c0nb0x

[Luap]

Pretty much, yes. But I'm not certain how or why yet.
It seems to work best when you work fast with it. IE, Load c0nb0x, switch x0xb0x to bootloader mode, turn it on, and try uploading the firmware right away.
If I waste time exploring the software while the x0x is on, then try uploading firmware or something, then I get all the problems me & gompie described earlier.

Maybe there is just a bit of a knack required to use it efficiently, but either way, I can now get it to work reasonably reliably. I uploaded firmware 3 times, and it worked well. Tried export of eeprom memory which seems good too.

Im not sure I understand the pattern editor yet, but I probably just need to explore it more Should I be able to play and hear the pattern I'm editing from there?

In the meantime, thanks again for the good work and help!

[antto]

Pretty much, yes. But I'm not certain how or why yet.
It seems to work best when you work fast with it. IE, Load c0nb0x, switch x0xb0x to bootloader mode, turn it on, and try uploading the firmware right away.
If I waste time exploring the software while the x0x is on, then try uploading firmware or something, then I get all the problems me & gompie described earlier.

this shouldn't be a problem, i've been using c0nb0x since a long time (and even the very first days it was barely working..) and haven't had such "paranormal" behaviour.. it just works

gompie came by the irc channel and i compiled a debug version which writes all data going thru the serial port into a log file, we made a number of tests and changed the conditions and what not..
the result is: his x0xb0x *did* send data over the serial port, but it appears to be all zero bytes (otherwise it's the correct number of bytes but their values are all zeros)
under the same conditions c0ntr0l didn't work either (of course)

Luap: where did you get the x0xb0x from (more specifically the CPU and the usb chip)
and also, how long is your USB cable? i don't know what to think
it's great that it works for you now, but we didn't solve the issue with gompie and i'm stuck it all points to his x0x being bad somehow, maybe the soldering on the usb chip is bad or something, altho then why does data *do* arrive at all

Im not sure I understand the pattern editor yet, but I probably just need to explore it more Should I be able to play and hear the pattern I'm editing from there?

In the meantime, thanks again for the good work and help!

the pattern editor is "TB-303 type" so it follows the TimeMode / PitchMode idea
but here it's more visual so it's perfectly easy to learn it now ;]
watch the video i posted or read the updated ReadMe.txt (links are both in the same post)
basically you have to use CTRL+L to load a the pattern from the Bank/Slot into the pattern editor, and CTRL+S to save the pattern from the pattern editor back to the x0x (in Bank/Slot)
when you modify the pattern - the border around it turns red, and when you save it (ctrl+s) it becomes gray again

there's also the "Help" button in the Pattern Editor screen

[Luap]

I should drop in on the IRC channel myself sometime and say Hi.
One of my x0xb0xes was a complete kit from Substyler. The other was self sourced with PCB's and MCU/USB chip from Adafruit. Both were built about 2 years ago. Both originally had 1.0.5 firmware installed. Then both later upgraded with various versions of Sokkos firmware (By rebooting Mac into Windows XP and using C0ntr0l). USB cable is known to be good, and is maybe a meter or so long.

So long as I remember to work swiftly and directly with it, c0nb0x seems to work quite well
I'll definitely keep exploring it though, particularly the pattern editor.

Oh! Btw.. is the app strictly 64bit? That may explain it not working on my other Mac which has 10.6 on it. It may well not be an issue with the OS. but the fact that Mac is older, and can only handle 32bit applications.

[gompie]

I should drop in on the IRC channel myself sometime and say Hi.
One of my x0xb0xes was a complete kit from Substyler. The other was self sourced with PCB's and MCU/USB chip from Adafruit. Both were built about 2 years ago. Both originally had 1.0.5 firmware installed. Then both later upgraded with various versions of Sokkos firmware (By rebooting Mac into Windows XP and using C0ntr0l). USB cable is known to be good, and is maybe a meter or so long.

So long as I remember to work swiftly and directly with it, c0nb0x seems to work quite well
I'll definitely keep exploring it though, particularly the pattern editor.

Oh! Btw.. is the app strictly 64bit? That may explain it not working on my other Mac which has 10.6 on it. It may well not be an issue with the OS. but the fact that Mac is older, and can only handle 32bit applications.

Snow Leopard should be able to handle 64bit applications just fine. The 64bit app support does not have anything to do with the kernel running on 64 or 32bit, as far as I understood. http://osx64bit.blogspot.nl/2009/08/64- ... ently.html

[gompie]

gompie came by the irc channel and i compiled a debug version which writes all data going thru the serial port into a log file, we made a number of tests and changed the conditions and what not..
the result is: his x0xb0x *did* send data over the serial port, but it appears to be all zero bytes (otherwise it's the correct number of bytes but their values are all zeros)
under the same conditions c0ntr0l didn't work either (of course)

Thanks again antto for the great amount of time you were willing to spend on figuring out the issue today! Although we could not get it to work, we definitely ruled out the possibility that the issue is software (c0nb0x) related.
So I can now focus again on the hardware and do some faultfinding in an area I better understand, electronics!
Once I lay hand on the issue, I'll post the issue and hopefully the solution here. Cheers!

