Freetronics "Eleven": Like an Uno, but with proto area

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1

When the Uno came out with the ATmega8u2 in place of the FTDI chip I thought it was a very cool idea, so at Freetronics we got ourselves our own USB IDs and created a version of the TwentyTen (our equivalent to the Duemilanove) but with the 8u2:

You can do all the same tricks as with the Uno, such as installing your own firmware into the 8u2 to have it act as a HID object such as a keyboard or mouse. Other changes include:

  • Prototyping area
  • Proper crystals on both the primary and secondary MCU
  • D13 isolated by a FET to prevent bias by the LED
  • Low-profile USB socket
  • Includes a USB cable
  • LEDs are located on the edge so you can see them even with a shield fitted
  • Connection overlay on both the top and the bottom
  • Extra info on the overlay, including DC jack size, polarity, and voltage range

Lots more info about it here: www.freetronics.com/eleven

2

Nice !

3

I got the Eleven, and I'm having some problems with getting it started.

In the Getting Started guide it said to get the USB driver from Installing the USB driver file for Windows | Freetronics, but I couldn't get it from there. Then I tried the FTDI driver, but just realized when I read your post that it doesn't use FTDI chip.

So where can I get the driver for the Eleven? Hopefully I can follow the installation steps without glitches soon.

Thanks in advance for help.

4

I believe it uses the same USB chip as the Uno.

Which if you have a Mac, means you don't need drivers at all.

Otherwise try following the instructions for an Uno.

5

Yeah pro....

    Download the "Freetronics Eleven.inf" file to your computer and note where it is located, we will show Windows where this is located shortly.

    Connect your board by USB to your computer. You will see a message that the driver installation failed, as Windows doesn't yet know about the new inf file. If the wizard window opens, you can Cancel it.

    Next, we're going to open Device Manager.

    Click on the Start Menu, select Run..., type in devmgmt.msc and press Enter.
    The devmgmt.msc above is the quick way, there are other ways to get to Device Manager via the Control Panel > System, or right-click My Computer and select Properties, Hardware, Device Manager and so on.

    Look at the "Other Devices" entry, the "Eleven" will be listed there with a mark against it until we show Windows the inf file from above.

    Right-click the "Eleven" entry, and choose "Update Driver..."

    Next, choose "Browse my computer for Driver Software".

    Lastly, in the Browse window, navigate to the folder where your "Freetronics Eleven.inf" file is located.

    Follow the remaining prompts and Windows will install this inf file. It will not be required again as Windows remembers its application.

Last step doesn't work, even in Admin mode/account....Windows can't see the file. I saved it to desktop, of course it wasn't a file download I had to "copy link as". Possible it's a end of line marker problem? Verified it wasn't HTML I was just the exact text as below.
What did you do to get it to work?

I did notice that there's no mention of win7 in the .inf which may be the problem. The driver may need updating, but I got NFI how to.

;************************************************************
; Windows USB CDC ACM Setup File
; Copyright (c) 2000 Microsoft Corporation


[Version]
Signature="$Windows NT$"
Class=Ports
ClassGuid={4D36E978-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}
Provider=%MFGNAME%
LayoutFile=layout.inf
CatalogFile=%MFGFILENAME%.cat
DriverVer=11/15/2007,5.1.2600.0

[Manufacturer]
%MFGNAME%=DeviceList, NTamd64

[DestinationDirs]
DefaultDestDir=12


;------------------------------------------------------------------------------
;  Windows 2000/XP/Vista-32bit Sections
;------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[DriverInstall.nt]
include=mdmcpq.inf
CopyFiles=DriverCopyFiles.nt
AddReg=DriverInstall.nt.AddReg

[DriverCopyFiles.nt]
usbser.sys,,,0x20

[DriverInstall.nt.AddReg]
HKR,,DevLoader,,*ntkern
HKR,,NTMPDriver,,%DRIVERFILENAME%.sys
HKR,,EnumPropPages32,,"MsPorts.dll,SerialPortPropPageProvider"

[DriverInstall.nt.Services]
AddService=usbser, 0x00000002, DriverService.nt

[DriverService.nt]
DisplayName=%SERVICE%
ServiceType=1
StartType=3
ErrorControl=1
ServiceBinary=%12%\%DRIVERFILENAME%.sys

;------------------------------------------------------------------------------
;  Vista-64bit Sections
;------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[DriverInstall.NTamd64]
include=mdmcpq.inf
CopyFiles=DriverCopyFiles.NTamd64
AddReg=DriverInstall.NTamd64.AddReg

[DriverCopyFiles.NTamd64]
%DRIVERFILENAME%.sys,,,0x20

[DriverInstall.NTamd64.AddReg]
HKR,,DevLoader,,*ntkern
HKR,,NTMPDriver,,%DRIVERFILENAME%.sys
HKR,,EnumPropPages32,,"MsPorts.dll,SerialPortPropPageProvider"

[DriverInstall.NTamd64.Services]
AddService=usbser, 0x00000002, DriverService.NTamd64

[DriverService.NTamd64]
DisplayName=%SERVICE%
ServiceType=1
StartType=3
ErrorControl=1
ServiceBinary=%12%\%DRIVERFILENAME%.sys


;------------------------------------------------------------------------------
;  Vendor and Product ID Definitions
;------------------------------------------------------------------------------
; When developing your USB device, the VID and PID used in the PC side
; application program and the firmware on the microcontroller must match.
; Modify the below line to use your VID and PID.  Use the format as shown below.
; Note: One INF file can be used for multiple devices with different VID and PIDs.
; For each supported device, append ",USB\VID_xxxx&PID_yyyy" to the end of the line.
;------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[SourceDisksFiles]
[SourceDisksNames]
[DeviceList]
%DESCRIPTION%=DriverInstall, USB\VID_20A0&PID_4150

[DeviceList.NTamd64]
%DESCRIPTION%=DriverInstall, USB\VID_20A0&PID_4150


;------------------------------------------------------------------------------
;  String Definitions
;------------------------------------------------------------------------------
;Modify these strings to customize your device
;------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Strings]
MFGFILENAME="CDC_vista"
DRIVERFILENAME ="usbser"
MFGNAME="Freetronics Pty Ltd (www.freetronics.com)"
INSTDISK="Freetronics Eleven Driver Installer"
DESCRIPTION="Freetronics Eleven"
SERVICE="USB RS-232 Emulation Driver"

[feedly mini]
6

OK that was my bad, fixed. Instead of saving the html page file as all files and typing in .inf at the end of the name ("Freetronics Eleven.inf"). I simply clicked "save as" and then hit enter and let it save it as a text document and it worked.

7

Wish I'd known about this sooner. Well, for future reference, will these types of standoffs work in all the holes?

8

Those look monstrous! You couldn't find any #4-40 hardware?

9

You mean like, Frankenduino?

After years of assembling my own PCs, I have lots of those around. Never occurred to me that I wouldn't be able to use them. I'm sure I can come up with something, but I'm not going to make another parts order right now.

ETA: Also, those standoffs are very close, dimensionally, to a 4-40 D-Sub jackscrew. The thread pitch is finer. The nuts for either of those won't fit on the top edge, left side mounting hole, and the female portion of the screw will contact one of the pins on the underside. I don't know what that is there -- the 6-pin group immediately to the left of the AREF label, but on mine, it has a male DIP-6 header in place. Well, before this gets to be too much of a thread-jack, I have a few ideas for dealing with it.