Re: BlueSaab v5.x

Posted by Weby on Mar 13, 2019; 3:10pm
URL: http://bluesaab-forum.90.s1.nabble.com/BlueSaab-v5-x-tp1379p1399.html

Alright guys, reporting back.

Using an arduino uno (SMD version, revision 3) worked. Burning bootloader was easy enough indeed, after burning the ArduinoISP sketch, just plugging it in like mentioned by homerisback worked straight away.

Trying to flash the firmware, however...

Using the .hex file just isn't possible with Arduino IDE. You need the source code. I found it on Seth's github  (https://github.com/sambthompson/SAAB-CDC/releases/), loaded it, verified it and everything seemed okay.
Maybe replace the v4.1 firmware links with the github release ones ? Or have both displayed, so we don't have to dig through 10 forks to know which one is the right one :)

Using the USB cable with the internal FTDI chip was a bit of a pain at first. I received loads of "stk500_recv()" errors, that just kept appearing. I had to reset the board a few times (unplug/replug the USB) for it to work. I saw it working directly when the TX and RX started flashing very quickly.

Using the serial monitor showed "BlueSaab", "Firmware 4.1, hardware 5.1", I was really happy.

Unplugged the CD changer and plugged the BlueSaab in. I was completely baffled. My first reaction was "How the heck is my CD changer still playing the last CD I was playing ??? It's unplugged !". By complete accident, my last played CD track was the same track I was playing on my phone last week...

So... It works !

I'm a bit surprised with the chime whenever I pause/unpause and switch back to BlueSaab. I might disable that, but other than that I'm amazed by the speed of the BlueSaab. Seriously, the music starts playing even faster than the FM radio, which is incredible. Also the Bluetooth connectivity didn't seem to be bothered at all by all the junk I had in my boot.

No hardware issue whatsoever, even with my crappy soldering, it was all a firmware issue... As in... No firmware was actually burned on it.

Thanks very much for the help.

(Maybe we could move this to a separate help thread ?)