Hi All
Mote includes a PDI (Programming/Debugging Interface) header. This is intended for flashing the firmware in production, but the ability to reflash has not been disabled.
This would open a possibility to reprogram the Mote and have it working without a controlling computer. Is anyone working or interested in this possibility ?
And in order to keep compatible with the current firmware; is there any documentation on the serial protocol used ?
Regards
Kamiel
There’s no documentation for the protocol, but it’s explained in-code:
https://github.com/pimoroni/mote/blob/00d484d3df912e7416bf5cdbf5d42b7ae3fc8548/python/library/mote/init.py#L200-L202
For updating the display:
self.port.write(b'mote')
self.port.write(b'o')
self.port.write(buf)
For configuring the number of LEDs on each channel:
self.port.write(b'mote')
self.port.write(b'c')
self.port.write(buf)
The Mote is just an ATxmega32A4U so it should be possible to reprogram and probably possible to figure out what’s what by looking at the routing. I’m not sure it has much overhead for any standalone pattern sequencing. Good luck!
@gadgetoid: Thanks for pointing out to this documentation, i’ll dive into it. Any schematics available ?