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Forum Index : Microcontroller and PC projects : TFT Maximite for UBW32
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Zonker Guru  Joined: 18/08/2012 Location: United StatesPosts: 761 |
Is there a current version of the TFT-Maximite code that is loadable to the UBW32 using the USB port ?.. I am using the v4.4 version from Jman but the demos don't seem to run without causing syantax errors... Example: Y = touched(#Y) will cause an error.. In the SKETCH program, there is a line that uses touched(#S)... I can't seem to find that (#S) in the manual.. Also, some of the objects, like LED's don't seem to draw Not sure what to do with this... I am still running the UBW32 with the original boot loader in it. Maybe that's the problem... Not sure... 
Any advice from anybody would be quite helpful. Thanks.!! |
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| JohnS Guru Joined: 18/11/2011 Location: United KingdomPosts: 3804 |
Never heard of that # stuff in MMBasic where did you get it / why do you think it's in MMBasic? Does MMBasic run as-is on UBW32 - it's missing lots of hardware, isn't it? John |
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MicroBlocks Guru Joined: 12/05/2012 Location: ThailandPosts: 2209 |
The UBW32 was used to develop the CMM so it will work when adding the needed parts. I have got one working by just adding a few resistors and diodes for the VGA. PS/2 keyboard, SD card, RTC are not necessary to get it working through a terminal. The TFT version is a variation and the schematics are available. If you wire the UBW32 according to that schematic i wold see no reason why it would not work. It could be that a few ports are used for leds and switches, in that case some soldering is required. Microblocks. Build with logic. |
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| Zonker Guru Joined: 18/08/2012 Location: United StatesPosts: 761 |
Oops, Sorry guys, I guess a rewind is in order... Several months back, Bovist got a special version of MM Basic modified so that you could connect it to LCD Display modules instead of a VGA screen, and added in touch control as well. (awesome!) Jman was one of the first to get a 5" Innolux A050-33 LCD touch display unit working with a UBW32 as the MM engine. Since I had a UBW32, I thought, this is the project for me... I had an idea to prototype up an EIS system, and this combination UI would save me more than half the cost of using a touch display from 4-D systems. Thanks to lots of help from Jman, I managed to get one booted up and working.  The Things I was asking about are from the "TFT" version of the firmware, and are in the PDF manual of new LCD commands...
I think this subsystem is an awesome addition to the MM project as a whole and quite useful for many projects out there... Next, I think I will try to find my PICkit-3 and download the version of firmware that includes the replacement bootloader and try the demo code examples again... More info: http://geoffg.net/tft-maximite.html Thanks goes out to everyone here at the shed for all the help to get this far..! Zonker |
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| cosmic frog Senior Member  Joined: 09/02/2012 Location: United KingdomPosts: 284 |
If I wanted to make a UBW32 TFT-Maximite where would I find all the info needed? Thanks. Dave. |
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| JohnS Guru Joined: 18/11/2011 Location: United KingdomPosts: 3804 |
Well, live and learn. I knew about the TFT etc but not the # What weird syntax. John |
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| Zonker Guru Joined: 18/08/2012 Location: United StatesPosts: 761 |
Good evening gents... Just an update. Dave wanted to know how to gather the things to build one.. Well, I found the same 5" display that Jman was testing out from of all places, Amazon.com. They sell them as replacement screens for phones I think.. Got 2 for about $50.. not to bad.. I wanted to tame down the 40 pins coming out of the display to just the 16 wires needed to drive the interface before heading off to the UBW32, so I got a 40 pin display interface board from Newheaven display. They offer several types of boards that should work ok. I got the NHD FFC40 board. If you follow the posts from Bovist, he points to a place on GitHub that has download firmware and doc's... Also, Geoff has a website (mentioned above) that has information also. I started with the "Bovist_mm_hex.hex" file loading over the USB port. After adding an extra wire I had somehow left out, I got the basic unit booting. After going over a few of the demo programs, I noticed that many of them were producing syntax errors when trying to run them. After playing around with the example code awhile, I found out how to redo the statements to avoid the syntax errors. Now, to follow this, you will have to read the PDT doc's on the LCD commands, but lets pick one of the commands used to create an active object on the screen. Touch Size 25,100 Touch Create 6,370,50,"",purple,V,B,N,D After setting the size, you would create a vertical purple slider object 6 like seen in the SLIDER.BAS demo program. It looks good and seems to fit the descriptions in the PDF doc file, but was causing the syntax error when run. By leaving off the commas on the "options" section, I got the object to draw ok. Touch Create 6,370,50,"",purple,V,BND Another example in the SKETCH demo checks if the last user touch is within a certain area of the screen, and if so, draws a small circle where the user touched the screen. I think the (#S) thing was a typo and should be (#Y). if Touched(#Y) and Touched(#X) < 360 then Circle(Touched(#X),Touched(#Y)),2,my_colour,F endif The Touched functions should be returning the X and Y position of the touch and if in range, draws the circle at the users touch point... nope, syntax error... oh boy.. here we go again.. Anyway, the answer to this might be having a version of firmware that is not as "fresh" as it should be. Not sure... I was wanting to try out the version of firmware offered at the Geoff site, but the image includes the boot loader so you have to program it with a PICkit-3 device. I have one and will try to get it setup and working to try out that firmware. Jman also sent me a v4.4 image that seems to load ok over the USB with the original UBW32 boot loader. This is what I have been playing around with the last few days... 2013-11-04_052332_TFT_Maximite_MMBasic_V4.4.zip Well Gent's, that's as far as I got this weekend. Work starts at 6 and it's getting late... Bummer, I need more vacation time dammit..!! Hope this helps you out Dave with trying to get one of these things built..! I think it could be an awesome piece of kit this one..!! Zonk |
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Geoffg Guru Joined: 06/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 3194 |
