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+==================================================
+ Updating the Prologix USB-GPIB firmware on Linux
+==================================================
+
+
+:author: David Douard
+:date: 2016-03-10
+:Category: Electronics
+:Tags: test equipment, GPIB, Prologix
+
+
+Prologix_ sell several low cost GPIB controllers. I have one their old
+deprecated dongle "GPIB-USB Controller 4.2" and had fun with it with
+my pygpibtoolkit_ project.
+
+It's a very simple dongle consisting in an Atmel ATMega164P
+microcontroller and a FTDI FT245FL chip for the USB<->RS232
+convertion.
+
+.. image:: {filename}images/prologix/prologix_4.2_small.jpg
+ :alt: The Prologix GPIB-USB controller.
+
+Unfortunately, it's no longer available (I find this unfortunate
+because it was really cheap, and very useful for hobbyist like me).
+
+
+Upgrading the buggy firmware
+============================
+
+My controller had the version 5.2 of the firmware, which really is
+buggy. For example if a device on the GPIB bus is continuously sending
+data and the controller is in "auto" mode (in which it automatically
+perform a reading of the available data), then it was impossible to
+send it commands anymore.
+
+Unfortunately, the Prologix web site only describe the product as "No
+longer in production". There is still an available FAQ_ and the `user
+manual`_, but the firmware update procedure is not described any more.
+
+However, the `directory serving all the firmwares`_ for their products
+still have the firmwares for this device. The latest published version
+is the `4.2-6.95`_ (in fact, it's the version 6.95 of the firware for
+the version 4.2 of the USB-GPIB controller).
+
+The content of this archive is::
+
+ unzip -l ~/Downloads/gpib-usb-4.2-6.95.zip
+ Archive: /home/david/Downloads/gpib-usb-4.2-6.95.zip
+ Length Date Time Name
+ --------- ---------- ----- ----
+ 244837 2007-07-08 23:57 avrdude.conf
+ 186880 2007-07-08 23:57 avrdude.exe
+ 31162 2010-09-21 10:57 m16.hex
+ 31542 2010-09-21 10:57 m164.hex
+ 61440 2010-06-16 18:21 PxUpdate.exe
+ 409 2009-01-21 11:00 readme.txt
+ --------- -------
+ 556270 6 files
+
+
+Obviously, Windows stuff only, and no documentation on how to upgrade
+the device on Linux.
+
+But the fact it uses avrdude_ is good sign it might to find solutions
+on Linux. According the names of the hex files, it seems there have 2
+versions of the hardware, one with a ATMega16 and one with a
+ATMega164P (mine uses a 164P).
+
+Now, the question is: haw is the AVR programmed? There are dozens of
+'backends' available on avrdude.
+
+Doing a ``string`` on the main exe in thie archive, PxUpdate.exe,
+shows a few interesting things, especially this::
+
+ strings PxUpdate.exe | grep -i avr
+ avrdude.exe -p %s -P \\.\COM%d -c avr109 -u -e -U flash:w:%s
+ AVRBOOT
+
+So we know the commande line used by this firmware update tool, and we
+known it uses the AVR's bootloader as decribed in the AVR109_
+application note.
+
+But any attempt to read the content of the flash using::
+
+ avrdude -p m164p -c avr109 -U flash:r:flash.hex:i
+
+fails stating the avr does not respond::
+
+ avrdude -P /dev/ttyUSB0 -p m164p -c avr109 -v -v -U flash:r:flash2.hex:i
+
+ avrdude: Version 6.1, compiled on Sep 11 2014 at 20:00:34
+ Copyright (c) 2000-2005 Brian Dean, http://www.bdmicro.com/
+ Copyright (c) 2007-2014 Joerg Wunsch
+
+ System wide configuration file is "/etc/avrdude.conf"
+ User configuration file is "/home/david/.avrduderc"
+ User configuration file does not exist or is not a regular file, skipping
+
+ Using Port : /dev/ttyUSB0
+ Using Programmer : avr109
+ AVR Part : ATmega164P
+ Chip Erase delay : 55000 us
+ PAGEL : PD7
+ BS2 : PA0
+ RESET disposition : dedicated
+ RETRY pulse : SCK
+ serial program mode : yes
+ parallel program mode : yes
+ Timeout : 200
+ StabDelay : 100
+ CmdexeDelay : 25
+ SyncLoops : 32
+ ByteDelay : 0
+ PollIndex : 3
+ PollValue : 0x53
+ Memory Detail :
+
+ Block Poll Page Polled
+ Memory Type Mode Delay Size Indx Paged Size Size #Pages MinW MaxW ReadBack
+ ----------- ---- ----- ----- ---- ------ ------ ---- ------ ----- ----- ---------
+ eeprom 4 10 128 0 no 512 4 0 9000 9000 0xff 0xff
