Cannot install mSpider firmware on Mac (resolved: steps described)

#1

I am trying to install the mSpider firmware and the installl never completes.

I have installed the new, signed USB driver for El Cap (available in the github repo). I believe it is working because I am able to install the mBot firmware by using the mBlock app.

I have also downloaded and installed the latest version of the mDrawBot app itself (mDraw V1.2.1 201603222109), the one distribetud on github.

When I run mDrawBot, the app is frozen for about 3-4 minutes before I can interact with the robot configuration dropdown or the port-selector dropdown.

But after that pause, I see and can select the serial port device /dev/tty/wchusbserial1410. When I connect, I get feedback saying “open success” and “Version: 0a.01.102”. I think I’m seeing this feedback because of the previous install via mBot.

I can pick mSpider from the robot config dropdown. But when I click update firmware, the progress bar quickly moves about 20% and is stuck.

Help?

Alexis

#2

Hi Alexis,

I had the same problem and solved it by manually flashing the Orion board with the proper .INO file. If you look on github/Makeblock-official/mDrawBot/firmwares you find the separate .INO files in the subfolders. If you load these with the Arduino IDE to your board and then start mDraw, it works. At least for me, I hope for you too!

kind regards, Guido

#3

Hi Guido,

Thanks for the experience report.

I’ve succeeded in getting the firmware installed and the mDrawBot software working on my Mac (as far as I can tell).

Here are the steps and software versions that finally worked, in case this helps others:

  • CH34x_Install.zip. (from github repo Makeblock-official/Makeblock-USB-driver commit b1d4eed). This is the USB driver for communicating via a serial port to the board. This version of the driver is cryptographically signed so it was possible to install it without following the scary instructions about booting into recovery mode and disabling system integrity protection. This driver makes the port device /dev/cu.wchusbserial1420 visible to the Arduino IDE, and /dev/tty.wchusbserial1420 visible to mDrawBot.

  • Arduino IDE v 1.6.8. This is the latest version of the Arduino IDE from the Arduino site ( https://www.arduino.cc/en/Main/Software ), not the much older version which MakeBlock distributes and which has the MakeBlock libraries built-in. I configured the app to target an “Arduino/Genuino Uno” board, and set the port to the one mentioned above.

  • Makeblock-libraries, as distributed via their repo (from Makeblock-official/Makeblock-Libraries commit 9e5e5ae). I needed to install these into Arduino IDE v 1.6.8. I believe I installed these just by adding them to ~/Documents/Arduino/libraries. You don’t need to add it within the application bundle itself, as the app has a facility for installing third-party (i.e., “contributed”) libraries.

  • spider.ino (from repo Makeblock-official/mDrawBot c48bff9). This is the source code for the spider firmware (Arduino “sketch”) that should run on the board. After installing the makeblock libraries in the Arduino IDE, I was able to compile and install this firmware in the board via the Arduino IDE by doing Sketch / Upload. (Note that I was unable to install the mSpider software using mDrawBot. That’s the reason for this roundabout route)

  • mDrawBot v1.2.1. (from repo Makeblock-official/mDrawBot commit c48bff9) Once I had installed the mSpider software with the Arduino IDE, only then was I able to communicate with it using mDrawBot. After running the app (on my mid-2012 MacBook Air running OS X 10.11.4), I need to wait 2-3 minutes before the UI of the mDrawBot software becomes responsive (?!).

Well it’s been quite an odyssey but at this point the software seems to be nominally working.

One thing that’s nice is that now that I have got the spider.ino source code compiling and installing using that latest version of the Arduino IDE, I can stop depending on mDrawBot and hopefully bring more reliable tools to bear on it!

#4