Arduino Lightsaber

[gdadourian]

I've checked ports the way I have in the past, and it's being read clearly I believe (the arduino IDE worked at least).  There is a light that's blinking when I hit install, and STREAM doesn't do or show anything to indicate that it didn't upload properly.  But after the process finishes, the original blink function is still there.

[JakeSoft]

I've checked ports the way I have in the past, and it's being read clearly I believe (the arduino IDE worked at least).  There is a light that's blinking when I hit install, and STREAM doesn't do or show anything to indicate that it didn't upload properly.  But after the process finishes, the original blink function is still there.

Well, you could try to upload with the batch script instead of using the GUI. That way you can see if anything is going wrong. 
https://github.com/JakeS0ft/STREAM/blob/master/UploadFirmware.bat
I included this for just such an occasion. In the background, all the GUI is really doing is calling the same command as this script, but the output is hidden from the user.
There are instructions for how to configure it at the top of the file. All you should have to change is the COM port, the Baud Rate, and the name of the firmware you want to upload (probably firmware/Brewboard_Pixel.hex). If there are any errors, you should be able to see them in the output from this command.

[gdadourian]

Howdy,
Sorry it's taken me so long to respond, but I can only try this out on my work computer, and I've been quite swamped.  So I pasted that sketch into the IDE, got my board hooked up and adjusted the -PCOMX- to the right com, but the code couldn't compile.  First, it said there were stray @ symbols, so I tried removing those, then it said rem does not name a type, so I tried commenting that out, cause it just looked instructional, then it said expected constructor, destructor, or type conversion before 'Be'.  Unfortunately, I don't know the arduino coding language, so I'm at a loss.  
What should I be doing here that I'm not doing properly?

[jbkuma]

First, it said there were stray @ symbols, so I tried removing those, then it said rem does not name a type, so I tried commenting that out, cause it just looked instructional, then it said expected constructor, destructor, or type conversion before 'Be'. 

The .bat file is a file that runs on your computer, not something for Arduino.  STREAM is a PC application that installs the firmware and controls the settings, it is pre-compiled and there is no way to edit it in the Arduino IDE.
Just download the files to your computer and double click the bat file.

[gdadourian]

Ah.  Thanks for the clarity.  I edited the file, and ran it as instructed, and still nothing.  Same 5 second blink file is still there.  But, while I was just sitting and doing something else, it played a sound from the sd card for some reason.... Then went back to doing nothing but the blink function.
Otherwise, the cmd window says "avrdude: stk500_getsync(): not in sync: resp=0x00"
What's not happening?

One thing I did recently think about: When I'm using this nano clone in the IDE, it only likes to work if I tell the IDE that the board is an arduino uno.  Could that have impact on the "patmega328p" callout?

[JakeSoft]

That error usually means that the board is not what you think it is. For some reason, it's not registering as an ATMega328p. The fact that you can't program your "Nano" as a Nano is problematic. Even if it was a Nano which has the Uno's boot loader, the upload should still work. The Protowerkstatt DIYino Stardust V3 boards for which STREAM was originally developed used ATMega328p chips with Uno boot loaders and it was fine.

The binaries for STREAM are specifically compiled for 328, so if you have some other chip on the board, then all bets are off, I'm afraid. You need to know exactly what chip is actually on your board.

[gdadourian]

So I tinkered around with the IDE again, and I can program it as a nano with a ATmega328p selected for processor.  I don't know why I thought I couldn't.... So the IDE is recognizing it appropriately and loading blinks without issue.... And by visual inspection, the chip says atmel mega328p, although I suppose that may not mean what I think it means.  

REGARDLESS
as I was typing this out, I changed the baud rate to the standard 11200 in the gui because I had a feeling I hadn't tried that, and it worked perfectly the first try.  Sorry for all of this, I have not been using good engineering practices with this hobby project, and just get spacy when I try to work with electronics.....

Now to wire it together.  Hopefully my recharging circuit doesn't explode.  
Thanks for the help!

[JakeSoft]

Oooh, I thought you had already tried the other baud rate! Ok, well I'm glad it's working for you. I was out of ideas.