+ flash 33 6 128 0 yes 16384 128 128 4500 4500 0xff 0xff
+ lock 0 0 0 0 no 1 0 0 9000 9000 0x00 0x00
+ lfuse 0 0 0 0 no 1 0 0 9000 9000 0x00 0x00
+ hfuse 0 0 0 0 no 1 0 0 9000 9000 0x00 0x00
+ signature 0 0 0 0 no 3 0 0 0 0 0x00 0x00
+ calibration 0 0 0 0 no 4 0 0 0 0 0x00 0x00
+
+ Programmer Type : butterfly
+ Description : Atmel AppNote AVR109 Boot Loader
+
+ Connecting to programmer: .avrdude: ser_recv(): programmer is not responding
+ avrdude: butterfly_recv(): programmer is not responding
+
+
+So there is something else required to put the device under firmware
+upgrade state. I was wondering is there is an undocumented controller
+commands (anything starting with ``++`` is interpreted as a controller
+command, so I searched for the ``++`` string in ``PxUpdate.exe``::
+
+ strings PxUpdate.exe | grep ++
+ Microsoft Visual C++ Runtime Library
+ ++rst
+
+No magic undocumented command, but a reset of the controller is
+performed by this tool. Let's try this::
+
+ stty -F /dev/ttyUSB0 speed 115200 cs8 -cstopb -parenb
+ echo -en '++rst\r' > /dev/ttyUSB0; avrdude -P /dev/ttyUSB0 -p m164p -c avr109 -v -v -U flash:r:flash2.hex:i
+ avrdude: Version 6.1, compiled on Sep 11 2014 at 20:00:34
+ Copyright (c) 2000-2005 Brian Dean, http://www.bdmicro.com/
+ Copyright (c) 2007-2014 Joerg Wunsch
+
+ System wide configuration file is "/etc/avrdude.conf"
+ User configuration file is "/home/david/.avrduderc"
+ User configuration file does not exist or is not a regular file, skipping
+
+ Using Port : /dev/ttyUSB0
+ Using Programmer : avr109
+ AVR Part : ATmega164P
+ Chip Erase delay : 55000 us
+ PAGEL : PD7
+ BS2 : PA0
+ RESET disposition : dedicated
+ RETRY pulse : SCK
+ serial program mode : yes
+
+ parallel program mode : yes
+ Timeout : 200
+ StabDelay : 100
+ CmdexeDelay : 25
+ SyncLoops : 32
+ ByteDelay : 0
+ PollIndex : 3
+ PollValue : 0x53
+ Memory Detail :
+
+ Block Poll Page Polled
+ Memory Type Mode Delay Size Indx Paged Size Size #Pages MinW MaxW ReadBack
+ ----------- ---- ----- ----- ---- ------ ------ ---- ------ ----- ----- ---------
+ eeprom 4 10 128 0 no 512 4 0 9000 9000 0xff 0xff
+ flash 33 6 128 0 yes 16384 128 128 4500 4500 0xff 0xff
+ lock 0 0 0 0 no 1 0 0 9000 9000 0x00 0x00
+ lfuse 0 0 0 0 no 1 0 0 9000 9000 0x00 0x00
+ hfuse 0 0 0 0 no 1 0 0 9000 9000 0x00 0x00
+ signature 0 0 0 0 no 3 0 0 0 0 0x00 0x00
+ calibration 0 0 0 0 no 4 0 0 0 0 0x00 0x00
+
+ Programmer Type : butterfly
+ Description : Atmel AppNote AVR109 Boot Loader
+
+ Connecting to programmer: .
+ Found programmer: Id = "AVRBOOT"; type = S
+ Software Version = 1.0; Hardware Version = 1.0
+ Programmer supports auto addr increment.
+ Programmer supports buffered memory access with buffersize=128 bytes.
+
+ Programmer supports the following devices:
+ Device code: 0x76
+
+ avrdude: devcode selected: 0x76
+ avrdude: AVR device initialized and ready to accept instructions
+
+ Reading | ################################################## | 100% 0.00s
+
+ avrdude: Device signature = 0x1e940a
+ avrdude: safemode: Fuse reading not support by programmer.
+ Safemode disabled.
+ avrdude: reading flash memory:
+
+ Reading | ################################################## | 100% 0.26s
+
+ avrdude: writing output file "flash2.hex"
+
+ avrdude done. Thank you.
+
+Much better!
+
+Now I can upgrade the firmware::
+
+ echo -en '++rst\r' > /dev/ttyUSB0; avrdude -P /dev/ttyUSB0 -p m164p -c avr109 -v -v -U flash:w:m164.hex
+
+Et voilà! The Prologix GPIB-USB interface is upgraded to the latest
+available software. From what I've seen so far, it seems more stable
+(at least I can read data from my HP5442A and HP3456A in "fast" mode
+without loosing my GPIB controller.)
+
+
+.. _`4.2-6.95`: http://prologix.biz/downloads/gpib-usb-4.2-6.95.zip
+.. _Prologix: http://prologix.biz/
+.. _FAQ: http://prologix.biz/gpib-usb-4.2-faq.html
+.. _`user manual`: http://prologix.biz/downloads/PrologixGpibUsbManual-4.2.pdf
+.. _pygpibtoolkit: https://www.logilab.org/project/pygpibtoolkit
+.. _`directory serving all the firmwares`: http://prologix.biz/downloads/
+.. _avrdude: http://savannah.nongnu.org/projects/avrdude/
+.. _avr109: http://www.atmel.com/Images/doc1644.pdf