thetazzbot / freeexpression Goto Github PK

The debug build compiles with no problems, but the release throws over 30 errors.

Flashing the debug build results in no LCD display, and attempting to cut from inkscape does nothing.

Using Atmel Studio 7

I recently was given a Personal model machine and would like to use Inkscape to control it. Freecut seems to be dead, and looked to use a custom command set anyway. The docs indicate that the hardware is mostly the same, so I thought I might ask about it. I expect I would need to disable any code for hardware my machine lacks, I just want to make sure that the cutting code is at least close to compatible.

I get the following errors when I compile:

serial.h:61:1: error: function declaration isn't a prototype [-Werror=strict-prototypes] void serial_init();

There are also a bunch that is just like this.

I see the original fork was from Freecut, which was for the Cricut Personal with the AtMega128...

I just just managed to push Freecut on to my old Cricut Personal, I thought I would post an issue here just to check if anyone else has looked at adding back in Cricut Personal support to a thetazzbot fork... HPGL and GCODE support look great...

I followed the tutorial, everything worked out as far as hardware setup and flashing.
AtmelStudio verified flash as successful, however when powering on the machine there was not LCD activity.
I sent a test cut to the machine which slightly moved the cutter over to the left, then stopped. no further activity occurs.

Say do you think there is anything we can do in the code to fix the axis issue? I saw you said it printed backwards which is totally true. I had to flip the X to print my daughters letters right. Little bit aggravating..

Hello,
great project.
have you any experience if to works with Pazzles Inspiration too?

Thanks a lot
Mike

So I seem to be having a odd issue. I am using inkcut (the revival), and even though the settings are all correct, for some reason the cricut is not liking the scaling at all. This is giving me a 5 inch emblem in the size of the entire mat (beyond the borders). Is there a reason this is happening?

I just got an cricut expression 2 cheap from a Goodwill and I'm wondering if it would be compatible with FreeExpression?

make: *** No rule to make target 'lcd.o', needed by 'freecut.elf'. Stop.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CaFRl4nlNLY

I uploaded a howto video for flashing, just in case.

Hello!

So, as far as I can tell, I've managed to successfully flash FreeExpression on my CREX001, compiled the firmware (without any changes) via Microchip Studio 7.0, uploaded via AVRDude and the SparkFun Pocket AVR Programmer via:

avrdude -c usbtiny -p m1281 -U flash:w:FreeExpression.hex:i -U lfuse:w:0x42:m -U hfuse:w:0xD9:m -U efuse:w:0xFF:m

avrdude -c usbtiny -p m1281 -v -v -v -U eeprom:w:freeexpression.eep

and set the fuses as mentioned in #18 via the first command. (Though the extended fuse comes back with an error saying it's actually set to 0xF7, and I can't get it to actually set to 0xFF, im unsure if this is really an issue and proceeded anyway)

but while everything in theory works... It's very slow? Seemingly as if the clock speed of the MCU is some fraction of what it should be? Everything from the OLED updating, to the motors moving, to the response after a button press feels like it's a lot slower than it should be, and from what I saw in #16 's video tutorial (thanks @wildseyed by the way! I used your method of pulling the plastic housing off the ISP pins and it worked well, and the video was really helpful in general too!) it is actually slower than what should be happening.

I'm at a bit of a loss here in terms of what could be causing this, other than maybe a failing oscillator (I haven't checked this yet). In some desperate attempt to try something, I ordered a replacement power supply, as the one I was using is 19V 3.5A and the correct one is supposedly 18V, though I would be surprised if a 1V difference affected things this much, and didn't seem to have this effect on the stock firmware (for the little time I played with it after purchasing the machine at goodwill).

Anyway, thanks for the project in the first place, and thanks for any help you might be able to give! I can provide a video of what I mean later on/if it would be helpful.

Built with Microchip Studio for AVR
Flashed with USBasp + AVRDUDESS
Everything seems fine when powered on (Arrows move carriage + roller, buttons change modes, lcd displays updates)

If the unit is freshly powered on and I send commands with the Plot extension, the roller moves a little (Like when you load/unload) and that is it

All following attempts don't do anything until I power cycle the Expression

Tested with Inkscape on:
Lubuntu on older machine (Regular usb port)
Mac pro (Big Sur with usb C hub)
Mac pro (Bootcamp Windows 10, usb C hub)

Tried GCODE with Pronterface but it just queues up commands and seems like it's stuck

I was able to flash the firmware, and the cricut behaves correctly. But I can't get the plot feature to work in inkscape. All of my settings seem correct. Is there a driver I need to install?

Has anyone here investigated using hardware SPI to perhaps speed up the LCD screen? I've managed to upgrade the LED software to the u8g2 library, which helps a bit, but not much on the performance. Hardware SPI could probably improve that greatly.

The other thing I'm looking into is using the U8x8 character mode that can theoretically greatly improve performance as well, though it doesn't appear to be able to draw anything other than text. https://github.com/olikraus/u8g2/wiki/setup_tutorial#u8x8-character-mode

Any thoughts or help would be greatly appreciated!

When I try to build FreeExpression.cproj in AtmelStudio 7 I get 4 errors.
The first is: Disabling relaxation: it will not work with multiple definitions
Second: recipe for target 'FreeExpression.elf' failed
Third: multiple definition of 'main'
Fourth: Id returned 1 exit status
Sorry if I'm missing something obvious, this is my first time using AtmelStudio, thanks

Title ^

They are stuck on 3, both of them...

I see the current version of the master branch is using a replaced LCD, but your blog posts from a while back indicate that you got the original OLED interface working. I've just gotten the project all set up, ported to MPLAB-X (turned off the prototype warnings so it builds) and am flashing my expression via ISP interface.

Is there an easy way to re-enable the original OLED interface in the master branch, if not I guess I'm going to go about trying to back those changes out? Where there issues with the OLED that made the move to a serial LCD make sense? I'd prefer not to replace the screen on mine since I don't plan to do much development, the original display sharing jtag doesn't really bother me.

I see you just checked in your code. I forked it and will add the modified LCD stuff to it from my version of Arlet's Freecut. It's using a standard 4x40 lcd display instead of what came with the machine.

What are you using to feed hpgl code to the machine ?

Gary

Existing documentation shows flashing the firmware through the jtag interface, this is a more complex to reach then the ISP interface. Could one flash the firmware via the isp interface?