Firmata via SoftwareSerial not works

[VashTheProgrammer]

Hi,

if I use this code on StandardFirmataPlus, the firmata works on the begin but then it stop when I send Firmata.digitalwrite from my client program.

Code into StandardFirmataPlus:

void setup() { Serial.begin(115200); // for debugging Serial.println("644p starting ...");

...

SoftwareSerial VirtualSerial(2, 4); // (RX, TX) VirtualSerial.begin(9600);

Firmata.begin(VirtualSerial);

systemResetCallback(); // reset to default config }

In my client: (I use FirmataC)

include "firmata.h"

int main() { t_firmata *firmata; int i = 0;

firmata = firmata_new("/dev/ttyUSB0"); //init Firmata

while(!firmata->isReady) //Wait until device is up firmata_pull(firmata);

firmata_pinMode(firmata, 13, MODE_OUTPUT); //set pin 13 (led on most arduino) to out while (1) { sleep(2); if (i++ % 2) firmata_digitalWrite(firmata, 13, HIGH); //light led else firmata_digitalWrite(firmata, 13, LOW); //unlight led } } `

The same code but with an Hardware Serial works.

[soundanalogous]

Which board are you using?

[VashTheProgrammer]

Arduino uno and last ide arduino.cc

On 19 Dec 2017 00:08, "Jeff Hoefs" notifications@github.com wrote:

Which board are you using?

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[soundanalogous]

Oh, you are trying to use Firmata over SoftwareSerial instead of using SoftwareSerial as a Firmata feature. That is not supported. You have to use hardware serial for both boards.

[VashTheProgrammer]

Yes I understand that it is no supported but I don t understand why. I think because firmata use full duplex communication and software serial not support it but I think to give a support for software serial is not complicated ... Why don t you spend time for it ? I tried to use an additional gpio for sync and disabled some functions and it works but it is a workaround. Can we work to find a better solution ? What do you think about it ?

On 19 Dec 2017 00:42, "Jeff Hoefs" notifications@github.com wrote:

Oh, you are trying to use Firmata over SoftwareSerial instead of using SoftwareSerial as a Firmata feature. That is not supported. You have to use hardware serial for both boards.

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[soundanalogous]

Try AltSoftSerial instead of the default SoftwareSerial library.

[soundanalogous]

I also do not recommend using StandardFirmataPlus for this, use StandardFirmata instead. The way StandardFirmataPlus currently uses SoftwareSerial is for interfacing with serial devices such as GPS receivers, rather as a Firmata transport as you are trying to use it in your code example above. This may actually be causing a conflict.

[VashTheProgrammer]

Sorry, but it doesn't works.

Do you think to support normal SoftwareSerial library for Firmata?

Is it in your to do list ?

Thanks

2017-12-19 7:18 GMT+01:00 Jeff Hoefs notifications@github.com:

I also do not recommend using StandardFirmataPlus for this, use StandardFirmata instead. The way StandardFirmataPlus currently uses SoftwareSerial is for interfacing with serial devices such as GPS receivers, rather as a Firmata transport as you are trying to use it in your code example above. This may actually be causing a conflict.

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[soundanalogous]

It's not on my todo list. What is your use case?

[VashTheProgrammer]

Esp32 talks with a avr microcontrollor when run firmata. In the esp32 i use a firmata client and hardware serial. Instead in avr I use software serial and firmata standard sketch. I have another wire for communication between avr and esp32.

On 28 Dec 2017 20:19, "Jeff Hoefs" notifications@github.com wrote:

It's not on my todo list. What is your use case?

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[soundanalogous]

Are you using an ATTiny (or other MCU without a UART) for the avr and that is why you need to use software serial?

[VashTheProgrammer]

I have a complete board, and I can't change the route a this release The name is Fluo WiFi.

www.fluotechnology.co.uk

2017-12-28 20:49 GMT+01:00 Jeff Hoefs notifications@github.com:

Are you using an ATTiny (or other MCU without a UART) for the avr and that is why you need to use software serial?

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[soundanalogous]

I need to understand exactly what you are trying to accomplish and why software serial is your only option.

[VashTheProgrammer]

Don't you have a Firmata light version that probably it works on softwareSerial ?

I need to control only DigitalWrite/DigitalRead and AnalogWrite/AnalogRead at the moment and maybe SERVO.

2017-12-28 21:00 GMT+01:00 Jeff Hoefs notifications@github.com:

I need to understand exactly what you are trying to accomplish and why software serial is your only option.

— You are receiving this because you authored the thread. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub https://github.com/firmata/arduino/issues/387#issuecomment-354349591, or mute the thread https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AV8bBTgC3cEnMP1VCytZWpL6kSLmhwHXks5tE_N2gaJpZM4RFSO7 .

[soundanalogous]

Go to firmatabuilder.com and select just those 4 features (the top 4 'Core features'). Leave out Servo for now since both Servo and SoftwareSerial use some of the same interrupts and may cause a conflict depending on which pins you use for servos vs SW serial TX/RX.

After you've downloaded the sketch from FirmataBuilder, replace Firmata.begin(57600) with the following lines:

SoftwareSerial VirtualSerial(2, 4); // (RX, TX)
VirtualSerial.begin(9600); // a higher baud rate may work better, but don't exceed 57600 baud.
// This PIN_MODE_IGNORE step is important or when systemResetCallback() is called,
// the serial RX pin will be changed to an OUTPUT pin.
Firmata.setPinMode(2, PIN_MODE_IGNORE);
Firmata.setPinMode(4, PIN_MODE_IGNORE);

Firmata.begin(VirtualSerial);

Be sure to have the ConfigurableFirmata library installed.

[soundanalogous]

Also make sure you don't use PWM or any digital I/O on the same AVR port as the SW serial RX/TX pins.