ERSKY9X on Taranis

[Kilrah]

No. Just loading the firmware as normal will always work.

[dvogonen]

I can't do much about the clicks as the volume is changed. They are caused by the digital volume control changing the DC offset to the amplifier when the volume changes. It happens on the Taranis with openTx as well when you set a POT to control the volume.

I've added hysteresis on the pot setting the volume, should stop crackling at certain settings. I've made the LEFT and RIGHT keys toggle ON/OFF settings, and I've nearly got a fix for the inactivity alarm volume. It raises the volume, but doesn't drop it back when the alarm is stopped.

Mike.

I can no longer get the transmitter to crackle by turning a pot - Checked
Left/Right toggles ON/OFF - Great
The inactivity is loud and clear - Checked
The button icons are big and clear - Good
I can no longer reproduce the noise on the screen problem. Either you have fixed it without telling or fixed it as a side effect of another fix - Perfect

Test flying is out of the question in the part of the world where I am at. I do not even want to tell you how bad the weather is right now.

So now I am looking forward to a version with model Icons, a clock and a volume indication to toy around with

[MikeB]

Well, you can have the time and volume! (Just posted another version). I haven't moved the main display from the centre (yet).
I also changed the allocation of the 4 vertical bars representing the pots and sliders. The two sliders are now on the outside and the two pots in the middle so the bars match the control position. I'm not sure but I think the right pot (S2) may be reversed, although this may just be the wiring on the pre-production unit I'm using for testing.
The model icons will take a bit longer, and I'd rather finish the mass storage first. I've also got some things to do for the 9XR-PRO, and some family things to do.

Mike.

[dvogonen]

When you do add icons, it is probably a very smart idea to stick with the same format and directory structure as openTX. Coexisting with the existing openTX data will make it much easier for users to switch between fw types.
The icons are really hard to make since the screen is so bad. By now there are quite a number of good ones made.

[dvogonen]

Just tested the new version.
I think the clock will be even better using the big font. The volume display is perfect. Very readable. You will be able to squeeze in a third information field as well as a plane icon. Battery voltage is a good candidate.

[prefabu]

I've changed the button labels to arrows etc:
^[tab=30]MENU
<[tab=30]>
v[tab=30]X

I'd rather have related buttons closer together. My vote is for

< >
^ Menu
v X

[PNaz]

Is this project still active? I would like to have ERSKY9x on my Taranis. I have it on my Sky9x TX and definitely prefer it to OpenTX.

[MikeB]

Yes, I'm still working on it.
You will find a .bin here: http://code.google.com/p/ersky9x/source ... vn%2Ftrunk called "x9d_rom.bin".

I haven't got eepskye working with it yet, it needs to be able to read the EEPROM format.

If you run Companion, and read both the flash and EEPROM from the Taranis, so you can put them back if/when needed. You should then be able to flash the x9d_rom.bin. It will re-format the EEPROM. It is basically working, although there are some areas that need testing/sorting, mainly related to having all the extra switches. I also haven't finished the support for the external module.

You should be able to flash x9d_rom.bin and see what it is like, and if not yet good enough, revert to openTx.
It would be helpful to have someone who would like to test it, and report problems, I haven't had enough time to test it very well (yet).

Mike.

[PNaz]

Thanks Mike. The .bin listed on the first post is dated 12 Dec and I assumed it was the latest. I will try the one listed in the post above and see how it compares with my Sky9x with the latest .bin 202

Paul

[MikeB]

I've sorted a couple of bugs relating to having 2 pots and 2 sliders instead of 3 pots on the 9X.
I've got internal and external modules being enabled and disabled, and PPM now works on the external module, I'm working on PXX and DSM for the external module. PPM and PXX are already working on the internal module.
Once I get PXX and DSM OK on the external module, this will be fairly complete. I'm sure there will be some bugs due to the different switches and pots, but it is quite close.
If you flash the latest (or indeed any version from r198 on), you get the bootloader. With the bootloader, you don't need Zadig anymore. You can flash from eepskye.
Power the radio on while holding both horizontal trims towards the centre, this get the bootloader running.
Run eepskye, click on the "Flash Firmware to Tx" button, select the file and click OK - done!

You also need to be in the bootloader to access the SD card from the PC.

Mike.

[MikeB]

PXX also working on the external module, DSM up next!

Mike.

[MikeB]

I've posted a new test version on the first post. The external module is now supported, although there are some minor display problems, and range check/binding in PXX mode doesn't work (yet). DSM is supported, but I don't have any DSM 'hack' modules to test it with.

Several other small bugs relating to the extra 'pot' (slider) compared to the 9X are also fixed. Trainer input is also tested as working OK.

Mike.

[PNaz]

Tried version 202. I loaded it with Companion 9x and it worked. I set up a model and flew it with no issues. Bootloader seemed to be working so I added a firmware directory to the SD card and then loaded version 203 with the boatloader. That worked ok as well but it did reformat and wiped out the model I set up with 202. I have now figured out that I should backup my model so I can reload it after a flash. Backup does work. The dual rate/expo menu will not allow triple rates using the 3 pos switches as far as I can tell but there is low/mid/high shown. I have telemetry set up with an X8R receiver X8R2analog board and a FVAS-02H vario. They are working well so no problems with SPort. 6 custom switches and 5 voice switches are setup and working well.

