#flex-dev Logs

Aug 10 2025

04:50 AM JT-Cave: morning
05:04 AM Tom_L: morning
05:06 AM Tom_L: mesaflash is up to 3.5.16 m pe
05:06 AM Tom_L: now
05:08 AM Tom_L: peter fixed the --backup-flash and --restore-flash for spi
05:08 AM Tom_L: and it's been tested
05:10 AM Tom_L: those do a raw eeprom read/write
05:26 AM JT-Cave: cool
05:37 AM JT-Cave: mrs got up so she must feel like walking this morning
05:38 AM JT-Cave: had to get her some shoes with good ankle support as she stepped wrong twice and fell down
07:39 AM Tom_L: that's not good
07:39 AM Tom_L: raining here
07:55 AM rdtsc: lets see, sudo apt search mesaflash shows 3.4.9-1... wonder if there's another repo that can be added for the newer versions
07:56 AM rdtsc: ruh-roh... N: Repository 'http://deb.debian.org/debian bookworm InRelease' changed its 'Suite' value from 'stable' to 'oldstable'
07:59 AM rdtsc: looks like last change to https://github.com/LinuxCNC/mesaflash was three weeks ago
08:01 AM rdtsc: oh no wait, 11h ago by pcw. okay so that is the latest source
08:04 AM rdtsc: okay so if somehow you mis-clicked and separated github origin/master into a HEAD branch, how is that merged back together without creating a PR in the process? tried merge, tried rebase
08:07 AM Tom_L: yeah we fixed spi raw read write last night
08:08 AM Tom_L: not one you would normally use
08:08 AM Tom_L: --backup-flash and --restore-flash
08:09 AM Tom_L: https://github.com/linuxCNC/mesaflash
08:10 AM Tom_L: also trixie was released yesterday
08:10 AM Tom_L: supposedly has lcnc 2.9.4
08:10 AM Tom_L: rpi version is still buggy
08:12 AM rdtsc: made a ~/Programming folder on the rpi, with my github versions of flex and mesact (and now mesaflash) with scripts for fast pull, build, and install
08:12 AM Tom_L: i have most of the mesaflash if you 'need' them
08:12 AM rdtsc: they were updated on the linuxcnc github, just need to pull and rebuild
08:13 AM Tom_L: yep
08:13 AM Tom_L: sudo make install
08:13 AM Tom_L: o
08:13 AM Tom_L: i'm trying to talk peter into adding a --read switch
08:14 AM Tom_L: to save the loaded firmware to file
08:14 AM Tom_L: right now you have to save the entire eeprom
08:16 AM Tom_L: https://github.com/LinuxCNC/mesaflash/tags
08:16 AM Tom_L: there's most of them
08:17 AM rdtsc: uh-oh... sudo make install Makefile:57: *** "pkg-config can't find libpci". Stop.
08:17 AM Tom_L: you didn't read the readme
08:17 AM Tom_L: needs 2 libs
08:17 AM rdtsc: know i've built it before, hmmm
08:18 AM Tom_L: i know that one builds
08:18 AM Tom_L: i put it on 2 boards
08:18 AM Tom_L: it's not one you need
08:18 AM Tom_L: just for that raw read write stuff
08:19 AM rdtsc: it must be sudo apt install libpci-dev is new perhaps
08:19 AM rdtsc: and libmd-dev
08:19 AM Tom_L: sudo apt install libpci-dev libmd-dev pkg-config build-essential git
08:20 AM Tom_L: from readme.md
08:20 AM rdtsc: aahh there we go, 3.5.16
08:21 AM Tom_L: i've been trying to get all the spi stuff fixed
08:21 AM Tom_L: how big a psu do you have on your 7c80?
08:22 AM Tom_L: and does yours power the rpi thru the ribbon?
08:23 AM rdtsc: currently using a 12V, 6A PSU and yes, through the ribbon... that maxxes the individual pins' current-carrying capacity but it seems stable
08:23 AM rdtsc: offloaded most of the USB current through a USB hub
08:23 AM Tom_L: i found a 1.5k ma one in the drawer o wallwarts that works for testing
08:23 AM rdtsc: powered, industrial USB hub
08:24 AM Tom_L: i didn't see a jumper to power the rpi separate...
