Write a .hex file to USB-connected EEPROM from the Linux terminal

This is a script used for taking the output from SpinASM builds (in .hex format), converts the .hex file into a .bin file (with srec_cat), and finally writes the .bin file to the USB connected 24CXX serial EEPROM and CH341A IC (using ch341eeprom). This has been tested on Linux Mint, Fedora, and Arch Linux.

It is a very short script, but when going through various code changes in your SpinASM project, it is nice only needing to execute one command rather than a few. This makes it much simpler to write some code, test it, edit the code, and test again.

First, make sure that both srec_cat and ch341eeprom are installed. Search online for your distrubtion's version of srec_cat as it should be in an official repo or the AUR. Note where the ch341eeprom installation folder is, as you will need to update the script with the file's location. (I tried making an alias and a bash function for this and ultimately decided it will be easier for everyone to just use the full file path, as alias do not work outside of the interactive shell). Be sure to follow the instructions on github to properly install ch341eeprom.

To install hex2eeprom, simply clone this repository, or download it as a .zip. Note where you save this file. For convience, it is best to alias. Open .bashrc from your user's home directory and add the following: alias hex2eeprom='/path/to/hex2eeprom.sh' Otherwise, you will need to either run the script from the directory where the script lives, or call the entire file path.

After adding the alias, make sure to run source ~/.bashrc or logout and log back in.

In the second line of code, change the directory to where you installed ch341eeprom. Keep in mind that this is just to the directory where the executable lives, not the executable itself

In the final line of un-commented code, replace directory with the name of your working directory for SpinASM projects.

Save these changes.

Follow usual procedures to build a .hex file using SpinASM. Make a note of where the file is saved. It is recommended to have a directory dedicated to working on these projects.

Open your terminal emulator of choice and navigate to the directory where you saved the .hex file (using the cd command or locate it in a file explorer, right click and select "open in terminal").

Run the following command:

sh /LOCATION/OF/hex2eeprom/hex2eeprom.sh FILENAME with the location of your hex2eeprom.sh file and the name of your .hex file WITHOUT the .hex part written out. If you have aliased the script, you can just run hex2eeprom FILENAME. If you do not want run the command from the directory of the .hex file, then use the full file path.

After the initial setup, as long as the device you are writing to is connected and powered on, that is all you need to do to take a DSP project built with SpinASM and put it on a physical device.