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Using Pistar to flash DVMEGA hat on a RPi

Posted: Wed May 02, 2018 10:27 pm
by kd4iz
I tried to update my single band DVMEGA hat using Pistar in SSH mode. I made the strap mod that is described in Guus' instructions with the firmware, then followed the instructions on:

"http://wiki.pistar.uk/Flash_your_DV-Mega_from_Pi-Star"

I have had a repeated failure at the point where the script tries to autoreset DTR on GPIO Pin 7. This step fails and retries 10 times then times out. The Linux stuff was not the problem. The files downloaded and unzipped properly and the BASH script will start normally.

Was I not supposed to put the strap on the DVMEGA board for this approach?

Seems like there are too many ways to do this and I probably mixed or confused something in the process.

Fortunately the DVMEGA ticks along still using 3.17 - so nothing was damaged.

Suggestions?

Jack KD4IZ

Re: Using Pistar to flash DVMEGA hat on a RPi

Posted: Wed May 02, 2018 11:34 pm
by KE0FHS
Jack, the jumper instructions in the firmware manual on Guss' DVMEGA website are for when you update the DVMEGA firmware when it is mounted on a BlueStack board (solder a jumper wire between the ATMEGA328 reset pin and GPIO header Pin 4). (Note: In the manual, Guus uses the old name for the BlueStack board: BlueDV.)

When you want to use Pi-Star to update the firmware of a DVMEGA mounted on a Raspberry Pi, the jumper must be soldered between the ATMEGA328 reset pin and GPIO header Pin 7.

For an illustrated note describing the process, see: https://www.toshen.com/ke0fhs/pi-star-notes.htm#viarpi

Good luck!

Re: Using Pistar to flash DVMEGA hat on a RPi

Posted: Thu May 03, 2018 6:57 am
by MW0MWZ
I have run into a low number of boards where I just cannot flash them, no matter what, not sure what the issue with them is, it's rare but it can happen.

For the most part, once the jumper is in the correct place, flashing is straight forwards, I specifically do not list the instructions on where the jumper should be on the WiKi because I do not want to be responsible for bricked hardware; I leave those steps entirely in your hands.

Re: Using Pistar to flash DVMEGA hat on a RPi

Posted: Thu May 03, 2018 1:17 pm
by KE0FHS
Agreed about the bricking! I preface my firmware update notes with:
Important! Soldering a DVMEGA and updating its firmware are at your own risk. The only thing that is guaranteed is that if you wreck your DVMEGA doing this, then you own a wrecked DVMEGA.

That said, I've done it on three different DVMEGA-DUAL boards, and I did one twice when I moved from using the BlueStack to the RPi method for it, and they all turned out okay, even though I'm clumsy with a soldering iron.

Re: Using Pistar to flash DVMEGA hat on a RPi

Posted: Mon Sep 17, 2018 10:52 am
by KA2Y
Supposedly the 3.26 firmware is available. However, I got the infamous "404" when trying to download.

pi-star@pi-zero-dmr(ro):tmp$ wget --tries=3 http://www.dvmega.auria.nl/images/DVMEG ... 26_UNO.zip
--2018-09-17 06:49:09-- http://www.dvmega.auria.nl/images/DVMEG ... 26_UNO.zip
Resolving www.dvmega.auria.nl (www.dvmega.auria.nl)... 185.27.142.205
Connecting to www.dvmega.auria.nl (www.dvmega.auria.nl)|185.27.142.205|:80... connected.
HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 404 Not Found
2018-09-17 06:49:10 ERROR 404: Not Found.

pi-star@pi-zero-dmr(ro):tmp$

Re: Using Pistar to flash DVMEGA hat on a RPi

Posted: Mon Sep 17, 2018 12:56 pm
by KE0FHS
UPDATED: It's now posted on their downloads page: http://www.dvmega.auria.nl/Downloads.html

Re: Using Pistar to flash DVMEGA hat on a RPi

Posted: Mon Sep 17, 2018 3:15 pm
by g6fgy
I've found that the safest way (for single band Mega's) is to get hold of an Arduino Uno board, 'carefully' remove the chip from the Mega, insert it into the Arduino board (the notch on the chip faces away from the USB connector) and use Xloader to re-program the chip. Remove from the Uno, re-insert on Mega - job done.

For those who do it this way and wish to have programmed spares, you can purchase the ATmega328P chips on-line, but be aware that you need the ones with a boot loader already installed otherwise they won't work.

Eric - G6FGY

Re: Using Pistar to flash DVMEGA hat on a RPi

Posted: Thu Sep 27, 2018 8:24 am
by N8ODV
***NOTE***

I edited this post, after looking close, I realized I had a typo in the name of the Japan file, I mistakenly typed 336, it should have been 326.

