Saturday, September 24, 2011

Some words about me !

Hi folks,

So, here we go ! My first message on my first blog...

Why this blog ? For whom ?

Since I decided to take a little time for realised few projects I dreamt a long time ago, since no one takes the time to do them for me, I have to do this myself if I want to make it real.

For your information, I'm french, 35 years old, engineer in embedded programming.
Please be indulgent for my English skill.

So !!! The reason why I start that blog is to share some information about CSR bluetooth board. Some of you may have exchange some word on dealextreme forum (nickname Byron76).

I realized that we can do a lot of cool stuff we that device... but it's a bit hard to find some resource and it's hard to get any help to start developing Bluecore4 chip ! Hope this blog we help some of you...

Feel free to encourage me buying me a beer, some electronic gadgets or other stuff by cliking this button. It's not mandatory, don't blame me.


That's all for presentations.


25 comments:

  1. Hi Byron,
    I would really like to get flow control working on one of these boards. I have a similar unit from Sparkfun - the RN-42 - and I'm wondering if the firmware from that could be placed into this... seems like maybe?
    What do you think?
    Steve

    ReplyDelete
  2. since it seem to be made with the same CSR BC04+ext chip, it could be compatible with HC05 firmware, but I can't be sure !

    Have you tried to grab your firmware ?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Just bought suntek version. Thanks Byron for providing this blog!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hi Byron.

    I've tried to register myself into the CSR site but they do only open some points of the site for companies in their "customer list". Well, my "company" is not in this list so I can't get the firmware nor it's source code.

    Please, I wonder if you do have the firmware source code ...

    And did you already coded the uC in the HC-05, the BC417? I've looked over the web to get more info regarding the tool chain used to compile it's programs but I was unlucky.

    Woody

    PS: Thanks for all this hard work man, the internet is a great place to study and learn only because there are people like you that like to share ...

    ReplyDelete
  5. Firmware are not publicly available nor source code !

    You can google csr bluelab 4.1 if you want to do some example compilations...

    This SDK is not free and almost not legal ! but You don't need any crack to make it work !

    ReplyDelete
  6. Hi Byron, this is Catherine.Could you tell me how can I contact you? I have something emergency to ask you.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I send you a message on your google+ account !

      Delete
  7. Has anyone managed to get a PC bluetooth usb dongle and reflash it to behave as an HC05 device? These BT dongles are very cheap to buy now (less than DX etc.) if we can find one with a Bluecore chip inside - could it be made into a HC05 ?

    ReplyDelete
  8. Hi Byron,

    I've got a CSR module with +VERSION:1.0-20090818

    A few received characters are lost if there is a silence in the module receive for more than ten seconds. I guess it is a firmware issue.

    Have you seen anything like that?

    Thanks.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi, I cope with the same problem, module VERSION:1.0-20090818. Serge.

      Delete
  9. Hello Byron, I have one of these modules that I have been experimenting with and would like to ask you about your experience with them so far.
    First of all, I have made the spi cable and I have been able to flash firmwares to the chip.
    You mentioned in another post that you might be working on your own firmware. I was checking out the xIDE to see what was involved in creating custom firmware but I have been unable to run the minimal vm project. The ide starts burning the image but after a while fails with "Device 0: Failed to erase sector 255."
    I'm just curious if you have made any progress with your custom firmware. Did you have any initial problemsor did it work just fine for you?
    Here is a text file with the output from the ide.
    http://dl.dropbox.com/u/10327232/xide.txt

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. BlueCore4-External support for 8Mbit External Flash
      Project->Properties
      http://clip2net.com/s/1ZaiS

      Delete
    2. @Igor - many thanks for this post - I had exactly the same issue as esgeroth and your solution worked!

      Delete
  10. from the site http://dl.free.fr/d8j4i42Wi
    I can not download upgrade.zip
    (not shown in the written authentication and I refuse proven with quavers, explorer.firefox)
    I found another version on the web
    Firmware HC05.
    Everything works ok as Byrons instructions.

