weird CC3000 library behavior: .connect() works but .connect(SPI1, B6, B7, B8) hangs

Hi everyone!

I'm trying to use my Pico + CC3000 using non-default pins (not B6-B8).

In failing to do this, I tried just this:

var wlan = require("CC3000").connect(SPI1, B6, B7, B8);

...which hangs!

But this:

var wlan = require("CC3000").connect();

...works great! Takes about four seconds.

Am I using the API incorrectly?

Thanks everyone!

P.S. I tried this too:

var wlan = require("CC3000").connect(SPI1, {cs:B6, en:B7, irq:B8});

Also hangs.

Your first attempt: var wlan = require("CC3000").connect(SPI1, B6, B7, B8);

Seems like the correct one - but did you set up SPI1 beforehand? You'd need to use SPI1.setup({ mosi: .., sck: ..., miso:.., baud:1000000, mode:1) to make sure it's working on the right pins and in the correct mode (CC3000 seems to use a different SPI mode to normal for some reason).

Unfortunately the software TI provides for their module is awful - if you initialise it with the wrong information, it just crashes and never returns (rather than erroring).

Thanks for the quick reply, @Gordon!

Unfortunately, setting up SPI1 doesn't fix it (that would be too easy). A .connect() call with no args always works, but .connect(SPI1, B6, B7, B8) always hangs, whether I set up SPI or not.

At least now I know I'm not going crazy, and this is actually weird.

I'm thinking of just getting an ESP8266, unless there's WiFi module folks recommend.

I just tracked this down - it turns out that there was a regression which meant that mode in SPI.setup wasn't getting read correctly.

If you use the latest Pico firmware from Git (which annoyingly doesn't come in a CC3000 flavour!) then it'll be fixed and the following will work:

SPI1.setup({ sck:B3, miso:B4, mosi:B5, baud:1000000, mode:1});
var wlan = require("CC3000").connect(SPI1, B6 */ CS */, B7 /* EN */, B8 /* IRQ */);

I've put a working build at:

http://www.espruino.com/tmp/espruino_1v85.139_pico_1r3.bin

If you copy that link and paste it into the Web IDE's flasher, it should work fine.

Wow, you're awesome, @Gordon! Unfortunately, http://www.espruino.com/tmp/espruino_1v8­5.139_pico_1r3.bin doesn't seem to exist (I get a 404).

I can't wait to try it on pins other than B3-B8. :)

Strange... try:

http://www.espruino.com/tmp/espruino_1v85.139_pico_1r3.bin

I just clicked on the link you pasted and it works, but mine doesn't!

If not, just look in http://www.espruino.com/tmp for the file.

There's a weird non-printable character in the URLs above. (To give credit where credit is due, I used https://hexed.it/ to inspect the URLs.)

But, anyway, http://www.espruino.com/tmp/espruino_1v85.139_pico_1r3.bin doesn't seem to work on my Pico. :( The red LED is on when I plug it in after uploading the firmware, and the Web IDE can't connect to it (the Ports list is missing the Pico, even).

Any ideas? Perhaps I flashed it wrong? I can upload a screencast, if that would help.

1 Attachment

I used curl to get it, because I have a CC3000 from the 'old', non-ESP8266 days... and the file came down with 7k... I know something was not right, but did not have time to dig deeper. Now I know...

Damn - sorry - I always forget about this. The Web IDE expects and image that includes the bootloader - and the image I posted didn't.

I've just padded it out as:

http://www.espruino.com/tmp/espruino_1v85.139_pico_1r3_bootloader.bin

Strange about the extra character - I think it's a bug in the forum's syntax highlighting code (IIRC it's a special 'break here' character). I had to change the Web IDE so that it ignored it in pasted code - it obviously doesn't do the same with URLs :)

Sorry, @Gordon, no luck with espruino_1v8­5.139_pico_1r3_bootloader.bin either. Same result: red LED stays on.

Any ideas? I don't think my Pico is busted, because I just flashed it back with the regular firmware, and works fine.

I just updated it with a new build. Maybe try now, with the same bootloader link.

espruino_1v85.139_pico_1r3_bootloader.bi­n successfully flashed this time, yay!

I tried almost everything I could think of, including:

1. B3-B8
   
2. B3-B7, A8
   
3. B13-B15, A5-A7
   
   

Just for the record, what's the proper syntax for .connect():

var wlan = require("CC3000").connect(SPI2, A7, A6, A5);

....or....

var wlan = require("CC3000").connect(SPI2, {cs:A7, en:A6, irq:A5});

Thanks so much, @Gordon! :)

And it works now?

The first one is correct - I've been trying to use the second for new things as it is much more readable, but this particular bit of Espruino still uses the old way

Yeah, works great! I'm using custom pins and everything.

Thank you, you're awesome.