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| 1 ================================================== | |
| 2 Updating the Prologix USB-GPIB firmware on Linux | |
| 3 ================================================== | |
| 4 | |
| 5 | |
| 6 :author: David Douard | |
| 7 :date: 2016-03-10 | |
| 8 :Category: Electronics | |
| 9 :Tags: test equipment, GPIB, Prologix | |
| 10 | |
| 11 | |
| 12 Prologix_ sell several low cost GPIB controllers. I have one their old | |
| 13 deprecated dongle "GPIB-USB Controller 4.2" and had fun with it with | |
| 14 my pygpibtoolkit_ project. | |
| 15 | |
| 16 It's a very simple dongle consisting in an Atmel ATMega164P | |
| 17 microcontroller and a FTDI FT245FL chip for the USB<->RS232 | |
| 18 convertion. | |
| 19 | |
| 20 .. image:: {filename}images/prologix/prologix_4.2_small.jpg | |
| 21 :alt: The Prologix GPIB-USB controller. | |
| 22 | |
| 23 Unfortunately, it's no longer available (I find this unfortunate | |
| 24 because it was really cheap, and very useful for hobbyist like me). | |
| 25 | |
| 26 | |
| 27 Upgrading the buggy firmware | |
| 28 ============================ | |
| 29 | |
| 30 My controller had the version 5.2 of the firmware, which really is | |
| 31 buggy. For example if a device on the GPIB bus is continuously sending | |
| 32 data and the controller is in "auto" mode (in which it automatically | |
| 33 perform a reading of the available data), then it was impossible to | |
| 34 send it commands anymore. | |
| 35 | |
| 36 Unfortunately, the Prologix web site only describe the product as "No | |
| 37 longer in production". There is still an available FAQ_ and the `user | |
| 38 manual`_, but the firmware update procedure is not described any more. | |
| 39 | |
| 40 However, the `directory serving all the firmwares`_ for their products | |
| 41 still have the firmwares for this device. The latest published version | |
| 42 is the `4.2-6.95`_ (in fact, it's the version 6.95 of the firware for | |
| 43 the version 4.2 of the USB-GPIB controller). | |
| 44 | |
| 45 The content of this archive is:: | |
| 46 | |
| 47 unzip -l ~/Downloads/gpib-usb-4.2-6.95.zip | |
| 48 Archive: /home/david/Downloads/gpib-usb-4.2-6.95.zip | |
| 49 Length Date Time Name | |
| 50 --------- ---------- ----- ---- | |
| 51 244837 2007-07-08 23:57 avrdude.conf | |
| 52 186880 2007-07-08 23:57 avrdude.exe | |
| 53 31162 2010-09-21 10:57 m16.hex | |
| 54 31542 2010-09-21 10:57 m164.hex | |
| 55 61440 2010-06-16 18:21 PxUpdate.exe | |
| 56 409 2009-01-21 11:00 readme.txt | |
| 57 --------- ------- | |
| 58 556270 6 files | |
| 59 | |
| 60 | |
| 61 Obviously, Windows stuff only, and no documentation on how to upgrade | |
| 62 the device on Linux. | |
| 63 | |
| 64 But the fact it uses avrdude_ is good sign it might to find solutions | |
| 65 on Linux. According the names of the hex files, it seems there have 2 | |
| 66 versions of the hardware, one with a ATMega16 and one with a | |
| 67 ATMega164P (mine uses a 164P). | |
| 68 | |
| 69 Now, the question is: haw is the AVR programmed? There are dozens of | |
| 70 'backends' available on avrdude. | |
| 71 | |
| 72 Doing a ``string`` on the main exe in thie archive, PxUpdate.exe, | |
| 73 shows a few interesting things, especially this:: | |
| 74 | |
| 75 strings PxUpdate.exe | grep -i avr | |
| 76 avrdude.exe -p %s -P \\.\COM%d -c avr109 -u -e -U flash:w:%s | |
| 77 AVRBOOT | |
