Deviation for Devo F4?

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27 Mar 2016 20:03 #45291 by PhracturedBlue
Replied by PhracturedBlue on topic Deviation for Devo F4?
You've probably noticed that I am back to some extent now. I didn't read through everything, but it appears from what I've seen the the F4 is basically an F7 without any switches. Is that about right?

The F7 is a difficult beast because it has a combination of issues:
1) tiny CPU that can't hold all the code (similar to the 7e)
2) tiny external flash which can't hold much of anything (unlike the 7e)

I think I figured that you could hold no more than 2 or 3 protocols on the F7 which is pretty limiting. And it requires my custom FS to even get that far. You might support up to 10 models among those couple protocols.

Did Walkera ever release firmware for the F4? Without it it is difficult to go back to stock (it can theoretically be done by dumping pieces of the firmware from multiple transmitters and stitching it into a single dfu, but it would be risky)

It is possible that the F7 firmware would work on and F7 (at least for basic tests). Has anyone tried it? We'd probably need my java app to make that work, since the filesystem needs to be formatted for devofs

The mods that djtrance did would make things much better (basically it would negate the need for devofs) but it also makes it impossible to go back to stock (without hacking the original firmware)

FYI, I am not sure when I'll get back to working on the F12e or F7, so my spending much time on the F4 is pretty much out of the question at the moment. I could help someone with coding experience to make progress, but taht is likely about all I can manage at this time.

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27 Mar 2016 20:16 #45293 by djtrance
Replied by djtrance on topic Deviation for Devo F4?
Hi PB,

I'm back to, but with no to much time. but I think I can work on the device, and maybe I can try to work on a expansion for the memory. Maybe we can attach a micro SD memory to the spi port, like I'm using on my arduino. this can expand the storage, but need a lot of time. for now, I will try to set up the devof4, if we can do, I will return to work on the guy for devo f7.

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27 Mar 2016 20:20 - 27 Mar 2016 20:24 #45295 by Epitaph
Replied by Epitaph on topic Deviation for Devo F4?
There are stock firmwares available.. the 0.2A and 0.2B, one is 10mW and the other 100mW (just can't remember which is which). A few posts back the 100mW one was posted on here as I did try a mock up on my F4 which didn't work, so I needed it to get back to a working Devention system. The mock up was an F7 Deviation made up so the F4 would accept it to install, but it didn't work... the transmitter was totally dead. So basically, an F7 Deviation has been tried in it, and failed.

Really, having just 2 or 3 protocols added in I don't see as a problem, as just as I said before, in my opinion, this is a transmitter for homemade quads or hobby grade RTFs (like the Walkera Runner), not for toy RTFs because of the characteristics of the VRx (only works on B band), and really with even just DSM2 and DSMX added would be an advantage, as that would give CPPM capability on any model it's being used on.

The thing I think it would need more than a heap of protocols is a small expansion on channels and controls, especially in the realm of dual rates as the Deviation programming has them to set up, but for some strange reason they never actually added a switch to change between them in flight, meaning you would have to either hover in the case of a quad, or land on a plane, enter the menu and change from position 1 to 2 of the rates PER CHANNEL... so they added like a switch position 1 and 2 to be set up, but no switch!! Extra channels, even with just 2 more would be a huge change, as that would give the possibility of using it for quads and such with flight modes that can be changed, or even with the 7E Arduino mod to add pots for gimbal moving if PPM input were added, or in planes have a 4 channel basic plane but put each aileron on a seperate channel rather than sharing via a Y harness...

I just don't think it needs much more really, and I for one am not expecting it to get to the level of an F7 (because otherwise, why buy an F7?), but with a couple more channels (say 6 channels total... obviously, the more the merrier, but turning it into a 6 channel transmitter would make it very useful indeed), a couple of protocols that don't even require added modules, and some added switches like the typical 7E FMODE and THOLD ones, I think it would be great!!

Of course, all this software and hardware permitting.
Last edit: 27 Mar 2016 20:24 by Epitaph.

