Ubuntu 12.04 x64. Arduino 1.5.2 with an Arduino Due.

I've been using the Native Port for programming and Serial. Everything has been working fine. I did a system update last night and since then it's gone to hell.

Arduino 1.5.2 interface is extremely unresponsive. I'll click on Tools and sometimes wait 30 seconds for it to come up other times it's fine. Uploading sketches works about 30% of the time. Other times it'll hang on Uploading for about 2 minutes and then come back and say No Device found on ttyACM0 even though it shows up under Serial Ports in Arduino. I've tried hitting Erase and Reset and it doesn't seem to make a difference. I've switched USB ports, no change. Tried running with and without sudo.

Was there a Java update recently that might be causing problems?

I have a PC connected to the same power supply, Arduino and PC power up but I can't get the motor drivers to work. I think I blew out a gnd trace on there after poking around with a voltmeter.

Oh well, am finishing up a new board design.

Note to self: don't put car in reverse at highway speeds.

Thanks, that link helped.

Looking further at the datasheet I need 500uF per 10A. At peak I'm going to see over 10A for sure. Looks like I need to bump the size of the capacitor up a bit and make sure I'm doing a full stop first.

Haven't you ever tried a j-turn in your car. Full speed reverse, full lock of the wheel and jam into drive. Totally normal! ;-)

I have a custom Arduino 2560 based board with 3 of these motor drivers. http://www.st.com/internet/com/TECHNICAL_RESOURCES/TECHNICAL_LITERATURE/DATASHEET/CD00134336.pdf

If I turn the motor full speed forward and then stop it it's fine. If I go full speed forward and then full speed in reverse it will temporarily kill the power supply (restart it). I'm using a decent 850W ATX power supply to power it. The motor is 150W so I shouldn't be exceeding it. The chip didn't feel hot to the touch.

I have a 560uF capacitor on it, would going larger help or is it fundamentally bad to send a motor in full reverse from full forward?

I'm changing it on the ROS side to just use strings and put extra spaces in it. Seems like that's easier than trying to do it on the Arduino. Thanks for the help everyone.

pylon, I tried your code and it didn't fix it, the output was exactly the same.

For the graphic display I'm using UTFT.

I'm connecting a pair of 2560s to ROS (Robot Operating System) and am using a custom library that is generated based on message definitions defined in ROS. status_msg.name and .count are from that library.

For the string should I just concatenate a space on the end?

status_msg_name2 = status_msg.name + " ";

The trouble with printing a space is that I don't know where to print it. The space isn't needed in a fixed location, it'll change depending on the length of the string/int being printed.

Can't add a space to the count since it's an integer.

I have a countdown timer on a LCD touch screen. It shows a status message (string) and a number (int).

When the length of the string or int changes the old value stays. For example:

100
99

actually looks like
100
990

Because I didn't clear the pixels from the 0 at the end of 100 so it's still there.

I want to avoid clearing the screen every time because it'll make the screen flash a lot. I'd rather clear it selectively when the length changes, so when it goes from 3 digits to 2 (100 to 99) then clear. When the status message changes (one every 30-150 cycles) then clear the screen.

How would I copy the variable status_msg.name or status_msg.count and then compare it to itself next time through the loop to look for a change. Probably a simple question but I'm brain farting on how to do it.

void punchingStatusMsg( const boxing_start::PunchingStatus& status_msg)
{
 
  myGLCD.setFont(BigFont);
  myGLCD.print(status_msg.name, 100, 75);
  myGLCD.setFont(SevenSegNumFont);
  myGLCD.printNumI(status_msg.count, 125, 130);
 
  nh.spinOnce();
 
}

I'm making a shield that will connect two Arduino 2560s together. Long story short I want to be able to programmatically reset either board with the opposing board.

I'm guessing I'll connect a digital pin to the opposing Reset pin? Do I need any special chips or circuits in between them?

I had this problem with a custom 2560 based 8u2 board I have. I was going through a USB hub. Connected directly to the USB port and the problem resolved itself. Doesn't apply to everyone, but definitely try it.

Changed it to a black background and it minimizes the 0xFFs and it worked fine. Thanks for the help.

All those 0xFFs are probably white pixels. Maybe if I change the background of the image to slightly off-white it'll fix it??

Binary sketch size: 45290 bytes (of a 258048 byte maximum)
avrdude: verification error, first mismatch at byte 0x0308
         0x62 != 0xff
avrdude: verification error; content mismatch

I found the offending code but can't figure out how it's broken. I've converted a png to hex and have it in PROGMEM. It's an icon that I'm going to display on a touchscreen. I have another icon that works fine.

Here's the relevant code:

The weird thing is that I have another icon I'm displaying the exact same way and it works fine. It compiles and uploads successfully. Once the code is uploaded it appears to still be running the old program and the reset button the arduino doesn't work. If I pull the USB and reconnect I get a blank screen and nothing in the Serial monitor. If I comment out just the prog_uint16_t it all works fine.

Code:

// after headers
extern unsigned int glovesicon[4096];

myGLCD.drawBitmap(120,110,59,60,glovesicon);

prog_uint16_t glovesicon[4096] PROGMEM={
0xFFFF, 0xFFFF, 0xFFFF, 0xFFFF, 0xFFFF, 0xFFFF, 0xFFFF, 0xFFFF, 0xFFFF, 0xFFFF, 0xFFFF, 0xFFFF, 0xFFFF, 0xFFFF, 0xFFFF, 0xFFFF,   // 0x0010 (16) pixels
0xFFFF, 0xFFFF, 0xFFFF, 0xFFFF, 0xFFFF, 0xFFFF, 0xFFFF, 0xFFFF, 0xFFFF, 0xFFFF, 0xFFFF, 0xFFFF, 0xFFFF, 0xFFFF, 0xFFFF, 0xFFFF,   // 0x0020 (32) pixels
......removed

prog_uint16_t glovesicon[4096] PROGMEM={
0x0000, 0x0000, 0x0000, 0x0000, 0x0000, 0x0000, 0x0000, 0x0000, 0x0000, 0x0000, 0x0000, 0x0000, 0x0000, 0x0000, 0x0000, 0xFFFF,   // 0x0300 (768) pixels

I'm using a 3.2" TFT touch screen I got from ebay for $25. It uses this library. http://www.henningkarlsen.com/electronics/library.php?id=39

For my application I need an onscreen keyboard like you would have on an Android or iPhone. Couldn't find one so I started to code one myself. I'm not sure how to turn it into a library. Does anyone else have a need for one and would like to help improve what I have?

silasmoeckel, the only pin that has an interrupt that is free is D17, all the rest are hardwired to other things. I don't think I could do hardware serial for just RX and softwareserial for the TX?

Seems like I2C is probably my best bet. I'll play with it tonight and see if I can get it working.   - this is a tutorial I found but haven't watched yet.