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ActivMedia Robotics
Step 2: Enable FLASH
Locate the FLASH switch on the Console. It's recessed. Use a flat-bladed screwdriver or
other thin instrument to move the slide switch forward toward the front of your robot to
enable FLASH writes.
Step 3: Put Microcontroller into Download Mode
Start up or reset your ActivMedia robot. After it has finished initializing, place it in
download mode:
1. Press and hold the white MOTORS button.
2. Press and release the red RESET button.
3. Continue holding the MOTORS button for three or more seconds.
4. Release the MOTORS button.
The robot should not reset. If it does, you probably didn’t hold the MOTORS button down
long enough. Try again. When successfully in BOOT mode, notice that the "heartbeat"
asterisk stops blinking in the LCD.
Step 4: Run p2osdl
With Linux/UNIX systems, enter the p2os/ directory and execute p2osdl with the
following arguments:
% p2osdl p2os1_J.hex <comm-port>
The pathname for the P2OS HEX image file is required and may be a direct or relative
path. The file p2os1_J.hex, for example, is the current P2OS version 1.H hex-encoded
image.
The comm-port argument is optional. It lets you specify the serial communication port
that connects p2osdl with the P2OS microcontroller. For Linux/UNIX systems, the default
is /dev/ttyS0. To communicate through /dev/ttyS3, for example, use:
% p2osdl p2os1_J.hex /dev/ttyS3
For Win32 systems, you must pass the required p2osV_r.hex file to p2osdl.exe, so you
cannot simply double-click the program icon. Instead, use your mouse to successfully
launch the program by dragging and dropping the .hex icon (p2os1_H.hex, for
example) onto the psosdl.exe icon. But this works only if you use the default COM1 serial
port and the current directory is set to the P2OS one.
The universal solution is to execute p2osdl.exe and pass it the proper arguments from
the MS-DOS Prompt program, which normally resides in the Programs section of the
Start menu. You might also Run… the program from the Start menu.
Download Troubleshooting
The p2osdl program will tell you if the download was successful or not. If it was, simply
reboot the robot and go on to connect with a client or change its operating parameters
(see next section). Otherwise, try the download from Step 1 again, to be sure you
performed each step correctly. Since FLASH gets erased at the beginning of a
download, an unsuccessful session may leave the controller empty and apparently
broken, although it is not. Repeat downloads until successfully completed.
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