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27 Mar 2016 21:43 #45299 by PhracturedBlue
Replied by PhracturedBlue on topic Deviation for Devo F4?
With deviation you could theoretically map the trim button to toggles during flight (probably use something like the ENT button to toggle behavior) That would give you quick access to some limited D/R or FHOLD capabilities without any hardware mods. But 1st we'd need to get a functional build onto it. When you tried to flash the f7 image, did you recompile it with the F4 encryption? I haven't looked at it yet, but likely you'd need to do that to have any chance to make it work. if you used the f7 image, you would still need to find a way to get the filesystem uploaded as well. Really my deviation-uploader is the way to go for that, but it needs to be recompiled to support the F4. I can do that pretty easily as I already added the relevant F4 info a while back.

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28 Mar 2016 08:20 #45326 by Epitaph
Replied by Epitaph on topic Deviation for Devo F4?
OK, PB, now you're talking Dutch to me, and I only know English and Spanish :P

The system was changed by someone else on here and I just tested it out by putting it in the Walkera updating software... the software recognised it as a valid F4 firmware, just like it does when flashing a correct Deviation version to a corresponding transmitter, but i don't know what was done to it to make it so, I only know it was based directly on the F7 Deviation model that was on at that time.

According to the mapping a couple of pages back, the chip does have pins for D/R, THold, FMode, etc., but they are just not there, not added into the board. For toggling it wouldbe easy, as the existing F4 Devention software already allows you to set a position 1 and a position 2 for rates for all the channels, being that in position 1 those values are used, and in position 2 the other values are used, they just kind of forgot to add a way to toggle between those values once you're in flight!! You can't even just leave the menu on that page and toggle manually with the ENT button because first of all, if you're FPVing, then the menu isn't available, and secondly, it's per channel, so you could only do it to one channel.

I'll look back and find where that part of the experiment happened to see who it was who sent me the F4 Deviation try out and report back

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28 Mar 2016 08:24 #45327 by Epitaph
Replied by Epitaph on topic Deviation for Devo F4?
OK, it was djtrance on the second page that sent the file to me, so he can probably tell you what was done with the file which didn't work, and FDR sent the link for the original F4 Devention firmware for in case it didn't work.

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30 Mar 2016 18:02 #45452 by victzh
Replied by victzh on topic Deviation for Devo F4?
I compared links from www.deviationtx.com/forum/7-development/...vo-f4?start=60#44981 myself. I believe no harm will happen if F7 firmware would be uploaded to F4. It should work just without the extra switches.

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30 Mar 2016 19:58 #45461 by PhracturedBlue
Replied by PhracturedBlue on topic Deviation for Devo F4?
Agreed, but again, it isn't like any other Devo. You need to upload the filesystem in a specific way (can't use DFU) and you need the encryotion properly programmed. I don't know if djtrance did that. If not, I can build a new test release to try it out. I was going to try to create a standalone image (no filesystem needed). I have one that I used in the past to debug buttons and switches, and I was hoping to dig that up.

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30 Mar 2016 20:28 #45463 by victzh
Replied by victzh on topic Deviation for Devo F4?
You convinced me, I'm buying F4. They are dirt cheap now on eBay for some unknown reason.

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30 Mar 2016 20:34 #45464 by Epitaph
Replied by Epitaph on topic Deviation for Devo F4?
As I said before, the one that was uploaded on mine was the F7 one, only changed (don't ask me how, I have no idea, djtrance can answer that) so the F4 would recognise it. When it was uploaded, the transmitter was just totally dead... didn't do anything at all. But reflashing the original D4 Devention software brought it back to how it was before. It wasn't that it broke it, it just didn't work.