| 78 | |
| 79 So we know the commande line used by this firmware update tool, and we | |
| 80 known it uses the AVR's bootloader as decribed in the AVR109_ | |
| 81 application note. | |
| 82 | |
| 83 But any attempt to read the content of the flash using:: | |
| 84 | |
| 85 avrdude -p m164p -c avr109 -U flash:r:flash.hex:i | |
| 86 | |
| 87 fails stating the avr does not respond:: | |
| 88 | |
| 89 avrdude -P /dev/ttyUSB0 -p m164p -c avr109 -v -v -U flash:r:flash2.hex:i | |
| 90 | |
| 91 avrdude: Version 6.1, compiled on Sep 11 2014 at 20:00:34 | |
| 92 Copyright (c) 2000-2005 Brian Dean, http://www.bdmicro.com/ | |
| 93 Copyright (c) 2007-2014 Joerg Wunsch | |
| 94 | |
| 95 System wide configuration file is "/etc/avrdude.conf" | |
| 96 User configuration file is "/home/david/.avrduderc" | |
| 97 User configuration file does not exist or is not a regular file, skipping | |
| 98 | |
| 99 Using Port : /dev/ttyUSB0 | |
| 100 Using Programmer : avr109 | |
| 101 AVR Part : ATmega164P | |
| 102 Chip Erase delay : 55000 us | |
| 103 PAGEL : PD7 | |
| 104 BS2 : PA0 | |
| 105 RESET disposition : dedicated | |
| 106 RETRY pulse : SCK | |
| 107 serial program mode : yes | |
| 108 parallel program mode : yes | |
| 109 Timeout : 200 | |
| 110 StabDelay : 100 | |
| 111 CmdexeDelay : 25 | |
| 112 SyncLoops : 32 | |
| 113 ByteDelay : 0 | |
| 114 PollIndex : 3 | |
| 115 PollValue : 0x53 | |
| 116 Memory Detail : | |
| 117 | |
| 118 Block Poll Page Polled | |
| 119 Memory Type Mode Delay Size Indx Paged Size Size #Pages MinW MaxW ReadBack | |
| 120 ----------- ---- ----- ----- ---- ------ ------ ---- ------ ----- ----- --------- | |
| 121 eeprom 4 10 128 0 no 512 4 0 9000 9000 0xff 0xff | |
| 122 flash 33 6 128 0 yes 16384 128 128 4500 4500 0xff 0xff | |
| 123 lock 0 0 0 0 no 1 0 0 9000 9000 0x00 0x00 | |
| 124 lfuse 0 0 0 0 no 1 0 0 9000 9000 0x00 0x00 | |
| 125 hfuse 0 0 0 0 no 1 0 0 9000 9000 0x00 0x00 | |
| 126 signature 0 0 0 0 no 3 0 0 0 0 0x00 0x00 | |
| 127 calibration 0 0 0 0 no 4 0 0 0 0 0x00 0x00 | |
| 128 | |
| 129 Programmer Type : butterfly | |
| 130 Description : Atmel AppNote AVR109 Boot Loader | |
| 131 | |
| 132 Connecting to programmer: .avrdude: ser_recv(): programmer is not responding | |
| 133 avrdude: butterfly_recv(): programmer is not responding | |
| 134 | |
| 135 | |
| 136 So there is something else required to put the device under firmware | |
| 137 upgrade state. I was wondering is there is an undocumented controller | |
| 138 commands (anything starting with ``++`` is interpreted as a controller | |
| 139 command, so I searched for the ``++`` string in ``PxUpdate.exe``:: | |
| 140 | |
| 141 strings PxUpdate.exe | grep ++ | |
| 142 Microsoft Visual C++ Runtime Library | |
| 143 ++rst | |
| 144 | |
| 145 No magic undocumented command, but a reset of the controller is | |
| 146 performed by this tool. Let's try this:: | |
| 147 | |
| 148 stty -F /dev/ttyUSB0 speed 115200 cs8 -cstopb -parenb | |
| 149 echo -en '++rst\r' > /dev/ttyUSB0; avrdude -P /dev/ttyUSB0 -p m164p -c avr109 -v -v -U flash:r:flash2.hex:i | |
| 150 avrdude: Version 6.1, compiled on Sep 11 2014 at 20:00:34 | |
| 151 Copyright (c) 2000-2005 Brian Dean, http://www.bdmicro.com/ | |
| 152 Copyright (c) 2007-2014 Joerg Wunsch | |
| 153 | |
| 154 System wide configuration file is "/etc/avrdude.conf" | |
| 155 User configuration file is "/home/david/.avrduderc" | |
