Manpages

NAME

setsserial - a utility for setting Smart Serial NVRAM parameters.

NOTE: This rather clunky utility is no longer needed except for flashing new smart-serial remote firmware. Smart-serial remote parameters can now be set in the HAL file in the normal way.

SYNOPSIS

FUNCTIONS

PINS

USAGE

loadrt setsserial cmd="{command} {parameter/device} {value/filename}"

Commands available are set and flash.

This utility should be used under halcmd, without LinuxCNC running or any realtime threads running.

A typical command sequence would be:

halrun
loadrt hostmot2 use_serial_numbers=1
loadrt hm2_pci config="firmware=hm2/5i23/svss8_8.bit"
show param
loadrt setsserial cmd="set hm2_8i20.001f.nvmaxcurrent 750"
exit

This example uses the option to have the HAL pins and parameters labelled by the serial number of the remote. This is not necessary but can reduce the scope for confusion. (The serial number is normally on a sticker on the device.)

The next line loads the hm2_pci driver in the normal way. The hm2_7i43 driver should work equally well, as should any future 7i80 driver. If the card has already been strted up and a firmware has been loaded, then the config string may be omitted.

"show param" is optional, but provides a handy list of all the devices and parameters. It also shows the current values of the parameters which can be useful for determining scaling. u32 pin values are always shown in hex, but new values can be entered in decimal or hex. Use the Ox123ABC format to enter a hex value.

The next line invokes setsserial. This is run in a slightly strange way in order to have kernel-level access to a live Hostmot2 config. It is basically a HAL module that always fails to load. This may lead to error messages being printed to the ’halcmd:’ prompt. These can often be ignored. All the real feedback is via the dmesg command. It is suggested to have a second terminal window open to run dmesg after each command.

On exiting there will typically be a further error message related to the driver failing to unload setsserial. This can be ignored.

The parameter changes will not show up until the drivers are reloaded. //TODO// Add a "get" command to avoid this problem.

Flashing Firmware To flash new firmware to an FPGA card such as the 5i25 or 5i20 the "mesaflash" utility should be used. Setsserial is only useful for changing/updating the firmware on smart-serial remote such as the 8i20. The firmware should be placed somewhere in the /lib/firmware/hm2 tree, where the Linux firmware loading macros can find it.

The flashing routine operates in a realtime thread, and can only send prompts to the user through the kernel log (dmesg). It is most convenient to open two terminal windows, one for command entry and one to monitor progress.

In the first terminal enter

tail -f /var/log/kern.log

This terminal will now display status information.

The second window will be used to enter the commands. It is important that LinuxCNC and/or HAL are not already loaded when the process is started. To flash new firmware it is necessary to move a jumper on the smart-serial remote drive and to switch smart-serial communication to a slower baudrate.

A typical command sequence is then
halrun
loadrt hostmot2 sserial_baudrate=115200
loadrt hm2_pci config="firmware=hm2/5i23/svss8_8.bit"
loadrt setsserial cmd="flash hm2_5i23.0.8i20.0.1 hm2/8i20/8i20T.BIN"
exit

It is not necessary (or useful) to specify a config string in a system using the 5i25 or 6i25 cards.

Note that it is necessary to exit halrun and unload the realtime environment before flashing the next card (exit)

The correct sserial channel name to use can be seen in the dmesg output in the feedback terminal after the loadrt hm2_pci step of the sequence.

LICENSE

GPL