SCbG3-hexes

Minimal firmwares and scripts install for bGeigie3

Hardware Needed

• USB-serial dongle.
• AVR ISP mkII (or a clone).
• bGeigie3 device to program.
• Probably a few USB cables suitable for the programmer and dongle.

Setup environment

1. Standard install of Ubuntu 12.10. Download from http://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop. The guide will assume that you have an internet connection, so configure it. It's also a good time to install all the Ubuntu updates.

2. Install minimally necessary packages.

    sudo apt-get install git
    sudo apt-get install python-pip
    sudo pip install --upgrade pyserial
    sudo apt-get install gcc-avr
    sudo apt-get install avr-libc
    sudo apt-get install avrdude
   

Unfortunately, xpdf needs to be installed from source on Ubuntu because of a nasty segmentation fault in the Ubuntu package.

    sudo apt-get install libfreetype6-dev lesstif2-dev
    wget ftp://ftp.foolabs.com/pub/xpdf/xpdf-3.03.tar.gz
    tar xzpf xpdf-3.03.tar.gz
    cd xpdf-3.03
    export CXXFLAGS=-fpermissive
    ./configure --with-freetype2-library=/usr/lib/i386-linux-gnu \
                --with-freetype2-includes=/usr/include/freetype2 \
                --with-Xm-library=/usr/lib \
                --with-Xm-includes=/usr/include/Xm
    make
    sudo make install

Note that you might need to change the i386-linux-gnu on the configure line depending on your platform.

Optionally, install the screen command line utility to test serial connection

    sudo apt-get install screen

3. Add permissions for USB devices

    sudo bash -c 'mkdir -p /etc/udev/rules.d/ && echo KERNEL==\"ttyUSB[0-9]\",MODE=\"0666\" >> /etc/udev/rules.d/10-local.rules'
    sudo bash -c 'mkdir -p /etc/udev/rules.d/ && echo ATTRS{idVendor}==\"1781\",ATTRS{idProduct}==\"0c9f\",GROUP=\"adm\",MODE=\"0666\" >> /etc/udev/rules.d/10-local.rules'
    sudo bash -c 'mkdir -p /etc/udev/rules.d/ && echo ATTRS{idVendor}==\"03eb\",ATTRS{idProduct}==\"2104\",GROUP=\"adm\",MODE=\"0666\" >> /etc/udev/rules.d/10-local.rules'
    sudo /etc/init.d/udev restart
   

Now if you plug an FTDI-USB dongle, you should be able to connect without error by typing in

    screen /dev/ttyUSB0 57600

4. Get the latest distribution of the bGeigie3 firmware

    cd ~
    git clone -b factory --single-branch https://github.com/Safecast/SCbG3-hexes.git
   

5. Setup wallpaper and shortcuts.

6. Open folder misc.

7. Drag-and-drop files ProgramDevice.desktop and Update.desktop into the Ubuntu launcher.

8. Right-click on the desktop and select Change Desktop Background.

9. Click the + button to add a new wallpaper and navigate to SCbG3-hexes/misc directory. Select bGeigie_station_wallpaper.png file.

The desktop files assume the home directory is /home/safecast. If this is not the case, just open the files and replace everywhere /home/safecast by the proper directory.

6. Now get a bGeigie3 device to program, start the process by clicking the Program Device icon in the launcher, and follow the instructions.

Or open a terminal and type

    cd ~/SCbG3-hexes
    ./run_me.sh

7. When in need of updating the firmware files from the repository, click the Update Safecast icon in the launcher.

Or open a terminal and type

    cd ~/SCbG3-hexes
    ./update.sh