I hope you can port this to Eepskye. It's so much easier to set up the radio that way. I have been spoiled with eepe/companion 9x and eepskye.

Thanks for all your work.

Paul

[MikeB]

I'm close with getting eepskye to work with it. I can now read the EEPROM and edit and save it, just need to test writing it back.
Odd that r203 re-formatted the EEPROM, I'll look into that.
With the bootloader, you can use r397 of eepskye to update the flash memory directly. Just power the Tx on in bootloader mode, run eepskye, click on the flash firmware button, select the file and it flashes.

Mike.

[MikeB]

The dual rate/expo menu will not allow triple rates using the 3 pos switches as far as I can tell but there is low/mid/high shown.

It works if you set the switch entries to:
DrSw1: !SA^
DrSw2: SAv

Mike.

[PNaz]

The triple rates are not intuitive to set up but they do work as per your previous entry.
When I switched from 202 to 203 I anticipated a reformat so I copied the ERSKY9X.BIN file from the ERSKY_9X drive to the MODELS directory on the other drive. After updating the flash to 203 it reformatted the EEPROM so I put the copy back onto the ERSKY_9X drive hoping I could recover my model setup. When I turned on the Taranis it re-formatted again leaving a blank model directory. Since re-entering all the model data I have not had a re-format. I assumed that you had made changes to the EEPROM requiring a re-format.

Paul

[MikeB]

I'll look into the re-formatting problem.
I have just posted a copy of eepskye that (mostly) supports the Taranis version. It seems to read and write the EEPROM OK, and I've been using it to flash with for some time. Still testing it though!
I still need to handle the different switch layout in the simulator.
This version also supports the normal SKY boards (including the new 9XR-PRO).
There is an option in preferences to specify whether to use SAM-BA or not. Once the bootloader is installed, you shouldn't need SAM-BA, and it is not needed for the Taranis.

Mike.

[MikeB]

Re-posted, now with Taranis switches in the simulator. I still need to add the extra slider/pot to the sim.

Mike.

[PNaz]

The switches for the simulator for eepskye for the Taranis only work for the first three switches SA,SB,SC. Any programming of the other switches does not work. The switches do work on the actual transmitter. I have included the .bin file from my transmitter. The dual rates for the ailerons do not work on the simulator using SD. If I change aileron dual rates to SC it works properly. The safety switch SF on the throttle does not work and the custom switches using SD SF SG do not work.

Paul

[MikeB]

Thanks for that, I'm sorting eepskye for the Taranis at present, I'll check those out.

Mike.

[MikeB]

I think I've fixed all those bugs, and one in the Tx relating the AND switches of custom switches. I'll run a few more checks and hopefully post some updates tomorrow.
I've also added eepskye support for the external module on the Taranis.

Mike.

[MikeB]

First post has updated versions of both the radio firmware and eepskye.

Mike.

[jhsa]

Mike, Should the skyboard/pro users also upgrade to this version of eepskye?

we should try to keep the files in one place. It gets a bit confusing with different versions of the same software in different threads..

Thanks

João

[MikeB]

I know, but the 9XR-PRO Beta thread is restricted.
You can update to this version, but I think all the changes from any on the 9XR-PRO thread are all related to the Taranis. It wouldn't hurt to test these changes haven't caused any problems to the SKY users.

Mike.

[jhsa]

Ok, thanks..

João

[davx]

Hi MikeB,

I saw you've made some positive modifications to OpenTX r2940 with the bootloader and countdown and I'm wondering why not commit these changes to the OpenTX github ?

Tchao

[MikeB]

OpenTx has moved to Github, but r2940 is not really there. The work being done is now for 2.0, so there isn't a r2940 for me to update.
The bootloader is available here: https://github.com/MikeBland/OpenRcBootloader. It is a separate item as it is (supposed to be) common to several hardware platforms.

It appears that r2940 won't be updated anymore, either you stay with that version, or move to 2.0, when it is released.

Mike.

[ckleanth]

Mike regarding the X9d.bin that includes opentx 2940 plus haptic support and GPS fix, does the gps fix height measurement as well as speed?
I had the gps the old vario and some other sensors, pretty much useless data apart from vario height, all sensors were off even temp

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showpost ... count=3426

[MikeB]

I may confuse things having two binaries in a single file.
The openTx r2940 just has the bootloader and a fix for the countdown.
The x9d.bin (ersky9x for Taranis) has the haptic and GPS code in. I haven't had a chance to actually fly with the GPS code, too windy most of the time to fly at all here.
The units for the acceleration sensors are 0.001g.

Mike.

[PNaz]

I am flying ersky9x for Taranis with a GPS but without haptic. It works OK.
Altitude is not very accurate, but then it is not very accurate on any GPS due to the way it is calculated. My understanding of GPS altitude calculations is that GPS triangulates the position of all satellites in view and then uses the angular differences of the satellites to compute the altitude. The angular measurement cannot be done as accurately as the position computations.
In order to see the GPS track I have had to cut and paste the latitude, longitude, and GPS altitude columns from the ersky9x log to a log previously done with OpenTX 2940. Then I can use Companion 1.52 log reading to show the track on Google Earth. The GPS log reading would be a nice feature to add to ersky9x.

EePskye has some problems using custom switches and curves that do work on the Taranis transmitter.

Paul