ERSKY9X on Taranis

erskyTx runs on many radios and upgrade boards
ersky9x was a port of er9x for use on the sky9x board.
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MikeB
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ERSKY9X on Taranis

Post by MikeB »

Making a bit of progress with this, I thought it is time for it to have its own thread.
I have the menu system generally running. The problem, as with openTx, is how to use the 6 buttons. They don't easily map onto the buttons of the 9X, particularly if you rely on the existing labels of the Taranis.
I had thought to use the + and - buttons as the same function as the + and - buttons of the 9X. On the 9X these are LEFT and RIGHT, but on the Taranis they are aligned one above the other.

Taranis buttons:
MENU . . . . . . . . . . +
PAGE . . . . . . . . . . -
EXIT . . . . . . . . . . ENT

I'm thinking of ignoring the labels and using the following:
MENU . . . . . . . . . . UP
LEFT(-). . . . . . . . . . DOWN
EXIT . . . . . . . . . . RIGHT(+)

Comments, ideas, suggestions?

Mike.

NEW VERSIONS ARE NOW AVAILABLE ON THE ERSKY9X SITE AS PART OF NEW ERSKY9X RELEASES.
To keep test versions of this in the same place I'll post them here:
opentx.zip
Test version of openTx r2940 for Taranis 13-Aug-2014 19:10
Minor change to "maintenance mode" to report "No Files" if directory is empty
This is r2940 with the addition of "maintenance mode" to allow SPort device update
(153.38 KiB) Downloaded 519 times
x9d_rom.zip
x9d_rom.bin and openTx.bin r2940 with bootloader 9-May 2014.
Logging fixed
X9d includes haptic support and test code for GPS
(266.7 KiB) Downloaded 682 times
opentxBl12.zip
OpenTx r2940 with updated bootloader 8-Jun 2014.
It appears openTx 2.0 changed the name of the EEPROM file
This bootloader uses the same name.
(149.46 KiB) Downloaded 454 times
x9d_rom.zip
x9d_rom.bin and eepskye.exe, 12-Apr-2014
Many little bug fixes to do with the Taranis switches on both
(905.53 KiB) Downloaded 451 times
x9d_rom.zip
Seventh test version issued 30 Mar 2014
External module support with PPM, PXX and DSM
(113.31 KiB) Downloaded 429 times
eepskye.zip
eepskye with Taranis support 04-Apr-2014
Now with Taranis switches on the Sim
Includes a setting for default model version
(781.57 KiB) Downloaded 475 times
I've changed the buttons to:
^[tab=30]/ (a tick)
<[tab=30]>
v[tab=30]X
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Re: ERSKY9X on Taranis

Post by Rob Thomson »

I would just go with how opened does it.
A pain to code, but will be easier for people to move between firmwares.

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Re: ERSKY9X on Taranis

Post by MikeB »

But what about people who want to move from er9x/ersky9x to ersky9x on the Taranis? They haven't had to learn a new way already.

Progress update:
For now, I have the above navigation method working. It's easier to get everything working that way, then worry about improving it if necessary.
Menus all seem to be working, I can calibrate the sticks and the mixer seems to be working. Reading and writing the EEPROM is also working.
Next is to get the output to the Tx module going so I can actually control something!
After that, I need to look into the switches, there are more three position ones.
Then things like SD card, audio/voice, internal and external modules.

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Re: ERSKY9X on Taranis

Post by Rob Thomson »

Not really any different to the move from opentx on the 9x.

The relearn process is not hard, and only takes a few days to adjust to.

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Re: ERSKY9X on Taranis

Post by Kilrah »

Some relaearning is needed in all cases simply because of the different physical layout. With the 9X you do everything with the left hand on the D-pad and enter/exit on the right hand, and you can't do that on the Taranis. With your layout it would actually be pretty much reversed (mostly right hand for nav and left hand for enter/exit). Plus the user couldn't rely on the labels when lost.

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Re: ERSKY9X on Taranis

Post by MikeB »

Depending on how much of the enlarged display I want to use, I could use 'soft' labels on the display!

