Arduino Tools > Serial Greyed out!

Forum 2005-2010 (read only) General Frequently-Asked Questions
1

Hey, i have recently purchased an arduino BT and im having problems uploading any programs to it. I am using Arduino 18 but the tools > serial option to select the com port is greyed out. i am not sure what to do. Thanks in advance. this is my preferences.txt

default size for the main window

default.window.width = 500
default.window.height = 600

font size for editor

editor.font=Monospaced,plain,12

Monaco is nicer on Mac OS X, so use that explicitly

editor.font.macosx = Monaco,plain,10

anti-aliased text, turned off by default

editor.antialias=false

color to be used for background when 'external editor' enabled

editor.external=false

caret blinking

editor.caret.blink=true

area that's not in use by the text (replaced with tildes)

editor.invalid=false

console = true
console.output.file = stdout.txt
console.error.file = stderr.txt
console.lines = 4

set to false to disable automatically clearing the console

each time 'run' is hit

console.auto_clear = true

set the maximum number of lines remembered by the console

the default is 500, lengthen at your own peril

console.length = 500

convert tabs to spaces? how many spaces?

editor.tabs.expand = true
editor.tabs.size = 2

automatically indent each line

editor.indent = true

size of divider between editing area and the console

editor.divider.size = 0

the larger divider on windows is ugly with the little arrows

this makes it large enough to see (mouse changes) and use,

but keeps it from being annoyingly obtrusive

editor.divider.size.windows = 2

any additional java options when running externally

(for applets that are run external to the environment...

those with a code folder, or using any libraries)

if you hose this and can't run things, it's your own durn fault

run.options =

settings for the -XmsNNNm and -XmxNNNm command line option

run.options.memory = false
run.options.memory.initial = 64
run.options.memory.maximum = 256

example of increasing the memory size for applets run externally

#run.options = -Xms128m -Xmx1024m

index of the default display to use for present mode

(this setting not yet completely implemented)

run.display = 1

set internally

#run.window.bgcolor=

set to false to open a new untitled window when closing the last window

(otherwise, the environment will quit)

default to the relative norm for the different platforms,

but the setting can be changed in the prefs dialog anyway

#sketchbook.closing_last_window_quits = true
#sketchbook.closing_last_window_quits.macosx = false

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

#history.recording = true

for advanced users, enable option to export a library

#export.library = false

which platforms to export by default

export.application.platform.windows = true
export.application.platform.macosx = true
export.application.platform.linux = true

whether or not to export as full screen (present) mode

export.application.fullscreen = false

whether to show the stop button when exporting to application

export.application.stop = true

false will place all exported files into a single .jar

export.applet.separate_jar_files = false

set to false to no longer delete applet or application folders before export

export.delete_target_folder = true

may be useful when attempting to debug the preprocessor

preproc.save_build_files=false

allows various preprocessor features to be toggled

in case they are causing problems

preprocessor: pde.g

preproc.color_datatype = true
preproc.web_colors = true
preproc.enhanced_casting = true

preprocessor: PdeEmitter.java

preproc.substitute_floats = true
#preproc.substitute_image = false
#preproc.substitute_font = false

auto-convert non-ascii chars to unicode escape sequences

preproc.substitute_unicode = true

PdePreproc.java

writes out the parse tree as parseTree.xml, which can be usefully

viewed in (at least) Mozilla or IE. useful when debugging the preprocessor.

preproc.output_parse_tree = false

imports to use by default (changed for 0149, some imports removed)

preproc.imports = java.applet,java.awt,java.awt.image,java.awt.event,java.io,java.net,java.text,java.util,java.util.zip,java.util.regex

set the browser to be used on linux

browser.linux = mozilla

set to the program to be used for launching apps on linux

#launcher.linux = gnome-open

FULL SCREEN (PRESENT MODE)

run.present.bgcolor = #666666
run.present.stop.color = #cccccc

starting in release 0159, don't use full screen exclusive anymore

run.present.exclusive = false

use this by default to hide the menu bar and dock on osx

run.present.exclusive.macosx = true

ARDUINO PREFERENCES

board = atmega328
target = arduino

upload.using = bootloader
serial.port=COM1
serial.databits=8
serial.stopbits=1
serial.parity=N
serial.debug_rate=115200
serial.burn_rate = 115200

2

the serial port will be greyed out if the ide can't see any ports.

do you have the arduino plugged in? If so, check for driver issues.

3

there is nothing to plug in for the Arduino BT. it supposed to be programmed through bluetooth? thats what i thought? unless im missing something?

4

oh well, no help here then. better google specifically for arduino bt sketch uploading.

Disclaimer: I've never even seen an ardiuino BT but...
Does your pc have bluetooth native or do you have a bluetooth dongle? There's a bunch of stuff to do with pairing bluetooth devices - there must be a tutorial for the BT somewhere.

Have you been through this:

5

yes i've tried everything i read and almost anything i could think of. i am not sure what to do anymore thanks for u help

6

Well i have finally figured out a way to get around this problem. The best thing to do is to use a Mac or a Windows PC that runs XP. These operating systems work well with Arduino BT. Hope this helps for anyone else