MagTag > Step-by-Step Help

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kpbarbee
 
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MagTag > Step-by-Step Help

Post by kpbarbee »

I am a total newbie to this so I bought the MagTag as (hopefully) an easy project for a beginner. Unfortunately (following the guides) I can't make it past using the Adafruit ESPTool (on Chrome). I'm on a MacBook Pro (2020).

I am able to connect to the MagTag, upload the .bin files into it using the Chrome tool. After I do that it says to press the MagTag "reset" button like a "double click" > it seems that the next thing that's supposed to happen is that something magically appears on you hard drive (see pic). I haven't gotten this far. What am I doing wrong?

Image

Any newbie micro-step-by-step instructions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

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dastels
 
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Re: MagTag > Step-by-Step Help

Post by dastels »

That picture is of your Mac? I see the CIRCUITPY drive mounted. That will be the MagTag's flash filesystem.

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kpbarbee
 
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Re: MagTag > Step-by-Step Help

Post by kpbarbee »

No, that picture I included is what I am supposed to see, but are not seeing in the Finder. After doing the installs etc., I don't see the "drive" installed...Is there a way to "refresh" the finder, or another way, to see if the install proceeded properly?

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dastels
 
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Re: MagTag > Step-by-Step Help

Post by dastels »

It will appear when it mounts.

Is it connecting at all? You should see a new device appear in /dev when you plug in the board.

Did you try using the UF2 bootloader? https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-mag ... -3078788-6

Dave

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kpbarbee
 
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Re: MagTag > Step-by-Step Help

Post by kpbarbee »

On this page tells me that the UF2 bootloader is already installed on my MagTag board because the face is black.
[ https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-mag ... -3078788-6 ]

Apparently though it's not loaded as it doesn't appear in my MacBook's Finder.
No-Circuit-Py.png
No-Circuit-Py.png (602.31 KiB) Viewed 513 times
So I downloaded the file. When I attempt to upload the UF2 file to the board (using chrome), it is "grayed out" in the finder and I am not allowed to select it.
No-Circuit-Py.png
No-Circuit-Py.png (602.31 KiB) Viewed 513 times
I'm such a newbie to this...The last time I programmed with a board was in 1995!
Is there some programmer or expert I can pay for an hour or two to get me set up with the board? I'm obviously doing something wrong as I don't think it should be this hard...

thanks!
Attachments
UFP-Grayed-Out-Cant-Add.png
UFP-Grayed-Out-Cant-Add.png (307.64 KiB) Viewed 513 times

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dastels
 
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Re: MagTag > Step-by-Step Help

Post by dastels »

What happens when you double-press reset? Can you get the MAGTAGBOOT drive to mount?

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kpbarbee
 
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Re: MagTag > Step-by-Step Help

Post by kpbarbee »

Yay! I finally got MagTagBoot to mount!! I guess it's all in the technique of the double-click.
I have proceeded with the installation of CircuitPython, edited my "secrets" file and saved it to MagTagBoot, and it was successful. Again, yay!

I can't seem to do "Open up your REPL" -- I do not know how to open a terminal window for the board, so I can only see a few lines on the eInk screen.
How do you open a terminal window for the MagTag?

Thank you!

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dastels
 
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Re: MagTag > Step-by-Step Help

Post by dastels »

Using screen inside Terminal.app will work well. Both are included with MacOS. See https://geekinc.ca/using-screen-as-a-se ... -mac-os-x/.

Use screen to connect to the port that was added to /dev when you connected the MagTag. For more on the REPL see
url]https://learn.adafruit.com/welcome-to-c ... al-console[/url]
https://learn.adafruit.com/welcome-to-c ... al-console
https://learn.adafruit.com/welcome-to-c ... n/the-repl

Dave

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kpbarbee
 
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Re: MagTag > Step-by-Step Help

Post by kpbarbee »

Thanks - that helped a lot! Much appreciated!
I got the MagTag working and loaded up with a program -- appreciate everyone's helpful comments. THANKS!

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