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30 Mar 2016 21:20 #45466 by djtrance
Replied by djtrance on topic Deviation for Devo F4?
:P
PB I forgot that the devo has a encription. I don't know How to search it. maybe you can help us to know

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30 Mar 2016 21:53 - 30 Mar 2016 21:53 #45468 by PhracturedBlue
Replied by PhracturedBlue on topic Deviation for Devo F4?
The change is here: target/devof7/Makefile.inc
probably it needs to be:
DFU_ARGS := -c 4 -b 0x08003000
for the F4
Last edit: 30 Mar 2016 21:53 by PhracturedBlue.

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30 Mar 2016 22:02 #45469 by xJustiinsane
Replied by xJustiinsane on topic Deviation for Devo F4?
Can't you use his branch?

djtrance wrote: you can see my code on bitbucket.org/djtrance/devof7_djtrance
if you can see in the target def, there are a line that say #define USE_DEVOFS 1
this mean that you are working on the special filesystem that PB did, because a fat file system doesn't have space for the models, in my case I have the fat filesystem because I has change the flash memory.


Maybe you can use that and put your code in there?

Just looking for answers here :P :whistle:

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30 Mar 2016 22:25 #45471 by PhracturedBlue
Replied by PhracturedBlue on topic Deviation for Devo F4?
I am not sure what xJustinSane is asking precisely. djtrance's branch won't work (the encrytion is wrong). I believe there is just a single change needed between the f7 and f4 to make the build work, HOWEVER, you still won't be able to do anything at all with it until I provide a deviation-uploader that supports the F4, since there is no way to properly load the filesystem. I THINK that if it works properly, you'll see 'Deviation USB' on the screen if you load a (properly created) F4 firmware using Walkera's uploader, but I'm really not sure.

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31 Mar 2016 01:38 - 31 Mar 2016 01:38 #45478 by PhracturedBlue
Replied by PhracturedBlue on topic Deviation for Devo F4?
Here is a test build to try:
www.deviationtx.com/downloads-new/catego...ue-devof4-test-build
it includes a 'lib' dfu which may work with the Walkera dfu uploader (I think I was wrong, and only the F12E requires the deviation-uploader)

It is just a stock f7 build with the F4 encryption
Let me know if it does anything at all
Last edit: 31 Mar 2016 01:38 by PhracturedBlue.

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31 Mar 2016 05:19 - 31 Mar 2016 05:21 #45484 by SirDomsen
Replied by SirDomsen on topic Deviation for Devo F4?
Damn cheap, not even 50€.

Had to order one, too B)

Thanks for your great work, PB!
Last edit: 31 Mar 2016 05:21 by SirDomsen.

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31 Mar 2016 08:09 - 31 Mar 2016 08:12 #45489 by Epitaph
Replied by Epitaph on topic Deviation for Devo F4?
Right, I took the plunge and tried the firmware PB...

This firmware does do something... once it's installed with the Dfuse software, the screen comes up in its normal blue and reads "Deviation USB" in bold letters, and the computer recognises the drive

So to that point, hurray!!

The problem is, Windows then asks you to format the drive, no problem there, but it says it's only 64kb in size, so basically you can't fit even just the folders on it.

I tried the other DFU file (the "lib" one) just in case I had tried the wrong one, and the Dfuse program won't even recognise that as flashable

The transmitter itself doesn't respond as to buttons or anything, with this firmware it's just a giant 64kb pendrive. The transmitter took the original F4 firmware again no problems, so it's back to stock condition again. Hope this little leap of faith ( :P ) can be of help to you guys!!
Last edit: 31 Mar 2016 08:12 by Epitaph.

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31 Mar 2016 12:03 #45495 by PhracturedBlue
Replied by PhracturedBlue on topic Deviation for Devo F4?
that is more or less what I expected. I'll fix the deviation uploader to load the filesystem.

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31 Mar 2016 12:08 #45496 by Epitaph
Replied by Epitaph on topic Deviation for Devo F4?
Sounds like you have it all planned out hehehehe

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31 Mar 2016 12:21 #45497 by PhracturedBlue
Replied by PhracturedBlue on topic Deviation for Devo F4?
i just need to dig out my F7 and make sure the process works there 1st. I'll try to look into it tonight.

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