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TashTalk: Single-Chip LocalTalk Interface

tashtari

PIC Whisperer
I probably should have done this earlier, but here's a hex file containing version 20210914 of the TashTalk firmware, so nobody has to bother with getting MPLAB 8 set up to compile it. Source code and license info at https://github.com/lampmerchant/tashtalk.
 

Attachments

  • tashtalk-20210914.zip
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bdurbrow

Well-known member
Well, it's all up in the air now... literally. DHL says the PCBs have departed Hong Kong, and gives an estimated arrival of the 27th, here.

The female headers (stacking and regular) have arrived; so the only thing I'm waiting on is the blank boards themselves.
 

cheesestraws

Well-known member
As a note, I've seen some decided oddness with a tashtalk PIC I programmed with a TL866 II, which we (@tashtari and I) both think might be due to the programmer not setting the configuration register properly. The pin that ought to be a UART output looks rather like this (pink trace; the yellow is the incoming LocalTalk):

xxCNK6V.png

Which is very wrong any way you look at it. Looks like it's being tristated for some reason. I have a pickit on the way to validate the theory that it's the programmer, but @bdurbrow you may wish to be aware of this...
 

tashtari

PIC Whisperer
It looks like the PICkit2 will support the PIC12F1840:

 

bdurbrow

Well-known member
Well, the good news is that the PCBs have arrived early, and look OK.

The bad news is that everything else in my life has gone sideways all of a sudden, and I'm starting to wonder if I'm in a handbasket and where it's headed, if you know what I mean. This might delay production & mailing.



If anyone was wondering:

Both of our cars are broken (cyl 1 total misfire on one, probably a failed ignition coil module, parts & tools arrive sometime today though; and the main 12v battery on the other has developed an internal short and because it's a hybrid it takes a special AGM battery mounted in the back of the car oh and yes, you do need a more expensive scan tool to reset the battery management computer so it doesn't fry the new one, and to top that off the battery is totally out of stock locally and had to be ordered online and arrives on thursday and holy run on sentence Batman that was a mouthful). The trench for the power panel upgrade that's needed for the solar installation we're doing (because the PG&E bills here in the summer are astronomical) is now flooded by this weekend's record-breaking storm, and I have to deal with that; and then there's my kitty, who the vet said this weekend has perhaps a week or two left to live, a month if she's really lucky, and she needs subcutaneous fluids administered daily with a rig resembling an IV drip line. She does NOT like getting poked with a needle... but fortunately it's a 5-min procedure.

So, um, yeah... I'll try to get them together, but I don't know how long it's going to actually take.
 

NJRoadfan

Well-known member
the main 12v battery on the other has developed an internal short and because it's a hybrid it takes a special AGM battery mounted in the back of the car oh and yes, you do need a more expensive scan tool to reset the battery management computer so it doesn't fry the new one, and to top that off the battery is totally out of stock locally and had to be ordered online and arrives on thursday and holy run on sentence Batman that was a mouthful).
Sounds German, like Audi for some reason.
 

bdurbrow

Well-known member
Sounds German, like Audi for some reason.
Japaneese, actually. We picked up a used Lexus ct200h a few years ago for almost nothing considering that it was in practically mint condition; and this battery issue is the first problem we've had with it (I don't really blame Lexus - lead acid batteries can go bad all by themselves, if it develops a short between the plates; and unlike a regular car where the engine is always turning the alternator, you really do need a deep-discharge battery). It's just the timing of it couldn't be worse.
 

aperezbios

Well-known member
The bad news is that everything else in my life has gone sideways all of a sudden, and I'm starting to wonder if I'm in a handbasket and where it's headed, if you know what I mean. This might delay production & mailing.
Very sorry to hear it. I sent you a PM just now with an offer to help, if you're interested.
 

cheesestraws

Well-known member
Further to the above: it definitely looks like my issues were to do with using the TL866 II. Programming with the pickit seems to be resulting in a working chip (at least from peering at it on the scope). UART up next...
 

aperezbios

Well-known member
Further to the above: it definitely looks like my issues were to do with using the TL866 II. Programming with the pickit seems to be resulting in a working chip (at least from peering at it on the scope). UART up next...
Thanks, this is good information to disseminate, but that's so strange. Which version of the pickit do you have?
 

cheesestraws

Well-known member
Thanks, this is good information to disseminate, but that's so strange. Which version of the pickit do you have?

pickit 3, generic clone thereof off ebay. In fairness to it, the TL866 II doesn't claim to program the 12F1840, but it does claim to program chips that are identical except for the amount of memory, and it did claim to have programmed my chip successfully. However, the resulting chip very definitely did not work (see above oscilloscope trace) and I haven't yet convinced the pickit to recover the chip (I get an error about an unsupported combination of features that I do not yet understand; but this may well be just me, I've only been playing with this thing for two evenings so far). So probably best avoided unless someone better at this than me can explain what happened :).
 

bdurbrow

Well-known member
There’s going to be a bit more delay.

We had to put our kitty to sleep this morning at the vet after she started hemorrhaging internally; and I just don’t trust myself with a hot soldering iron right now.

I’ll let you all know when I actually make some progress.
 
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