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By exugen
#198258
Hi guys,

I am new to the forum and pretty green when it comes to programming stuff. So please excuse my ignorance.

I got a logomatic v2(fat32 version) logger and i got happy data logging over uart0. I really dig its small size and SD card integration and the fact that it works right out of the box without any need to program anything. BUT. I would like to simultaneously log data from the second uart1 on the board. The hardware clearly allows it, but after looking through the firmware code and searching on the internet, it is absolutely clear that the stock firmware has no capability to use that uart1.

I've looked through everything available on GitHub for Logomatic and i can't find any custom firmware that would utilize that second uart. Years ago, there was a custom firmware released by user named Kwan that does that and a million other things... but it was released for a previous, fat16 version of the board. I've tried flashing it on the logomatic that i have (using fat16 formatted card) but it doesn't seem to work.

While i have some very basic programming knowledge, i do not think that modifying the firmware myself would be feasible in the time i have. Unless someone can tell me that its easier than it looks? I looked through both, Kwan's code and original firmware and i so far only get like 10% of it.

So can someone help me with the following:

1) Is it possible to install the old kwan firmware on this newer WIG-12772 board? Perhaps i am not doing it right?
2) Is there publicly available firmware that adds that second uart functionality?
3) Should i attempt to modify the firmware myself and would you be so incredibly kind as to point me in the right direction on where to start?

It is somewhat strange to me that when the board came out and for a few years after there have been lots of updates and many users asking questions and generally the board has been getting traction. But in the last few years there are almost zero posts on this board. Did people move on to something else? Are there better compact logger alternatives that will do simultaneous serial logging with SD integration and minimum programming needed? Its also strange that the stock firmware doesn't support that second uart and that support has never been added in all the years that the board has been available.

Thank you for reading and i really appreciate any help.
User avatar
By bboyho
#198303
Hi,

I'm sorry but I don't usually check the forums or my personal messages. Please be considerate when sending messages to users. Private messages aren't the appropriate place to be asking technical questions unless invited to do so by a particular user. Please keep your post on the Forum so that everybody has an opportunity to give you assistance and if there is a solution, users can refer to the thread for more information. With that said, I can at least provide some information with my brief experience using the Logomatic.

1) Is it possible to install the old kwan firmware on this newer WIG-12772 board? Perhaps i am not doing it right?

I have flashed the newer bootloader on the retired Logomatic v2 with FAT16 [ https://www.sparkfun.com/products/retired/10216 ] and back to the older firmware. Therefore, it is possible. However, the FAT16 will not support any microSD card above 2GB and it is difficult finding a memory card with that size now.

Try looking at this old archived tutorial as a guide => https://www.sparkfun.com/tutorials/94 . I remember following this a few years ago when I was in SparkFun tech support. It was tedious and not for the faint of heart. You would need to set up the programming environment and a serial programmer [like our retired LPC Serial Port Bootloader Interface - https://www.sparkfun.com/products/retired/714 ]. Unfortunately, the download for the "WinARM 20060606.zip" appears to be broken. It linked to an external site so you would need to do some research to find the WinARM download or an alternative.

2) Is there publicly available firmware that adds that second uart functionality?

To my knowledge, I have not seen any firmware for the Logomatic that utilizes both UARTs for logging. I have only tested two modes with the Logomatic: one for automatic UART and the other for analog logging. The firmware would probably need to be modified to enable the UARTs [ somewhere after here probably https://github.com/sparkfun/Logomatic/b ... in.c#L1096 ] and send the data to the microSD card. Besides using a online search engine, you may want to try exploring GitHub [ https://github.com/ ] to see if anyone has modified the Logomatic firmware or used the LPC2148 for a project.

3) Should i attempt to modify the firmware myself and would you be so incredibly kind as to point me in the right direction on where to start?

Unfortunately, it is out of scope with SparkFun's support when adjusting the default firmware so I would be cautious when attempting to modify the Logomatic's code. You may have better luck checking the LPC forums. The community may have more experience modifying the LPC2148 IC and may be able to guide you => https://community.nxp.com/community/lpc .

Alternatives?

There are alternatives besides modifying the firmware. While redundant, you could order another Logomatic v2. Or you could get the OpenLog [ https://www.sparkfun.com/products/13712 ], modify the firmware to use both hardware and software serial UARTs, and upload using an FTDI. The OpenLog uses an Atmega328P instead of an ARM so the specs are different. If you just require two serial UARTs, the OpenLog with Arduino bootloader would be a good alternative.
By exugen
#198304
Hi Bobby,

Thank you for your response, greatly appreciate. I truly apologize for that PM- it was not my intent to copy sparkfun moderators. It was my version of reply-all blunder, and i am greatly embarrassed for doing that, especially considering that i am a new user.

I've been looking into the code and making progress in attempting to add that second UART functionality. I found working link to winarm (https://www.ledato.de/shop_content.php?coID=24), and successfully compiled the code with some changes in it. I've also figured out how to debug through serial port. I think at this point i have some basic understanding of the code as well that i know where to stab at it. It seemed pretty daunting at first but after 10-15 hours of research it seem far less so.

Thanks for the OpenLog suggestion- i will look into it. I did not realize that OpenLog can handle two UARTs in conjunction with FTDI.