08:24 AM Tom_L: is there one?
08:26 AM rdtsc: on the 7c80, no... the on-board DC-DC converter is adequate for the job though
08:26 AM rdtsc: doesn't even get warm
08:26 AM Tom_L: ok
08:26 AM rdtsc: well i do have a fan on everything though
08:27 AM Tom_L: getting a spare rpi5 today
08:27 AM Tom_L: i'll mount it to that board probably
08:28 AM Tom_L: how do you find the firmware version? i forgot
08:28 AM Tom_L: wanna see if these are the same
08:28 AM Tom_L: once it arrives
08:28 AM rdtsc: it's a typical DC-DC switcher; if the rpi needs 15W, then slightly more than that will need to power the 7c80, whether that be at 9V or 40V
08:29 AM rdtsc: which firmware version, the 7c80?
08:29 AM Tom_L: the rpi
08:30 AM rdtsc: ahhh, umm some obscure firmware command, something like firmware-update... checking
08:30 AM Tom_L: i recall ours are different
08:31 AM rdtsc: try rpi-eeprom-update to show current, prepend sudo to change it
08:31 AM Tom_L: ok i'll check after bit
08:31 AM rdtsc: think that goes from a repo which is not always latest
08:32 AM rdtsc: mine reports CURRENT: Wed Jan 22 12:16:51 AM UTC 2025 (1737505011)
08:32 AM Tom_L: i was thinking something reported a version
08:32 AM Tom_L: maybe not, maybe just the date
08:33 AM rdtsc: have a backup ready, in case it borks something
08:33 AM rdtsc: I made a script to backup the /boot folder to /boot-old...
08:35 AM Tom_L: now we need to get the write/verify working for spi on mesact
08:35 AM Tom_L: readhmid works across the board now
08:35 AM Tom_L: 7i90 was a name issue
08:36 AM rdtsc: https://forum.linuxcnc.org/38-general-linuxcnc-questions/56437-rpi5-decided-to-make-backup-script-for-boot#330642
08:36 AM Tom_L: i think i saw that
08:37 AM rdtsc: things have been (knock on wood) all stable since creating the backup heheh
08:38 AM Tom_L: nothing breaks until you don't have a spare
08:41 AM rdtsc: I tried mesact --> Firmware --> Verify it switched to the I/O Map tab and reported Read HMID Returned: Failed No 7C80 board found
08:41 AM Tom_L: you don't have the latest mesact
08:42 AM Tom_L: it hasn't been built yet :)
08:42 AM rdtsc: aah okie :
08:42 AM Tom_L: i can get you one if you want
08:42 AM Tom_L: arm64?
08:42 AM rdtsc: she's wanting to go to Costco, so might have to raincheck
08:43 AM Tom_L: he hasn't pulled the request yet
08:43 AM rdtsc: in the About Mesact it reads 'Copyright 1953-2023 JT' hehehe
08:44 AM rdtsc: it's good to have a sense of humor :)
08:45 AM Tom_L: http://tom-itx.no-ip.biz:443/~webpage/cnc/JT-SHOP/flexgui/
08:45 AM Tom_L: i put some debs there
08:45 AM Tom_L: those should be up to date
08:45 AM Tom_L: for mesact at least
08:47 AM rdtsc: mesact is smart enough to know that linuxcnc was running and not try to run mesaflash, nice
08:48 AM rdtsc: worked; into on !/O map tab, just didn't auto-move to that tab
08:48 AM rdtsc: *info
08:48 AM rdtsc: ok gotta run
08:48 AM Tom_L: have fun
09:12 AM JT-Cave: looks like we have a bit of rain next week
09:29 AM Tom_L: got a little overnight
10:35 AM JT-Cave: nap time now that I've cooled off a bit
02:15 PM JT-Mobile: Yo
03:24 PM Tom_L: yo
03:45 PM xxcoder: lo
06:59 PM JT-Shop: whew
07:03 PM Tom_L: a day ehh?
07:04 PM Tom_L: got some spare parts mounted to the 7c80 now
07:19 PM Tom_L: hmm, heavy t-storms overnite
07:27 PM * JT-Shop calls it a day and looks at the mountain of norton from Chaumette
07:37 PM Tom_L: stocked up ehh