM_HS/releases


Or if you are familiar with git you can roll back the local clone of the source code to any commit number (well number/letters) and achieve the same thing. But by doing this you will most likely need to compile it prior to uploading. I'm not going to go into detail on this because I don't believe it will solve the problem (as indicated by some replies)



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G8SEZ
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Re: Mmdvm kicad Duplex hat 14mhz firmware issues

Post by G8SEZ »

KE7FNS wrote: Sat Dec 05, 2020 1:45 am
What RPi 4 recognition code are you referring too?
It's the platformDetect.sh change made in August that I was thinking of, it added the 8GB version. Memory failure on my part with that, I thought it did something else.
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Brian G8SEZ
2E0WKS
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Re: Mmdvm kicad Duplex hat 14mhz firmware issues

Post by 2E0WKS »

KE7FNS wrote: Sat Dec 05, 2020 7:07 am I think I've uncovered half of what the OP is reporting, I still don't know what error he is experiencing though.

The overview of the pistar-mmdvmhshatflash script is that it downloads files from the MMDVM_HS github repo, one of those files is determined by which parameter you enter when executed and that script gets downloaded and renamed to flash.sh

Inside of that script there is some very crude OS detection going on:

https://github.com/juribeparada/MMDVM_H ... hat.sh#L42

The results of "uname -m" on a RPi 4 running Pi-star are the same as on an RPi 3 running Pi-star, WHY??? because they BOTH use the same 32-bit kernel in Pi-star even though they are both ARMv8 64-bit processors.
The message that is output to the console is effectively meaningless. It makes no difference that it says it is a RPi 3 when it is run on an RPi 4. Actually there is another issue that I see and it will say its a RPi 3 when it is run on a RPi 2B, because the RPi 2B runs the same armv7l kernel too.

If you compare the two sections for detecting armv7l against armv6l the sections of code for each are IDENTICAL, so again there is no difference in operation on a system that detects armv7l against one detected as armv6l, both of them are set to the same values when run on their respective kernel

Basically the way the script determines the platform from "uname -m" is poorly done at best. If it were properly written it should parse something like /proc/cpuinfo to retrieve the correct RPi hardware model, but realistically it isn't really needed and it is just extra meaningless fluff written to the screen. The other sections allow for the script to function correctly on x86_64 and 32-bit Linux OS's (non ARM)

Theres really no reason to have two separate cases when they both run identical code in side them. Both of those sections could be combined into one with a simple OR statement, and one line to retrieve the RPi hardware model info.

The simple fact it boils down to is it isn't a Pi-star related script, its a script from MMDVM_HS that is DOWNLOADED, so it isn't really Pi-star's responsibility. The OP needs to create 2 new issues on the MMDVM_HS github, one for the YSF cutting out after 29 seconds, and the other for the incorrect detection of the RPi model during flashing.
Pi4 flashing on ki cad clone of a clone HS_DUEL HAT firmware flask fails and ACK warning JP1 SOLDERED.
FLASHES FINE ON ZERO
the high BER after 29 seconds resolved by using roger clark driver suspect txco fitted.

I love Pi-star but find the forum abrasive, it's not criticism just want to see project evolve.

73
M0WKS
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G8SEZ
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Re: Mmdvm kicad Duplex hat 14mhz firmware issues

Post by G8SEZ »

I think we all want to see the project evolve sensibly, but certain features of its past make that more difficult. Perhaps there will be a change in this regard but it's not exactly clear to me what and when. Speaking in riddles is de rigeur in some respects.

If all the code were public then it would be easier to understand what's going on, but it's not there yet.

As for the flashing script it clearly doesn't recognise the RPi4 as a specific board, and I think that's where it's going wrong. You could ask Andy CA6JAU to sort this out, the RPi4s are new enough that they're not thoroughly debugged in the MMDVM_HS code and supporting scripts yet. If you raise an issue then something should happen eventually.
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Brian G8SEZ
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