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Flashing Oquam on X-ControllerLink

The ROMI project developed the Oquam firmware as an alternative to Grbl. To flash it on the X-Controller follow these instructions.

You will need the Arduino IDE software. On Ubuntu, with snap, do:

snap install arduino

For other OS, have a look at the official Arduino software website here.

Download the sourcesLink

Start by downloading the libromi sources from the ROMI GitHub repository:

git clone https://github.com/romi/libromi.git

Currently, the software is developed under the encoder_z branch:

git checkout encoder_z

Flashing the firmwareLink

Create a ZIP archive of the Arduino librariesLink

You will need to add the RomiSerial as extra library to the Arduino IDE. It is located under libromi/arduino_libraries/RomiSerial.

To create a ZIP archive: 

zip -r RomiSerial.zip RomiSerial

Open the Arduino IDELink

Open the libromi/firmware/Oquam/Oquam.ino sketch using File > Open... or with the Ctrl + O shortcut. Then browse and select the INO file.

Add the RomiSerial libraryLink

Add the RomiSerial.zip library using the Sketch > Include Library > Add .ZIP Library... menu. Then browse and select the ZIP file.

Select the boardLink

Select the right board to upload to using the Tools > Board menu and select Arduino UNO.

Power up the X-ControllerLink

Connect the power cord and start the X-Controller.

Select the USB portLink

Plug the USB cable and select the right USB port to upload to using Tools > Port menu.

See find the USB port to determine which port the X-Controller is connected to.

Flash the firmwareLink

You may now flash the firmware with the icon below the main menu.

Wait for the IDE to indicate Done uploading on the status bar at the bottom right of the IDE window. Then you can unplug safely!

TroubleshootingLink

Find the USB portLink

To find which USB port your arduino board is connected to, you can use dmesg:

  1. make sure the usb cable is unplugged
  2. run dmesg -w in a terminal
  3. connect the usb (from the arduino board to the computer) and you should see something like:
[14818.631347] usb 1-4: new full-speed USB device number 7 using xhci_hcd
[14818.787048] usb 1-4: New USB device found, idVendor=0403, idProduct=6001, bcdDevice= 6.00
[14818.787062] usb 1-4: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3
[14818.787069] usb 1-4: Product: X-Controller
[14818.787073] usb 1-4: Manufacturer: Inventables
[14818.787077] usb 1-4: SerialNumber: XCONTROLLER6CFIRF
[14818.847148] usbcore: registered new interface driver usbserial_generic
[14818.847155] usbserial: USB Serial support registered for generic
[14818.851163] usbcore: registered new interface driver ftdi_sio
[14818.851179] usbserial: USB Serial support registered for FTDI USB Serial Device
[14818.851367] ftdi_sio 1-4:1.0: FTDI USB Serial Device converter detected
[14818.851402] usb 1-4: Detected FT232RL
[14818.851860] usb 1-4: FTDI USB Serial Device converter now attached to ttyUSB0

Important

The important info here is ttyUSB0!

Serial access deniedLink

If you get an error about permission access:

  1. Check you selected the right USB port. If yes, proceed to the next steps.

  2. To see which groups your $USER belongs to: 

    groups ${USER}
    If you see the dialout group there, go back to checking the USB port!

  3. If you are not in dialout: 

    sudo gpasswd --add ${USER} dialout

  4. Then log out for your session, and then log back in to see changes (with groups ${USER}).