Flashing FrSky modules with Linux or Mac?

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tilmanb
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Flashing FrSky modules with Linux or Mac?

Post by tilmanb »

Had anyone had any success flashing FrSky modules with anything else than Windows?
The FrSky software is Windows. Which I don't have anywhere.
I guess Wine could work. Have not tried that yet.

I was hoping that it is based on some kind of established flashing protocol where linux tools exist for.

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tilmanb
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Re: Flashing FrSky modules with Linux or Mac?

Post by tilmanb »

I just read viewtopic.php?f=52&t=667
Looks like no luck. I hope that Wine option will work...
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FlyingAllen
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Re: Flashing FrSky modules with Linux or Mac?

Post by FlyingAllen »

PM your email, i can send the FrSky Linux updater to you, because this forum max. allowed file size is 5MB.
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tilmanb
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Re: Flashing FrSky modules with Linux or Mac?

Post by tilmanb »

FlyingAllen sent me a binary build which did not run on my Debian squeeze system. It brings a lot of it's own libraries, but it was not happy about the libc version.
But that was no problem. Allen was nice enough to point me to the sources, which built no problem on my system.
The build script is not pretty, bit it works. :D

Binary package http://mihlit.cz/smetiste/frsky_updateV2_linux.tar.bz2
Source package http://mihlit.cz/smetiste/frsky_updateV ... source.zip

This is not official FrSky software. But it seems to do the trick just nice. (Have to admit I have not done the actual flashing yet. I don't have the hardware here with me. I'm at work right now)
Code by Michal Hlavinka [email protected]
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slievar
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Re: Flashing FrSky modules with Linux or Mac?

Post by slievar »

I just flashed a D8R-II Plus receiver with the 27ms CPPM firmware last night. The Linux flash tool worked flawlessly :)

I did not use the compile.sh script since it tries to force a 32-bit compile and I did not have the QT libs in 32-bit flavour. I simply did this after unzipping the file:

Code: Select all

$ cd linux
$ qmake-qt4 -makefile
$ make
$ ./frsky_update_dft
I now have all 8 channels available to my CC3D via CPPM without ever having to touch Windows ;)
Big thanks for those links!

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slievar
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Re: Flashing FrSky modules with Linux or Mac?

Post by slievar »

Oh, and for those who like it the Linux way you can invert the RX/TX signals of a FTDI FT232 USB-serial programmer using a tool called ft232r_prog.

Code: Select all

tar xzf ft232r_prog-1.24.tar.gz
cd ft232r_prog-1.24
make
./ft232r_prog --invert_txd --invert_rxd
After that unplug the ftdi card and insert it again and make sure you have permission to write to /dev/ttyUSB0 (or whatever device is allocated).

Then just wire up the receiver and run the flash tool :)

I used the LilyPad FTDI Basic Breakout - 5V but cut the default trace and added a solder jumper to make it operate at 3.3V. I am not sure if this is strictly necessary though since the RX can take 5V on the servo pins but I decided to play safe.
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Re: Flashing FrSky modules with Linux or Mac?

Post by hemna »

What driver are you using in linux to get it to see the usb adapter ?
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Kilrah
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Re: Flashing FrSky modules with Linux or Mac?

Post by Kilrah »

Isn't the FT232 driver built into the kernel by default?
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slievar
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Re: Flashing FrSky modules with Linux or Mac?

Post by slievar »

Yes the drivers are included in almost all modern Linux distributions. The driver for the FTDI board is called "ftdi_sio" which also loads "usbserial".

Most likely issue is that there is no udev rule to grant permission to the device. I have added the following to my udev rules:

Code: Select all

$ cat /etc/udev/rules.d/z51-usb-programmers.rules 
# USBasp
ACTION=="add", SUBSYSTEM=="usb", ENV{ID_VENDOR_ID}=="16c0", ENV{ID_MODEL_ID}=="05dc", MODE="0660", GROUP="plugdev"

# FTDI
ACTION=="add", SUBSYSTEM=="usb", ENV{ID_VENDOR_ID}=="0403", ENV{ID_MODEL_ID}=="6001", MODE="0660", GROUP="plugdev"
ACTION=="add", SUBSYSTEM=="tty", ENV{ID_VENDOR_ID}=="0403", ENV{ID_MODEL_ID}=="6001", MODE="0660", GROUP="plugdev"
Make sure you are a member of the plugdev group and change the vendor/model ID according to your particular device. Sorry for the late response, my email notifications for watched topics does not seem to work...
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Re: Flashing FrSky modules with Linux or Mac?

Post by hobo »

I can't run or compile the software on Ubuntu 64 Bit. Can anyone help me?

Thanks!
Holger
Last edited by hobo on Thu Aug 07, 2014 10:57 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Flashing FrSky modules with Linux or Mac?

Post by jhsa »

it's not a good idea to put your personal email address in forums as everybody has access to it..
A better idea is to ask people to send you a private message (PM) through the forum

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Re: Flashing FrSky modules with Linux or Mac?

Post by kalle123 »

One idea would be using vbox with a windows os under linux.

Vbox has full usb 2.0 support. works fine for opentx, mpx launcher, arduino ide ... here under pclinuxos.

br
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slievar
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Re: Flashing FrSky modules with Linux or Mac?

