Hello, world.
I'm building an 8-axis robot using 4 UNO boards with motor shields. I need to be able to move multiple boards simultaneously, and the easiest way is to synchronize via the PC, which presupposes I can 'talk' over the USB ports to all 4 UNO boards simultaneously.
The arduino IDE is obviously not the tool of choice, since it can monitor only one USB at a time.
Anybody know of a good windows 7 app to talk/listen over multiple USB ports simultaneously?
Thanks!
Xnloder
If you connect four uno boards to a pc, I would think each would appear as a different serial port. You would need to make an application that would communicate with each comp port as needed. You might be able to parallel the four boards off of one pc serial port, but it probably would take a little more work.
I'm using a powered USB hub to power the 4 UNO boards. What I'm hunting is a Win7 app to monitor all USB traffic, the equivalent to "Serial Monitor" in the Arduino IDE, but on simultaneous parallel USB ports.
I'm using a powered USB hub to power the 4 UNO boards. What I'm hunting is a Win7 app to monitor all USB traffic, the equivalent to "Serial Monitor" in the Arduino IDE, but on simultaneous parallel USB ports.
I think what you want to monitor is the "serial" traffic from the uno boards and not "usb" traffic, which could be very complex. If the the uno boards each appear on different comports, then it is probably to make an application that opens the ports and loops thru them reading and displaying the input buffer of each. As previously mentioned, there may be ways to parallel the board tx outputs to read them using a single input on one of the boards so the serial monitor could be used.
Use I2C (also known as TWI) available thought the Wire.h. Use one master ardiuno to connect to the PC via the usb cable.
Justin
All of the above suggestions have been good, +1 for the i2c bus solution. Makes things much simpler. Just out of curiousity, why four unos?
I'm running into the exact same problem you are, except I'm using Linux to run the IDE. Apparently, the bugs are universal in this regard.
My Linux machine will happily create ttyUSB0 on the first instance of a serial USB connection to an Arduino, and ttyUSB1 on the second. And the IDEs (Ignoring the menu bugs when you try to run more than 1) Will show both ports as available. Even if you meticulously select the correct board to the correct port on the correct IDE, the point of failure is when you click to open the second serial monitor. Bam. Down goes that IDE instance. Every time.
There is no technical reason why this shouldn't work on either Win7 or Linux. USB is a host - client connection and the resultant serial ports are virtual. Any number of serial ports can be supported.
If you're attempting to construct a complex system consisting of multiple Arduinos interroperating with each other you need to be able to use the serial monitor to view debug data while the IDE is up to flash in new code. This shouldn't be the stone ages here, where you can only do one thing at a time. There is no reason whatsoever why the IDE can't do this.
The IDE staying up without running the Serial Monitor is no big problem. It's the Serial Monitors that's the problem.
The solution I'm bantering about is to build the LOGTOPUS (Cute name, huh?) that would use IC2 or a minimal SoftSerial approach to interface the Arduinos with a central logging system.
Obviously, the better solution would be for Team Arduino to step up and fix the IDE.
Or you could fix it yourself: GitHub - arduino/Arduino: Arduino IDE 1.x
You could also use a better terminal, in linux, try minicom.
Terminal v1.9b by Br@y++
A serial terminal that does everything:
can run multiple instances under Win7 to monitor multiple UNO boards,
can send/rcv ascii/hex
logs
executes macros
This is what I was looking for. Google it.
Xnloder:
Terminal v1.9b by Br@y++A serial terminal that does everything:
can run multiple instances under Win7 to monitor multiple UNO boards,
can send/rcv ascii/hex
logs
executes macrosThis is what I was looking for. Google it.
It has been my PC terminal program of choice for years. Carry a copy around in my USB memory stick keyring. No installation requirements, no DLLs installed, just a simple standalone .exe program.
Lefty
this is what a friend of mine had found out about
when you start arduino ide, again click on the arduino icon to start a new process this allows you to run arduino's two instances don't know if that's technically correct but i think it should help
dominicA:
i think it should help
.... if OP didn't sort the problem in the intervening 4.5 years 