Flashlight Firmware Repository

I feel like I should’ve caught that myself…. I’ve had to change that a few times before.

Could you share your build.sh shell script? I assume from the output that’s it simple and straightforward but still.

Yes, it’s at the link in my signature.

FWIW, I added another published branch called “sandbox”, which holds stuff that has been checked in but isn’t quite ready for merging into the stable trunk yet.

https://code.launchpad.net/~toykeeper/flashlight-firmware/sandbox

For example, one extra in there right now is a s7.c firmware with its battery check mode changed to use a volts+tenths style readout. This style does work on attiny13a chips; it just takes enough room that I haven’t been able to fit it into blf-a6.c.

I’m debating whether to freeze blf-a6.c or keep allowing changes to it now that we’re post-production. I’ve refactored quite a bit of code shared between projects, including blf-a6, and am not sure whether to put the refactored one into the main branch or leave it in its production state. It’s both simpler and more complicated now, since some common functions moved into shared headers.

Hey all,

Are there any of the OS firmwares available that have an oscillating strobe? Not one that changes each time you turn it on, but one that changes frequently while its on?

I was going to ask about implementing this. I’ve read that a random strobe is much better at disorienting. Averaging around 12hz (?) but without always the same length flashes or pauses between flashes. This keeps the brain from being able to anticipate the next flash.
Does random require much resources from a tiny13?

I'm not aware of a strobe that does that, but certainly it can be done, just need to know a little about the randomness, constraints, etc. Any references for this? Great amount of detail and research explained here:

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?356772-Police-Study-of-tactical-use-of-Strobe

Best reference I've found.

I would think the released A6 code should be findable, should there be a branch that has that version in it?

I’ve played with a pseudo random strobe, I used Alex van Heuvelen’s no cap off time firmware and put in an array of randomish numbers in the same way he had the ramp coded. There is plenty of room an a atiny 13 for it.




As to the randomness I would say probly a rotation in a randomish order between about 4 frequencies would be enough. I have an idea of what the guy is looking for because I made him a light with a similar strobe a few years ago.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6nyw4tVGq2o


This was made with 4 of the random strobe drivers and 4 color LEDs. I cant get the drivers I used for that anymore so I was hoping to dig something up here.

Thanks, I’ll do that. :slight_smile:

It’s pretty trivial to branch and publish the released code separately. I’m a little embarrassed I didn’t think of it.

Let’s see… I put a police-like strobe into ‘bistro’ in the tiny25 repository branch, but it only switches between 8Hz and 16Hz at slightly faster than once per second.

The ‘s7’ firmware has two self-ramping variable strobes, but they change smoothly and relatively slowly. It’s more for stopping and reversing fans and such, not for disorienting people.

I did a nice random disorientation strobe as a test at one point, but the rand function takes a lot of space. I also used it to make something like a lightning storm simulator at one point.

To save space I also made one which reads the ROM and uses it to make a pseudo-random strobe, which is probably the most feasible to put into an existing project. I don’t remember where it went, but might be able to find it again.

I think I found it. It needs to be put into other code in order to work, but the algorithm is really simple. It looks random but will repeat every 256 flashes. The speed is about 7.5 to 15 Hz. Something like this…

uint8_t myrandom() {
    static uint8_t *offset = 0;
    return pgm_read_byte(offset++);
}
...
void main() {
    ...
    while (1) {
        ...
        else if (mode_idx == STROBE) {
            uint8_t ms = 34 + (myrandom() & 0x1f);
            PWM_LVL = 255;
            _delay_ms(ms);
            PWM_LVL = 0;
            _delay_ms(ms);
        }
        ...
    }
}

It turns if you remove the code pertaining to switching to the 2nd mode group, you can get the code down to 830 bytes, a 174 byte reduction! Finally, I can squeeze in some extra blinky modes to BLF-A6 for an egg timer and SOS mode.

I was wondering how I could share this modified code in the repository. Do I post the code on the forum somewhere or upload straight on Launchpad (made a Launchpad account, but still not sure how to upload)?

TK - pretty cool technique for random # generator, and sure does make it compact, as long as those 256 bytes contains code, which it does.

It’s funny you mention that. In the blf-a6 directory, there’s a file called tk-otc.c which is specifically created for people who want to exchange the runtime config options for extra space. :slight_smile: I think I may have forgotten to apply some recent blf-a6 changes to tk-otc though, so its code may be a little behind.

If you’d like to upload to Launchpad, that’s easiest for me. But you can also just post the code somewhere and I can add it. The Launchpad method is done using bzr’s “push” command. For example: bzr push lp:~myaccount/flashlight-firmware/my-branch

After that, either create a merge proposal or tell me that there’s a branch waiting. :slight_smile:

Update: I merged the pending blf-a6 updates into tk-otc. The resulting build sizes are 1002 bytes versus 706 bytes. So, almost 300 bytes saved for others to fill with custom code. :slight_smile: I also made a stable maintenance branch for blf-a6, so it can get bugfixes without having to pull in the entire refactoring project I started:
https://code.launchpad.net/~toykeeper/flashlight-firmware/blf-a6-final

Is there a list of OTC and voltage sense calibrations for different drivers? Maybe it could be done with #if’s like you have done for the attiny 25 code.

Yes, though I’ve currently got those measurements in the middle of a re-organization of sorts. It’s moving from a single file for all measurements to an individual file per driver per calibration type.

Check battcheck/readings.txt, battcheck/otc-readings.txt, and battcheck/readings/* to see values from existing drivers.

The mechanism being used at the moment is to #include “…/tk-calibration.h” for all this stuff, so you can edit that single file and have it apply to everything you build from then on. The detailed voltage values there can be generated by battcheck.py; you don’t have to measure every exact value in the list; just one high value and one low value, and the script will calculate the rest.

(BTW, I don’t like putting “tk-” at the beginning of each include, but C doesn’t really have namespaces and I don’t want to run into naming collisions, so I prefixed a namespace-like identifier)

Thanks, I never did run battcheck and set the ADC levels when I put your cypreus2 code into my AX6, and it looks like the values are way off where they should be, in the dangerous direction.

Hi, anyone can help me what is the problem with my attiny13a. It’s a second batch of attiny13a that i bought from ebay, 10 pcs. The first batch that i bought earlier this year from the same seller all works well but this 2nd batch all 10 gives an error when i try to use this command avrdude -p t13 -c usbasp -n

avrdude: error: programm enable: target doesn’t answer. 1
avrdude: initialization failed, rc=–1
Double check connections and try again, or use -F to override
this check.

I checked the connections and they are properly connected. To be sure that my usbasp is not the problem I programmed again attiny13a from the 1st batch and they work well.
What is the problem with the 2nd batch of attiny13a that i bought, are they all dead?

They could have spi or reset disabled or be counterfeit chips.