Hi Zonker and everyone. One of the issues with the code for the TFT Maximite was that it was evolving as new touch screen features were tested and sometimes discarded. The code is stable now and I have updated the documentation to match. You can download both from http://geoffg.net/tft-maximite.html (scroll down to the bottom of the page). Be aware that some of the early demos are now incompatible with the latest release (V4.4B). Also, the source for all versions (including the TFT Maximite) is available from http://mmbasic.com. I should mention that there is a new version of MMBasic (V4.4B). This fixed two minor bugs but the main reason for its release was that it included support for the TFT Maximite. I have one of them and it is a delight to use. The display is bright and generates vivid colours with sharp images. The whole package (Maximite + LCD display) is just a little larger than the LCD display itself and it makes a neat package which can be easily mounted in a panel. My web page (http://geoffg.net/tft-maximite.html) has more information plus a pointer to the schematic and other data that was developed by Carsten Meyer (Bovist) for c't magazine. Zonker, to save you having to dig out your PICKit3, attached is a version of 4.4B for the TFT Maximite without the bootloader. 2013-11-04_133928_TFT_Maximite_MMBasic_V4.4B.zip. Don't forget to download the latest documentation to match. I hope that you have fun with it, Geoff Geoff Graham - http://geoffg.net |
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darthmite Senior Member Joined: 20/11/2011 Location: FrancePosts: 240 |
Hi Geoff ;) Great to see this project come true :) On your page it's a little error on the Segor link to get the new TFT MM :) put this one for have the page to choose one of the 3 models : TFT Maximite Good to see that they have plan 3 different model ;) 4.3" , 5" and without LCD ... so we can choose. Cheers. Darth. Theory is when we know everything but nothing work ... Practice is when everything work but no one know why ;) |
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| Zonker Guru Joined: 18/08/2012 Location: United StatesPosts: 761 |
Thank you very much Geoff..! I will gather the downloads, kill off the old demos and doc's, and start testing things tonight... awesome..! Update: The new firmware seems to be running all the demo programs just fine..!! Big thanks goes out to Geoff, Bovist and Jman for help and foresight that makes this device do most of the work..!! Should make an excellent platform.... I am excited like a little kid..!! 
Looks like I will get my Christmas present early this year..!! (nice) |
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| paceman Guru Joined: 07/10/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1329 |
Hi Geoff, something about this link doesn't work on my system but the address as shown in the post does work. Greg |
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atmega8 Guru Joined: 19/11/2013 Location: GermanyPosts: 722 |
Hello Zonker, i have some UBW 32 running the color mmbasic on it. I have also a 5.5 " display from segor germany. My idea was to connect the UBW32 to the Display. As you have already done so, could you please be so friendly to post the wiring plan/schematic for this? My idea was also to develop a little adapter to help all interested UBW32 users to connect the devices with minimal effort and to post the layout for everyone. The days are getting longer an cold here in Germany, so i think i will find some time for this helpfull adapter. Thank you Zonker and all the old "retired" Retro enthusiast's 
Dietmar |
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| Zonker Guru Joined: 18/08/2012 Location: United StatesPosts: 761 |
Good evening Dietmar..!! Sorry about the late response, been away for a couple... I think the first thing to do is check out you display interface to see if it matches up with the group of units that have been proven to work ok.. When I read that Jman had gotten a 5" display (InnoLux A050-33-TT-01) working, I went for that one because, I figure, the bigger, the better... So, If you got a 5.5".. well... I want to be checking it out too..!! Could you post some PDF doc's about it..? Anyway, the next thing is deciding what type of display interface to use. I ended up using a converter board from Newhaven Displays. That way, I got to reduce the number of wires to 16, then just run them over to the prototype board where the UBW32 sits using a standard 16 pin IDC connector. The information about the schematic is at GitHub... Look for the post from Bovist about the announcement of the TFT Maximite. The new updated code should be there also... You will need the version 1.3 drawings, and also the UBW32 drawings to get started putting things together.. For mine, I left off the keyboard interface and do the small editing thru the USB port using TeraTerm. Also get a download of MM-Edit. This helps with doing the larger editing tasks... So, you said you got your display at Segor..? Humm, did you know that they are offering pre-built Bovist designed LCD panels ready to go..? I tried to order one, but can't seem to get past the order info section. I don't speak German, so I tried using a translator, but it doesn't work with there website very well... (bummer)... So, it would be easer to just order one ready made than spend the time building up a proto.. If you do end up ordering one from Segor, could you get one too..!! I could Pay-Pal you the money.. Anyway, Thanks Dietmar for listening to all my babble...! I think the more people we get working on this TFT Maximite hardware, the better..!! I do like the price point of the combination. I do like some of the suggestions about using the FTDI chip as a GPU subsystem add-on, but that would require a huge firmware rewrite on Geoff's part... Maybe a good idea... Also, the new "MZ" series of PIC-32's is being released, so there is a lot of stuff to be considered carefully before Geoff makes the next move.. I think he will take some time to do this.. He is a very good thinker about considering the want's and needs of the MM group as a whole, and I trust his judgment very much in this area.. I, for one can't wait to see what happens next..!! It's gonna be good..!! |
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| paceman Guru Joined: 07/10/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1329 |
Still waiting for my Innolux screen but I've just ordered a couple of the 40 pin connectors from Element 14 to try out. One is the HiRose FH12S-40S-0.5SH(55) at $6.45 ea and the other is a Multicomp 1226-40-02-H12 for the princely sum of $0.65 as a stock runout - it'll be interesting to see how that one goes! I decided the HiRose FH19 series looked way too flimsy.
There's also a MOLEX 541044031 available at $2.28 which looks reasonable but I haven't ordered that. Greg |
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