****Updated post below****

I'm adding my post to this thread, since the title is just about exactly like I would create.

The following is based on a DUAL BAND DVMEGA attached to a Raspberry PI 3. Read all the way to the bottom FIRST, before starting to do any of this.

The new v3.26 DVMEGA firmware is now available at: http://www.dvmega.auria.nl/Downloads.html

I have used the directions at this Pi-Star Wiki page: http://wiki.pistar.uk/Flash_your_DV-Mega_from_Pi-Star 2 or 3 times in the past, to flash my DVMEGA while running the Pi-Star image and it was very simple and successful. Tuesday, it would not work for me over the course of 3 tries.

First let me point out that the file those instructions at the Pi-Star Wiki point to (as of Sept. 27, 2018, the time stamp on this post) is for the previous firmware, v3.19, so if you just copy and paste the commands, it will update your DVMEGA to v3.19, or, if that is what you have already, it will really do nothing.

****NOTE**** I'm sure sometime in the near future, Andy or someone will fix this, so my method may not be needed at a later date, check to see what file the directions point to.

Wednesday night I got it to work, by changing a few things, just sharing this for others, it worked for me, I hope it can work for you.

My failed attempts would show the proper version (DVMEGA HR3.26), on the dashboard, and I could see activity over the network, but my DVMEGA would not transmit that signal, nor would it hear my radio talk to it (I tried this with C4FM, DMR and D-Star)

During these attempts, I took all references to 319 and changed them to 326, to get and unzip the proper file, I still had problems. After looking closer, I noticed that the .zip file with the firmware contained 3 files:

Changelog (txt)
DVMEGA_RH_V326_RPI.hex
DVMEGA_RH_V326_RPI_JAPAN.hex

I decided that the JAPAN file might be the problem, since on the DVMEGA download site, it has a separate listing for a Japan DVMEGA, so here are the steps I took...

I followed the first 3 steps as listed. when I got to step 4, I made a correction, I changed this line... (I added a space between www and . to keep these from displaying as a clickable link and truncating)

wget http://www .dvmega.auria.nl/images/DVMEGA_RH_V319_UNO.zip

to this line...

wget http://www .dvmega.auria.nl/images/DVMEGA_RH_V326_RPI.zip

Then in step 5, for the SECOND of 2 commands, I changed this line...

unzip -j -d dvmega DVMEGA_RH_V319_UNO.zip

To this

unzip -j -d dvmega DVMEGA_RH_V326_RPI.zip

For some reason, the directions jump to step 7, there is no step 6. After running the FIRST of 2 commands in step 7, I did the following...

***Let me state for the record here, I am by far NOT an expert at Linux, but I downloaded the DVMEGA .zip file to my Windows computer, and the http://www.pistar.uk/downloads/dvmega-flash-tools.zip unzipped them, and looked to see what was there. In the "flash_gpio.sh" file for the tools, it directs for a [ *.hex ] (no brackets), since as shown above, there are 2 .hex files in the DVMEGA zip file, I'm not sure how this would be handled, but I decided to get rid of the JAPAN file, so, picking up where I left off, after running the FIRST of 2 commands in step 7, I ran this command...

rm DVMEGA_RH_V326_RPI_JAPAN.hex

to delete (ReMove) the JAPAN file, then I proceeded with the directions as listed on the Wiki page. This worked for me.

As with most directions you can find on the Internet, this is just what worked for me, I do not foresee anyone having a problem doing the same, but if you follow my lead, YOU DO SO AT YOUR OWN RISK! I WILL NOT, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCE, BUY YOU A REPLACEMENT DVMEGA IF YOU BRICK YOURS!

Thanks for taking the time to read this, and Good Luck!

Re: Using Pistar to flash DVMEGA hat on a RPi

Posted: Thu Sep 27, 2018 1:57 pm
by KE0FHS
Thanks for sharing your work figuring this out, Bruce!

Re: Using Pistar to flash DVMEGA hat on a RPi

Posted: Fri Sep 28, 2018 9:20 am
by N8ODV
***NOTE***

I edited my post above, after looking close, I realized I had a typo in the name of the Japan file, I mistakenly typed 336, it should have been 326.

If you tried the above instruction, you may wish to try again, if you tried to delete a file name with 336 in it, it wouldn't have found it to be able to delete it.

I am extremely sorry for this confusion. If it didn't work, try again.

One more thing of note, if any of this doesn't work, you can always follow the directions in the Pi-Star Wiki, EXACTLY as they are, and you can go back to v3.19