Cannot flash despite installing the board, the probe and being on the right port :)

Daja · July 20, 2022, 8:44am

Hello!
We met at Embedded World and I really liked Embeetle.

I am trying it on Ubuntu 22, and struggling with a simple flash on my board.
I did install the board and the probe as per the instruction (it is not a clone). I am flashing on ACM1 as where the board is.
I get this error (install the board)

What do you think is going here :)?

# ----------------------------------------------------------
#        __         **************
#       / /_        * make flash *
#      /_  /        **************
#        /` 
#       ` 
#  Operating system:    
#  Shell:               /bin/sh
#  Shell style:         sh
#  Source folder:       /home/me/arduino_due_blinky
#  Build folder:        /home/me/arduino_due_blinky/build
# ----------------------------------------------------------
stty 1200 raw ignbrk hup < /dev/ttyACM1
"openocd" --info \
                 --port=/dev/ttyACM1 \
                 --force_usb_port=false \
                 --erase \
                 --write \
                 --verify \
                 --boot=1 \
                 --reset \
                 application.bin
Open On-Chip Debugger 0.11.0
Licensed under GNU GPL v2
For bug reports, read
http://openocd.org/doc/doxygen/bugs.html
openocd: unrecognized option '--info'
make: *** [../config/dashboard.mk:192: flash] Error 1
make: Leaving directory '/home/me/arduino_due_blinky/build'
/usr/bin/make: exit code '2'

/home/me/arduino_due_blinky$  

___________________________________________________________________________________
| Flashing failed.                                                                |
| Did you install the board (or flash/debug probe)?                               |
|                                                                                 |
| Check the board installation instructions here:                                 |
|     https://embeetle.com/#supported-hardware/arduino/boards/due                 |
|                                                                                 |
| Check the flash/debug probe installation instructions here:                     |
|     https://embeetle.com/#supported-hardware/arduino/probes/default             |
|_________________________________________________________________________________|

kristof · July 20, 2022, 12:11pm

Hi @Daja ,
Thank you for reaching out to us.

I see you’re using an Arduino Due board.

Normally the flashtool Bossac should be selected instead of OpenOCD for the board you’re using. You can check that in Dashboard > Tools > Flashtool

Also make sure you installed your Arduino board on Ubuntu:
https://embeetle.com/#supported-hardware/arduino/probes/default

If this didn’t help, we can schedule a video call on Friday. When would be convenient for you? I can make myself available on Friday whole day, except the evening (Belgian timezone).

Kind regards,
Kristof

Daja · July 22, 2022, 6:20am

Dear Kristof,

Sorry for the late reply, I could not come back to you yesterday, so I do it first thing in the morning !

One of the errors was on me. I do not know how the file structure works (yet) and I imported the first blinky file I saw from the embeetle server. But the Uno R3 and the Due have a different chip.

This time I chose the right board. The board is detected on ACM0 and I am in the dialout group.

Now I have an error with avrdude:

# ----------------------------------------------------------
"/usr/bin/avrdude" -C "/usr/etc/avrdude.conf" \
                 -v \
                 -patmega328p \
                 -carduino \
                 -P/dev/ttyS5 \
                 -b115200 \
                 -D \
                 -Uflash:w:application.hex:i

avrdude: Version 6.3-20171130
         Copyright (c) 2000-2005 Brian Dean, http://www.bdmicro.com/
         Copyright (c) 2007-2014 Joerg Wunsch

         System wide configuration file is "/usr/etc/avrdude.conf"
avrdude: can't open config file "/usr/etc/avrdude.conf": No such file or directory
avrdude: error reading system wide configuration file "/usr/etc/avrdude.conf"
make: *** [../config/dashboard.mk:172: flash] Error 1
make: Leaving directory '/home/aissata/Desktop/embeetle/embeetle/projects/arduino_uno_r3_blinky/build'
/usr/bin/make: exit code '2'

What do you think it is?

Thank you very much for offering the call, if we don’t make it work we can do that later today

kristof · July 22, 2022, 10:15am

Hi @Daja ,

The Arduino Uno and Arduino Nano boards use avrdude to flash their chip. The Arduino Due uses bossac. Which board do you have?

I’ll explain below how to use both of these tools.

1. How to use bossac

Make sure you have an Arduino Due board. Open the Arduino Due Blinky project and go into the Dashboard. Go to the Flashtool dropdown menu and select the bossac tool:

If the tool is not yet on your computer, Embeetle will download bossac now. Wait for that to complete. Then try to flash again.

Let me know if anything goes wrong. I’m here to help.

2. How to use avrdude

Make sure you have an Arduino Nano, Uno or Mega board. These boards all use the avrdude tool to flash their chip. Unfortunately, the following error is very common:

avrdude: can't open config file "/usr/etc/avrdude.conf": No such file or directory

I’ll explain below why you get this error, and how to fix it.

2.1 Background info

PS: You can skip this background info if you just need a quick fix

Here is an interesting link to explain why you get the error that the configuration file avrdude.conf is not found. It’s actually a GitHub issue I filed some months ago:

github.com/avrdudes/avrdude

Avrdude always needs the absolute path to avrdude.conf

opened 08:35PM - 21 Dec 21 UTC

closed 11:21PM - 08 Jan 22 UTC

kristofmulier

question

Whenever one launches `avrdude`, it seems like the full absolute path to the `av…rdude.conf` file must be given with the `-C` argument. I tried with a relative path (relative to the `avrdude` executable, something like `../etc/avrdude.conf`) but that doesn't work. Avrdude absolutely wants the *absolute* path. In the makefile that we created for Embeetle IDE, we therefore end up with monstruous expressions, like: ```makefile FLASHTOOL_PATH = $(if $(filter $(dir .),$(dir $(FLASHTOOL))),$(firstword $(wildcard $(patsubst %,%/$(FLASHTOOL),$(subst $(PATHSEP), ,$(PATH))))),$(FLASHTOOL)) .PHONY: flash flash: $(BINARIES) print_flash "$(FLASHTOOL)" -C "$(subst /bin/../,/,$(subst /avrdude\$,,$(FLASHTOOL_PATH)\$)/../)etc/avrdude.conf" \ -v \ -patmega328p \ -carduino \ -P$(FLASH_PORT) \ -b115200 \ -D \ -Uflash:w:$(ELF_FILE:.elf=.hex):i ``` It would be so much easier if one could pass a *relative* path in the `-C` argument. Or even if the `-C` argument could be left out alltogether and `avrdude` looks itself for the file at `../etc/avrdude.conf`.