    At various sites I find these instructions to connect to rs-232 Clear
    2 modules with firmware Bluetoot HC05:
    * Via serial port, send characters "AT + ROLE rn = 1", if successful, return "OK rn", where rn is the carriage return.
    * Set PIO11 LOW, re-power, then you are in Master, slave module automatically search for and connect.



    I ask

    what are the parameters to be set in the modules?
    (both SPI and RS232 interface with AT commands)
    1) Master
    and
    2) Slave
    so that it automatically conettano
    in a 232-Transparent

    i must have 2 forms?
    = PSKEY_BDADDR
    Password =
    = Class of Device?
    ? =?

    thanks

    ReplyDelete
  11. Hi

    Is it possible to contact you directly? I have some questions regarding BT modules and maybe you could help me answer some questions i have.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You can try :
      http://www.hidetext.net/hide/1B1ojukJYL.gif

      I'm not sure to help you. Since my knowledge is a bit limited

      Delete
  12. Hi Byron,

    Interesting work! Have you checked out the Roving Networks modules? The RN-42 has FCC compliance docs which show it uses the same (similar?) bluetooth chip and a Spansion 8mbit flash part.

    They have variations with interesting firmware applications (HCI, HID--I am interested in HID in particular). Users have found it trivial to use the RN-4x-HID modules to implement, e.g., bluetooth keyboards.

    The problem seems to be that although they allow "field programmability," RN have not provided firmware for users to reprogram the devices. So users may be stuck with one for HCI, one for HID, etc. Also they are expensive!

    Perhaps, if they are following reference designs, their HID firmware might be compatible with other modules? I wonder if your programmer could read or write their firmwares.

    I would love to hear your thoughts on this.

    Tim

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. http://www.rovingnetworks.com/img/uploads/products/diagrams/RN-41_42-bd.png
      It seems that it can be possible !

      Have you got some of those modules ?

      Delete
    2. Hmm, unfortunately no.

      I thought it would be fun to make e.g. a kit to use any ps2 keyboard as a bluetooth hid keyboard; however, few would be able to afford a solution that includes a microcontroller and an expensive bluetooth module (myself included).

      I noticed the Bluegiga firmware is downloadable (after forum registration) for e.g. the wt12, which supports HID; the hackaday page which links to your blog has a comment mentioning someone had success with one of their firmwares and the ($6.60 ?) DX module.

      I really wonder if Roving Networks has hesitated to release firmwares to the public in support of field programming their modules because they fear the firmwares are compatible with other cheaper modules; why give away their only edge, when the part cost is so low?

      Delete
  13. Would it be possible to connect the BMP085 to this module?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I don't have this kind of board but since it's compatible with standard UART it can't be incompatible.

      Delete
  14. Hello Byron,

    We have bought a few HC-05 modules from china and among those modules, some modules cannot be seen from some android phones like samsung galaxy Y, galaxy Ace some HTC phones etc. But it can be seen from my laptop, galaxy note etc. other modules can be seen from all devices said above. Is this because some settings or mode on the HC-05 module?? please reply to jobykpaul@gmail.com
    if you can solve my problem, I can send a donation to your paypal.

    Thank you

    Joby

    ReplyDelete
  15. hello
    as per ur instruction ,built a cable and its working fine.i want to use hid keybard application ,i built it and dumped to hc-05 module.its gets discovered.but at pairing i am facing so much trouble.can u please kindly help me in this issue.i dont get your email id...please write to chandra2sekhar2000@yahoo.co.uk..thank u

    ReplyDelete
  16. http://www.hidetext.net/hide/e1cXfKwaOM.gif

    ReplyDelete
  17. Hello there!
    I really like this projecct, but I didn't succeed in replicating it. I think that my problem has to do with the cable. Since I had an old prnter cable lying around I tried to use this. In order to do this I cut the printer end and with a multimeter I checked for continuity so I found the corresponding pins to the ones you are using on the side that I cut. However this didn't work for me.
    Then I thought that maybe I should check te pins the other way around, as they would be on a female connector and that didn't work either.
    So my last thought is that maby there is some kind of crossing inside the cable. Is that possible? An if so, could you please just tell me the pins on the pc that correspond to the pins that you actually use (i.e. PD0, PD1, STB, AFD...)?
    Thanks in advance!

    ReplyDelete

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