Hey guys,
first time reaching out due to some issues with the Sangaboard v.05.
I am currently trying to work on a project where I want to access motors.
Since I barely found any information regarding the Sangaboard (not knowing it’s firmware is already the newest version) I have updated it via the raspberry pi and it seems it has updated to v3.
I am completely new to coding and anything related to raspberry pi, yet I have looked for answers and I am not sure how to update it’s firmware back to the newest version, in a way that explains it easy enough for a newbie to understand.Is this even possible? When I check it tells me the current firmware on there is the v3, even though it should be the v5.
Appreciate any help.
Kind Regards!
Hi @Rookie, I don’t know the definitive answer to your question, but it is likely that the version number of the hardware is different from the firmware. They have separate development needs and so have different releases - for example the main OpenFlexure Microscope is version 7, but the server software to run it is version 2.10, with version 3 in development.
1 Like
I am not too sure if I understand correctly, but does that mean that the current firmware I have downloaded should be good to use on the newest Sangaboard version?
I was under the assumption that the newest Sangaboard v5 would have it’s own Firmware.
Just fyi, I am currently trying to connect the Sangaboard to the Raspberry Pi and use the 3 Motor Slots (x,y,z) on the Sangaboard to move the OFM for a project I am working on.
Would there be instructions I can find somewhere on how to set everything up?
For specific questions on your Sangaboard hardware it is best to contact your vendor, they know what you have got.
For the rest of the system you will need to install the Openflexure operating system on your Raspberry Pi. This is available with some instructions at Install the Software . If you have not used a Pi before, there is a link to the instructions for installing the operating system. This will unfortunately not work on a Pi 5, but a 3B+ or 4 will work well. If you have a keyboard and screen on your Pi then you can just use the ‘Openflexure Connect’ icon on the Pi desktop to run the microscope software.
If you used the Sangaboard extension to update the firmware you should be using the latest version already (latest released version is 1.0.2), I’m a little confused about where the v5 and v3 would come from, how are you checking the firmware version?
Hey, I feel like there was a small misunderstanding. As mentioned I am pretty new to all of this stuff, so now i simply checked by going into the terminal, creating a virtual environment and displaying a list via “pip list” which tells me the current version for the sangaboard is 0.3.3 which I assume should be fine here?
I have tried one of the scripts that has been in previous forum posts which would be
“from sangaboard import Sangaboard
with Sangaboard() as sb:
sb.move_rel([1000,0,0])”
This unfortunately does not work. It seems it is somehow missing how the sangaboard is connected to the Rasppi. I have these connected by simply putting the sangaboard “slots” onto the GPIO pins on the Rasppi. That should be correct I assume?
The code was from a few years ago. Would there be any available code to test with the current sangaboard I have? (v0.5.3) and the Raspberry Pi 4 Model B
Ah, I see, the confusion came from different things being referred to as sangaboard.
The current physical PCB sangaboard device is v0.5. The python module (pysangaboard) called sangaboard is what is normally used to send the serial commands, 0.3.3 is the latest version of that module so that should work. The latest firmware installed on Sangaboard v0.5 is 1.0.2.
For the actual problem, simply plugging the board on top of the raspberry pi should work. Do you get any error messages? If you are using the Openflexure SD card image make sure it is a recent one as old versions did not have the serial link enabled. There are 4 LEDs on the top left of the Sangaboard, can you check what their state is when the raspberry pi is running? That should help figure out what the issue could be.
Previously the 1st LED was Red, 2nd was off and 3rd and 4th were both blue.
Afterwards I followed the steps for the serial port setup here: Using the serial port on Raspberry Pi OS Bookworm
After rebooting the first two LEDs are both off and the 3rd(USBPWR) and 4th(MTRPWR) are both blue
Excellent, that should now be correct. Do you get any response to the move_rel command?
Appreciate the help here! I managed to have the motors running now.
Will now have to work on the next tasks, hoping that these will be smooth without any issues!
Thanks!