After filing this GitHub issue, the avrdude authors helped me to fix it in the avrdude source code. I did so, and pushed my fix upstream:

github.com/avrdudes/avrdude

Find 'avrdude.conf' based on absolute path to executable

avrdudes:main ← kristofmulier:main

opened 11:41AM - 24 Dec 21 UTC

kristofmulier

+1003 -15

<h2>1. General idea</h2> This pull request is all about improving the way `av…rdude.conf` is found. As suggested by @dl8dtl (see https://github.com/avrdudes/avrdude/issues/770), the file will now be searched in this order: 1. `<dirpath of executable>/../etc/avrdude.conf`<br>This is the most likely location. Every AVRDUDE installation I have ever seen puts the `avrdude.conf` file here. 2. `<dirpath of executable>/avrdude.conf`<br>Having `avrdude.conf` right next to the executable is somewhat unlikely (especially for Unix systems), but can sometimes happen on Windows. 3. `CONFIG_DIR/avrdude.conf`<br>If `avrdude.conf` was not found near the executable, the 'old' system kicks in and looks for the file in a location like `/usr/local/etc/avrdude.conf`. The code to do this is unaffected. I just moved it a bit and put it in an if-block, such that it only kicks in if nr. 1 and nr. 2 both failed to locate the file.  <br> <h2>2. Executable location</h2> Of course, this new procedure to look for `avrdude.conf` requires the location of the AVRDUDE executable in the first place. That's far from easy. I got it solved with the **whereami** library: https://github.com/gpakosz/whereami/tree/master/src I only needed to drop in these two files: - `whereami.c` - `whereami.h` After that, I could use the `wai_getExecutablePath()` function to obtain the executable abspath, the length of that path and the length of its dirpath (the path to the directory of the executable). With all of this, it's a piece of cake to create the following local variables: - `executable_abspath` (eg. `/home/kristof/avrdude/src/avrdude`) - `executable_abspath_len` (eg. `33`) - `executable_dirpath` (eg. `/home/kristof/avrdude/src`) - `executable_dirpath_len` (eg. `25`) I turn all backslashes into forward slashes. This way, it should all work on Windows too. Unfortunately, I can't test it on Windows myself. I currently work on Ubuntu and would love to cross-compile it here to create a Windows distribution of AVRDUDE. Is that possible? Thanks a lot @dl8dtl and @mariusgreuel for your help!

In other words, the problem is solved in avrdude version 7.0!

2.2 Quick fix

If you just want a quick fix, I suggest you download the latest version of avrdude (should be at least version 7). We did not yet put this version of avrdude on our public server, but we’ll do that when the next release is ready (probably somewhere next week). Meanwhile, you can download it from our test-server:

https://new.embeetle.com/downloads/beetle_tools/linux/avrdude_7.0.0_64b.7z

Drop the downloaded avrdude_7.0.0_64b.7z somewhere on your computer and unzip it. Then, launch Embeetle. Embeetle always launches the Home Window first. Go into its Toolbox tab:

Click on Flash Tool and choose add tool. Select the option Locate on my computer:

Finally, point at the avrdude executable:

In my case, the APPLY button is greyed out for reasons that are not relevant to you now. But in your case, it should be possible to click APPLY. From that moment on, Embeetle should know where to find the avrdude tool you just downloaded.

Now open your project again in Embeetle IDE and navigate to the Dashboard. The avrdude version you just downloaded should be in the dropdown list for the Flashtool:

If you cannot see it in the dropdown list, just restart Embeetle and try again.

2.3 Final notes

I just like to mention that the next release of Embeetle will provide the latest version of avrdude for direct download from our server. In other words, we are very well aware of the problem and we make sure that our users won’t experience it anymore in the future. However, I hope that the manual fixes explained above can help you in the meantime.

Please let me know if my reply helped you to get your project working.

Kind regards,
Kristof Mulier

kristof · July 22, 2022, 5:59pm

Hi @Daja ,
Our conversation inspired us to improve the error message for flash fails. Users who still have an old version of avrdude will see the following error message if flashing fails:

Thanks for your feedback. You just made Embeetle IDE better

Kind regards,
Kristof

Daja · July 25, 2022, 11:32am

Dear Kristof,

Thank you very much for the detailed explanation.

I learned tons and happy to have been able to help you in the process.

I will wait for you to make it available in your servers. I have Linux and the avrdude I have at my disposal is version 6.

Looking forward to keep the avrdude adventure!

kristof · July 25, 2022, 11:48am

Hahaha, now I remember again that chapter about the “terrible config file” I wrote long time ago:
https://embeetle.com/#embeetle-ide/manual/flash/flash-tools/avrdude

AVRDUDE is great in many ways, but passing that config file was really terrible. I’m happy it’s solved in v7.0.0. I’ll send you a mail when the next version of Embeetle is online such that you can try it out.

Kind regards,
Kristof

Daja · July 25, 2022, 12:40pm

Yeah that’s great documentation, made me smile (and again, learned tons…)

Thank you Kristof.