Post by slievar »

hobo wrote:I can't run or compile the software on Ubuntu 64 Bit. Can anyone help me? ([email protected])

Thanks!
Holger
Hi Holger,

Have you tried the commands from my post last year? If so, what output do you get when it does not work?
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Re: Flashing FrSky modules with Linux or Mac?

Post by hobo »

slievar wrote: Have you tried the commands from my post last year? If so, what output do you get when it does not work?
hobo@hobo-xps:~/sachen/frsky/frsky_updateV2$ cd linux/
hobo@hobo-xps:~/sachen/frsky/frsky_updateV2/linux$ qmake-qt4 -makefile
hobo@hobo-xps:~/sachen/frsky/frsky_updateV2/linux$ make
/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/qt4/bin/uic ../frskyupdate.ui -o ../uic/ui_frskyupdate.h
make: /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/qt4/bin/uic: Kommando nicht gefunden
make: *** [../uic/ui_frskyupdate.h] Fehler 127
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Re: Flashing FrSky modules with Linux or Mac?

Post by MikeB »

I've just updated the firmware on a X8R receiver.
What's special about doing that?
I did NOT use a computer!
The X8R was wired to the external module port on the Taranis and the firmware was flashed from a file on the SD card.
I just need to iron out a few minor things, but this feature will be in the next test version of ersky9x for Taranis.

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Re: Flashing FrSky modules with Linux or Mac?

Post by jhsa »

Can that be done with the skyboard/Pro as well??
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Re: Flashing FrSky modules with Linux or Mac?

Post by MikeB »

SKY board NO, it doesn't have the correct hardware to send data out on the SPort. It might with some extra hardware.
The 9XR-PRO does have the correct hardware, it is likely I will be able to add the feature in due course.
In both cases, however, there is no hardware control of the power to the module pins, so it will still need some fiddling with plugging the target device in at the correct time.

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Re: Flashing FrSky modules with Linux or Mac?

Post by jhsa »

MikeB wrote:so it will still need some fiddling with plugging the target device in at the correct time.
Better than nothing I would say :)
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Re: Flashing FrSky modules with Linux or Mac?

Post by MikeB »

Just flashed the internal XJT module directly from the SD card as well, all seems to be working.
I fixed a minor item that was slowing the update down, while refreshing the display, the data transfer stops so I'm not updating the display as often!

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Re: Flashing FrSky modules with Linux or Mac?

Post by jhsa »

Just curious here.. Do you flash it while in bootloader mode? is it one more option in the "Maintenance Mode"?

Thanks

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Re: Flashing FrSky modules with Linux or Mac?

Post by MikeB »

It's in "Maintenance Mode". You get the options of updating the bootloader, internal XJT or external SPort device.
I just flashed a high precision vario as well!

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Re: Flashing FrSky modules with Linux or Mac?

Post by jhsa »

Fantastic :)

Thanks Mike

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Re: Flashing FrSky modules with Linux or Mac?

Post by MikeB »

Code ported to SKY boards (includes 9XR-PRO). I have just successfully flashed a X8R from a 9X with a SKY board and from a 9XR-PRO.
In both cases, the connection to the SPort device is less easy than from the Taranis, although if the Taranis is powered from more than 10V, this will require a slightly different connection method anyway.

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Re: Flashing FrSky modules with Linux or Mac?

Post by MikeB »

I'm looking into what needs to be done to get this working on openTx. Since I'm still running openTx r2940 (with bootloader) on my production Taranis, and have the sources for that available, I've put "maintenance mode" on there. Generally seems to be running so now I just need to test the actual firmware flashing operations. It was fairly painless to add, the biggest problems were just slightly different names for certain functions.

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Re: Flashing FrSky modules with Linux or Mac?

Post by MikeB »

Successfully flashed a X8R from this openTx r2940 (modified!), it worked first time.
There are a few minor cosmetic items that need sorting, and I need to check it will flash the internal XJT module.

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Re: Flashing FrSky modules with Linux or Mac?

Post by MikeB »

All seems to be working. I've now flashed the internal XJT module, an X8R on the external connections, and the bootloader all from maintenance mode.
I'll post this version somewhere soon.

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Re: Flashing FrSky modules with Linux or Mac?

Post by jhsa »

Thanks Mike..
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Re: Flashing FrSky modules with Linux or Mac?

Post by KAL »

Awesome!
( TH9X / 9XTreme / FrSky DHT / Spektrum / Multi / RotEnc )
( 9XR PRO / erSKY9x  / FrSky DHT / Spektrum / Multi / RotEnc / P3 as Slider )
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Re: Flashing FrSky modules with Linux or Mac?

Post by jhsa »

MikeB wrote: The 9XR-PRO does have the correct hardware, it is likely I will be able to add the feature in due course.
In both cases, however, there is no hardware control of the power to the module pins, so it will still need some fiddling with plugging the target device in at the correct time.

Mike.
Just thinking here.. Couldn't you use the same "ERASE" connection we use for the HC-05 to achieve the same results?

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Re: Flashing FrSky modules with Linux or Mac?

Post by MikeB »

No. The HC-05 connection is a simple logic signal, we would need a power switch as well.
It is all working OK by simply plugging in to the target device. The biggest problem will be the battery used in the Tx. While Tx modules (XJT) are rated for up to 15 volts, most of the SPort sensors are only rated to 10 volts. So, if someone is using a 3-cell lipo, this will be too high a voltage for a SPort sensor.
Best to power the sensor from a 4 or 5 cell NiMh for flashing.

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