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Re: ERSKY9X on Taranis

Post by MikeB »

PXX output to the internal module now working. I've done a BIND to a X8R and can move a servo. The BIND was on command from the menu, so lots now working.
I'll get back to this another day now.

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Re: ERSKY9X on Taranis

Post by Clivew »

Well done Mike!
Keep up the good work, I really appreciate your logical approach.
If you could eventually get DSM(X) support in as well :P
Great stuff, shame they made such a hash of the buttons layout :(

Clive
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Re: ERSKY9X on Taranis

Post by cae »

MikeB wrote:Depending on how much of the enlarged display I want to use, I could use 'soft' labels on the display!

Mike.
Soft labels sound like a good idea.
Great work Mike.

Colin.
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Re: ERSKY9X on Taranis

Post by MikeB »

The DSM code is in ersky9x, so it should get included for the external module.

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Re: ERSKY9X on Taranis

Post by MikeB »

I may need to change the code structure a bit. The LCD on the Taranis takes a LOOOOONNNNGGGG time to update (around 10mS). During this time the processor is 100% updating the display. It's serial, 4 bits per pixel, and 27136 pixels!
This throws certain other timings out and can delay the mixer running. I know openTx did some changes in the area of running the mixer.
I've tried to speed the code up, but the compiler actually gets confused and generates the code in the wrong order!

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Re: Sv: ERSKY9X on Taranis

Post by dvogonen »

How come there is 4 bits per pixel? I thought the LCD only supported 4 gray levels.
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Re: ERSKY9X on Taranis

Post by MikeB »

It does actually support 16 levels, but the difference between levels was not clear, and sometimes couldn't be seen, so we settled on 4 clear grey scales.

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Re: ERSKY9X on Taranis

Post by dvogonen »

The LCD display of the Taranis is very strange. The upside is that it is highly readable outdoors. The downside is that it has very low contrast. I think that the contrast range is not even good enough to support two gray levels. Regardless of how I set the contrast, the light gray is either white or the dark gray is black. I can not remember when I last saw a worse display in a real product.
I don't know if you plan to support images of models. If not, you might just as well stick to using only black and white on the LCD. The gray tones add nothing to the Taranis interface of openTX, except fuzziness.
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Re: ERSKY9X on Taranis

Post by Kilrah »

OpenTx defined 4 grays for text, but ended up never using them. All text is in B/W. We were thinking to use gray to display disabled mixer lines instead of bold for enabled ones, but that didn't look good enough either, as brightness changes a lot depending on the orientation you look the display from it could be misleading.
We only use them (and all 16 levels) for splash/model image/icons.
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Re: ERSKY9X on Taranis

Post by MikeB »

I reckon I have the extra switches working correctly now, and the SPort telemetry is also working. Various other little things like the contrast and backlight brightness also working. SD card next, then the audio and voice.

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Re: ERSKY9X on Taranis

Post by MikeB »

SD card working, I have logging of the telemetry working, should be able to get voice going next.

Mike.

Edit: Audio and voice now working, it's talking to me :mrgreen:
Well nearly, long voice files cause problems!
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Re: ERSKY9X on Taranis

Post by MikeB »

I don't think the Taranis' hardware can use my current method of voice function. The SKY board has a 'proper' high speed SD card interface while the Taranis uses a much slower SPI interface. I'm not giving the voice task enough time to prepare the next buffers for a 16kHz sample rate. It cannot read the SD card fast enough in the time available.

Mike.

Edit: May have fixed it by increasing the priority and increasing the time slice of the voice task.

Update: Voice now seems to be fine. Soft power off looks OK, tweaking a few things, the only main thing left is the USB mass storage. This is needed to be able to access the EEPROM from the PC. I'm very close to being able to issue a test version. Eepskye will need updating to handle this, I haven't started on that yet!
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Re: ERSKY9X on Taranis

Post by MikeB »

Does anyone want to try a test version? Mass storage is still not in, but most everything else is in, although only the internal Tx module is supported. There are probably lots of details to sort out that I haven't tested yet.