| 156 User configuration file does not exist or is not a regular file, skipping | |
| 157 | |
| 158 Using Port : /dev/ttyUSB0 | |
| 159 Using Programmer : avr109 | |
| 160 AVR Part : ATmega164P | |
| 161 Chip Erase delay : 55000 us | |
| 162 PAGEL : PD7 | |
| 163 BS2 : PA0 | |
| 164 RESET disposition : dedicated | |
| 165 RETRY pulse : SCK | |
| 166 serial program mode : yes | |
| 167 | |
| 168 parallel program mode : yes | |
| 169 Timeout : 200 | |
| 170 StabDelay : 100 | |
| 171 CmdexeDelay : 25 | |
| 172 SyncLoops : 32 | |
| 173 ByteDelay : 0 | |
| 174 PollIndex : 3 | |
| 175 PollValue : 0x53 | |
| 176 Memory Detail : | |
| 177 | |
| 178 Block Poll Page Polled | |
| 179 Memory Type Mode Delay Size Indx Paged Size Size #Pages MinW MaxW ReadBack | |
| 180 ----------- ---- ----- ----- ---- ------ ------ ---- ------ ----- ----- --------- | |
| 181 eeprom 4 10 128 0 no 512 4 0 9000 9000 0xff 0xff | |
| 182 flash 33 6 128 0 yes 16384 128 128 4500 4500 0xff 0xff | |
| 183 lock 0 0 0 0 no 1 0 0 9000 9000 0x00 0x00 | |
| 184 lfuse 0 0 0 0 no 1 0 0 9000 9000 0x00 0x00 | |
| 185 hfuse 0 0 0 0 no 1 0 0 9000 9000 0x00 0x00 | |
| 186 signature 0 0 0 0 no 3 0 0 0 0 0x00 0x00 | |
| 187 calibration 0 0 0 0 no 4 0 0 0 0 0x00 0x00 | |
| 188 | |
| 189 Programmer Type : butterfly | |
| 190 Description : Atmel AppNote AVR109 Boot Loader | |
| 191 | |
| 192 Connecting to programmer: . | |
| 193 Found programmer: Id = "AVRBOOT"; type = S | |
| 194 Software Version = 1.0; Hardware Version = 1.0 | |
| 195 Programmer supports auto addr increment. | |
| 196 Programmer supports buffered memory access with buffersize=128 bytes. | |
| 197 | |
| 198 Programmer supports the following devices: | |
| 199 Device code: 0x76 | |
| 200 | |
| 201 avrdude: devcode selected: 0x76 | |
| 202 avrdude: AVR device initialized and ready to accept instructions | |
| 203 | |
| 204 Reading | ################################################## | 100% 0.00s | |
| 205 | |
| 206 avrdude: Device signature = 0x1e940a | |
| 207 avrdude: safemode: Fuse reading not support by programmer. | |
| 208 Safemode disabled. | |
| 209 avrdude: reading flash memory: | |
| 210 | |
| 211 Reading | ################################################## | 100% 0.26s | |
| 212 | |
| 213 avrdude: writing output file "flash2.hex" | |
| 214 | |
| 215 avrdude done. Thank you. | |
| 216 | |
| 217 Much better! | |
| 218 | |
| 219 Now I can upgrade the firmware:: | |
| 220 | |
| 221 echo -en '++rst\r' > /dev/ttyUSB0; avrdude -P /dev/ttyUSB0 -p m164p -c avr109 -v -v -U flash:w:m164.hex | |
| 222 | |
| 223 Et voilà! The Prologix GPIB-USB interface is upgraded to the latest | |
| 224 available software. From what I've seen so far, it seems more stable | |
| 225 (at least I can read data from my HP5442A and HP3456A in "fast" mode | |
| 226 without loosing my GPIB controller.) | |
| 227 | |
| 228 | |
| 229 .. _`4.2-6.95`: http://prologix.biz/downloads/gpib-usb-4.2-6.95.zip | |
| 230 .. _Prologix: http://prologix.biz/ | |
| 231 .. _FAQ: http://prologix.biz/gpib-usb-4.2-faq.html | |
| 232 .. _`user manual`: http://prologix.biz/downloads/PrologixGpibUsbManual-4.2.pdf | |
| 233 .. _pygpibtoolkit: https://www.logilab.org/project/pygpibtoolkit | |
| 234 .. _`directory serving all the firmwares`: http://prologix.biz/downloads/ | |
| 235 .. _avrdude: http://savannah.nongnu.org/projects/avrdude/ | |
| 236 .. _avr109: http://www.atmel.com/Images/doc1644.pdf |