[Luap]

Snow Leopard should be able to handle 64bit applications just fine. The 64bit app support does not have anything to do with the kernel running on 64 or 32bit, as far as I understood. http://osx64bit.blogspot.nl/2009/08/64- ... ently.html

Indeed, 10.6 can handle 64bit fine. It's my older Mac that runs it that is too old for 64bit however.
When I run c0nb0x on my later Mac which has 10.7 on it (hardware and OS being 64bit capable) it shows me that c0nb0x is running at 64bit, which I didn't expect. If it can only run at 64bit, then that explains why it doesn't run on my older Mac.

I went to IRC after you did, and also chatted with Annto. He figured that if it was compiled on 64bit hardware/software, then just maybe that also limited c0nb0x to 64bit. In which case it isn't an OS compatability issue like I initially thought, but more of a hardware issue. There can't be many people left running a 32 bit only core duo CPU anyway So I expect it should work for plenty of other 10.6 users.

More people really should be checking this out though!

Good talking to you on IRC earlier Annto

[darffader]

Havent tested on 32-bit, although I have specifically compiled for 10.6 32/64, there might be an error in my build config.
I can get my hands on an imac with snow leopard and core duo, so ill be able to fix that soon
Stay tuned;)

[Luap]

I could be barking up the wrong tree with the 32/64bit thing. But it was the only logical explanation I could think of for it not working on my older Mac. It would likely cause the symbol I saw on the icon too (White circle, with diagonal line through it)

[antto]

for the code we wrote for the serial port on mac, we used "old-school posix" functions, except for one newer function for setting the baudrate with ioctl() which is said to work on v 10.4 and above

other than this, i don't know, it's mostly up to allegro (and opengl)

[antto]

when you import patterns or eeprom from an old .xbp file (that's exported from c0ntr0l) there's a bug
i've fixed the bug now so it'll be in whatever the next version is

still, if someone badly needs to import a .xbp file with v0.99 - there's a quick way to make it work, just ask

[antto]

guys, if you have any suggestions and ideas about new features, or changes - do tell

for now, i have a few things in the wishlist:

1. Pattern Editor - "Auto Load/Save" option
instead of having to press CTRL+L and CTRL+S you'd enable this "Auto" mode, which would
reload the pattern when you change bank/slot, and save it to the x0x when you make changes to it


plus, i have some of my own things in the TODO list
1. A new menu "Convert Patterns" (will not require the x0x to be connected)
with this, you can open a .cxm file (which contains patterns in any of the known formats, they are 2 for now) and save it to a .cxm with a different pattern format, for example - load a .cxm which was exported from sokkos and convert the patterns to n0nx0x format
also, convert and save the patterns to a .nsm file, or split it into .nsp files (for individual loading)

i could add some other formats there too, like .303 (this is a plain-text TB-303 pattern format, ideal for pasting on forums..)

2. More nifty functions in the Pattern Editor, like:
- shifting the pattern (or individual attributes) left/right
- randomizing the order of the notes/steps/attributes
- generating random patterns

so do share any thoughts and ideas

EDIT: i forgot.. right now, there is only one way to change the note keys in the pattern editor - via pressing up/down which cycles the 13 keys
originally i was going to also assign buttons on the keyboard for directly setting the note
i mean like Q 2 W 3 E R 5 T6 Y 7 U I.. but someone told me some Mac users *might* not have a querty keyboard
so any thoughts about this are welcome too

[darffader]

The qwerty thing isnt mac specific
Azerty is default for france, belgium,..

[evostars]

Great timing!
I'm building a box that does not seam to have any firmware.

Just a question, the software works, but i need a .hex firmware file.
What is the best/latest and where do i find it?

[Luap]

Great timing!
I'm building a box that does not seam to have any firmware.

Just a question, the software works, but i need a .hex firmware file.
What is the best/latest and where do i find it?

You should find the firmware in the relevant threads for them here. They are usually stickies in the mods part of the forum.

You say you are building a x0x which seems not to have any firmware though? If the chip has no firmware, it may not have the bootloader (a kind of sub firmware) on it either, without that, you won't get the firmware on. At least not with c0nb0x anyway.

[evostars]

Great timing!
I'm building a box that does not seam to have any firmware.

Just a question, the software works, but i need a .hex firmware file.
What is the best/latest and where do i find it?

You should find the firmware in the relevant threads for them here. They are usually stickies in the mods part of the forum.

You say you are building a x0x which seems not to have any firmware though? If the chip has no firmware, it may not have the bootloader (a kind of sub firmware) on it either, without that, you won't get the firmware on. At least not with c0nb0x anyway.

I'll find out soon enough. I hope I'm lucky...

found these
sokkOS
viewtopic.php?f=13&t=3975
sokkOS 2.0 beta
viewtopic.php?f=13&t=19336