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Re: ERSKY9X on Taranis

Post by cae »

MikeB wrote:Does anyone want to try a test version? Mass storage is still not in, but most everything else is in, although only the internal Tx module is supported. There are probably lots of details to sort out that I haven't tested yet.

Mike.
Yes, Mike I will try it.

Thanks,
Colin.
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Re: Sv: ERSKY9X on Taranis

Post by dvogonen »

MikeB wrote:Does anyone want to try a test version? Mass storage is still not in, but most everything else is in, although only the internal Tx module is supported. There are probably lots of details to sort out that I haven't tested yet.

Mike.
I would like to test it. Is there something specific you want the testing to concentrate on?
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Re: ERSKY9X on Taranis

Post by MikeB »

On the first post of this thread I've posted a test version. You will see I'm using the idea of "SOFT" keys. I'm not sure I like the allocation I've currently got. To be compatible with the 9X I think I should go for:
UP[tab=80]MENU
LEFT/-[tab=60]RIGHT/+
DOWN[tab=60]EXIT

Apart from how easy is it to use the buttons probably the main change is handling the different switches so do they work everywhere?

BACKUP your EEPROM and make sure you have (or have backed up) a copy of openTx so you can go back if you wish to.
I'm still working on the mass storage bit so you can't backup the EEPROM once you have loaded this firmware (yet).
I've used a slightly different EEPROM arrangement from openTx.
I've still to start work on updating eepskye for this.
Voice files are the same as for ersky9x on the SKY board. Just put a copy on the SD card. They can be there as well as the original Taranis files. Until I get the mass storage running you will need to put the SD card in your PC directly.

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Re: ERSKY9X on Taranis

Post by MikeB »

I've changed the test version buttons to the layout above and posted it on the first post. Rather than names I'll change the direction buttons to have arrows at some point.

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Re: Sv: ERSKY9X on Taranis

Post by dvogonen »

I am having problems with the initialization of the screen at boot. When I turn on the radio the LCD will most often remain completely blank. Turning it on and off repeatedly will eventually lead to that it is turned on.

On rare occasions I get parts of the screen covered by noise. That part looks like an old analog TV without reception.

I think that the processor is running even if the display is blank. I have defined a switch as backlight switch and I can always use it to turn the backlight on and off.

I am testing on a brand new Taranis. I will load it with openTX to check that the hardware is OK.
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Re: ERSKY9X on Taranis

Post by MikeB »

I'll check the LCD initialisation. I remember we had some problems with a blank screen when we first started.

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Re: ERSKY9X on Taranis

Post by MikeB »

OK, I've copied the LCD initialisation from openTx and posted another version.
I've changed the button labels to arrows etc:
^[tab=30]MENU
<[tab=30]>
v[tab=30]X
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Re: Sv: ERSKY9X on Taranis

Post by dvogonen »

That fixed the initialization problem. The LCD now initializes each time I boot the radio.
But the problem with noise being written to the screen remains. If I boot over and over again the LCD will eventually show something like the picture. I can then keep using the menus etc with full functionality, but the noise part of the screen remains in place and the topmost row is only partly visible since the upper part of the row is above the top of the screen.

The little arrows are by the way a major improvement to the text labels. Much easier see and understand. I think a tick mark or a short OK would be good in stead of MENU.
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Re: ERSKY9X on Taranis

Post by dvogonen »

I have found another bug.
If I long press any button to get past either of the two initial warnings (throttle and alarms disabled) the radio resets three seconds after the main screen has been displayed.

Edit: I have gotten one or two more reboots at the same point, without long presses. Not as consistent though. No reboots at any other point this far.
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Re: ERSKY9X on Taranis

Post by dvogonen »

New very minor issue:
Setting the inactivity alarm below 10 (e.g. to 5) results in the time being displayed as 5mm rather than 5m.

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Re: Sv: ERSKY9X on Taranis

Post by dvogonen »

I am having a problem with the sound for the inactivity alarm. Basically I just do not get any sound, just a low clicking noise. I selected the BeepperVoice as beeper type and fetched the sound files from the ersky download page, unzipped them and put them in a folder called voice on the SD card. Voive seems to work since the battery alarm voice alarm has just started nagging.

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