[Hardware, Plugin] Arduino based physical display + serial port io+ tutorial (24-11-19)

[Mulbin]

Let me know if you want me to upload full copies of the logs.

[zitronen]

Ok that's helpful. So the plugin is not getting any input packets. Is your arduino tx LED on when you launch? Rx LED should flash every 80ms, tx led should flash every 25ms, so it looks like it's on solid.

[Mulbin]

With Chatterer (working) -TX constantly on and RX constantly flickering.

Without Chatterer (not working) - TX off and RX constantly flickering.

[zitronen]

So the problem has something to do with the arduino code not actually sending anything to the plugin.

[Mulbin]

So the problem has something to do with the arduino code not actually sending anything to the plugin.

Yes... but the arduino code has no problem sending the data if chatterer is in the gamedata folder. So the problem has to be at the plugin side of things.... and some how the chatterer code holds the cure.

[zitronen]

Plug in some leds to check that the arduino code is actually running and not completely locked up.

[Chaosratt]

I've got my ebay mega clone setup and the v4 code and plugin are working just fine (only tested base sketch so far) without chatterer installed.

[Chaosratt]

Well, I can confirm Mulbin's issue partially. Buttons/switches do not effect any change and only the RX light is flashing.

Edit: Fully confirmed. TX only with chatterer mod installed, buttons and switches functional.

Edited April 9, 2014 by Chaosratt

[Mulbin]

Well, I can confirm Mulbin's issue partially. Buttons/switches do not effect any change and only the RX light is flashing.

Edit: Fully confirmed. TX only with chatterer mod installed, buttons and switches functional.

I'm glad someone has replicated the bug! I thought I was going insane!

[zitronen]

When you say it's not working is it only the switches not working or is the whole thing not working?

[Chaosratt]

Without Chatterer:

Only RX light blinks - Status LEDs work, buttons/switches do not.

With Chatterer:

Both RX & TX lights blink - Status LEDs work, buttons/switches work as expected.

[zitronen]

Try this

https://sites.google.com/site/zitronfiles/KSPSerialIO_014_3.zip

[Mulbin]

Try this

https://sites.google.com/site/zitronfiles/KSPSerialIO_014_3.zip

That works... without Chatterer!!!... what did you do?

EDIT - I'll give it some more in depth testing later... but so far seems to have fixed the issue.

Edited April 9, 2014 by Mulbin

[zitronen]

It seems that the bootloader on the mega puts the micro controller into load program mode if you send serial data to it too soon after connecting, which causes the thing to lock up. I just added a delay.

[Mulbin]

Ahhh, so Chatterer was just simulating a similar delay with all of the data it throws about when a scene loads!

Great work!

[zitronen]

OK I assume the problem is fixed, updated the first page. Will resume adding more stuff this weekend.

[zitronen]

Version 0.15.0: Moar Outputs!

Added:

Mission time: (second) unsigned long, will overflow after 2^32 seconds or ~130 years, so if your mission is more than 130 years, you will have problems with time

delta time: (second) float, the KSP time difference between current and previous packet, should be correctly scaled by time warp.

Also added the following resources for current stage, they are based on what the engines can see, so you need to activate engines on the stage to see them. The code is copied from the KOS plugin.

float LiquidFuelTotS;

float LiquidFuelS;

float OxidizerTotS;

float OxidizerS;

Plugin:

https://sites.google.com/site/zitronfiles/KSPSerialIO_015_0.zip

Updated arduino code: (indicators now use stage fuel instead of total fuel)

https://sites.google.com/site/zitronfiles/KSPIODemo5.zip

[RSRaney]

Your quick! And thank you for adding LF information status.

Version 0.15.0: Moar Outputs!

Added:

Mission time: (second) unsigned long, will overflow after 2^32 seconds or ~130 years, so if your mission is more than 130 years, you will have problems with time

delta time: (second) float, the KSP time difference between current and previous packet, should be correctly scaled by time warp.

Also added the following resources for current stage, they are based on what the engines can see, so you need to activate engines on the stage to see them. The code is copied from the KOS plugin.

float LiquidFuelTotS;

float LiquidFuelS;

float OxidizerTotS;

float OxidizerS;

Plugin:

https://sites.google.com/site/zitronfiles/KSPSerialIO_015_0.zip

Updated arduino code: (indicators now use stage fuel instead of total fuel)

https://sites.google.com/site/zitronfiles/KSPIODemo5.zip

[Mulbin]

whoa... how did I miss this! I'll download the new update tonight! great news.

Any hints on how to code my charge/drain dial would be great if anyone has any ideas. The dial will have a needle show whether the battery is draining or charging and by how much.

The gauge will have a similar layout to this one, but obviously its actually a 0-5v voltmeter.

First I need code to determing how fast my electric charge is draining or charging measured against MET.

The needle will need to be pointing vertically up when the battery is neither charging or draining (so arduino sending signal of about 127-128) and will move towards the left when the battery is draining and to the right when it is charging.

So negative values (drain rate) will mean the pin sending a signal range of 0-127 (0 being the strongest amount of drain) and positive values (charge rate) will use a signal range of 128-255

Edited April 15, 2014 by Mulbin

[zitronen]

Try

float drainPerSecond;
float chargePrevious;
...

drainPerSecond = (VData.ECharge - chargePrevious)/VData.deltaTime;
chargePrevious = VData.ECharge;

[thatsmessedup]

Sorry for the noob question but the arduino code is 4 different files and I do not know how to load them so it will compile and work on my uno. How do I go about opening and running this program?

EDIT: after re-downloading and opening from the KSPIODemo file all of the others where included.

Edited April 19, 2014 by thatsmessedup

[thatsmessedup]

Iv wired my arduino up but no success. Iv installed the plugin to the gamedata folder then opened arduino uno r3 and sent the program KSPIODemo without a hickup. After launching ksp I go into vab and setup a simple rocket. I hit launch and the green led will flash for about 1 second before showing anything on the pad. When I go to launch my rocket there are no blinking tx/rx lights and I do not get anymore activity from the leds. Any ideas?

[zitronen]

Can you post your debug log (press F2)?

[thatsmessedup]

Thanks zitronen,

Im not sure how to save that out as a file but It has no report about anything particular to this plugin.

[Mulbin]

Your debug log automatically saves in your main KSP folder (the same place as KSP.exe) each time you play. It's a text file called KSP.log