Same firmware for NXT-G and NXC.

[borntoown]

I heard that both NXC and NXT-G can be compiled to the same firmware;

1) What is the firmware they're talking about?
2) Why it is not working with me to compile NXC on NXT-G firmware (Error: ... Targeted firmware.)?

Thanks.

B2O

[aagruntpuddock]

I should probably have left this one to the experts but as far as I am aware the 'firmware' is the internal programming of the NXT brick.

Perhaps a slightly misleading term because, unlike the firmware in the old Sinclair and Amstrad computers, you can actually change it. Instead of the memory being held on rom chips, which cannot be changed, it exists on the same type of 'flash programmable' chip as your computer's bios.

This means that the way the brick reacts and the program instructions it can understand can be changed.

There have been one or two minor changes and the latest revision, 1.29, was brought out for the new version 2 kits. Apart from recognising some new sensors, it can deal with floating point arithmetic.

You can upgrade the firmware (or reload an older version) through the NXT-G program, although I believe there are other ways of doing it as well.

Hope this helps, I'm sure that any errors I made will be swiftly pointed out!

[borntoown]

Nope, sorry. That's old information that i already know, but thanks for trying =).

[mattallen37]

Sure, the normal firmware WILL work with NXC, but you need to have the compiler settings set properly, and you can only use some of the functions. Have you ever heard of firmware enhanced by John Hanson? That is the firmware that you should use. It is based on the normal FW, but it has added abilities, which allow the rest of the NXC commands to work. The enhanced FW is also 100% backwards compatible with NXT-G. Also, the latest enhanced firmware is version 1.31, not 1.29 (which was never released IIRC).

[borntoown]

A) Can you post a link to the firmware or something?
B) What are the functions that i cannot use in it?
C) "Added abilities" Like what? Commands?

Thanks.

[mattallen37]

A) Can you post a link to the firmware or something?
B) What are the functions that i cannot use in it?
C) "Added abilities" Like what? Commands?

Thanks.

A) I don't know were to get just the 1.31 (it comes with the latest BCC download), but you can get 1.28 by itself from this topic or from the BCC home page or directly.
B) I don't know of a list.
C) Primarily commands, yes.

[afanofosc]

You can use the standard NXT firmware or the enhanced NBC/NXC firmware with both NXT-G and NXC. If you get an error when trying to use BricxCC then you probably are not running with the Automatic firmware version option checked on the Compiler|NBC/NXC tab in the Preferences dialog. The latest test release of BricxCC for Windows includes 1.31 of the enhanced NBC/NXC firmware. Now that the holidays are over I will try to refocus and get a new release of BricxCC, the enhanced firmware, and NBC/NXC out. The test release can be found here: http://bricxcc.sourceforge.net/test_releases/

If you have the standard NXT 1.28+ firmware on your brick then make sure you have the 2.0 compatible firmware option checked and if you have the enhanced NBC/NXC firmware 1.28+ on your brick then also check the Enhanced firmware option. In either case check the Automatic option as well. BricxCC will adjust the settings it passes to the compiler so that they match what you actually have on your brick if that option is checked.

The enhanced firmware gives you a lot of extra floating point math functions built into the firmware. It fixes some nasty bugs that still exist in the standard firmware, such as support for 2D+ array modifications and 16 bytes in I2C message and several other things. NXC API functions that take advantage of the firmware enhancements will not compile if you are targetting the standard firmware and 2.0 features (such as the float type amongst other things) will not compile if you target the 1.0 firmwares.

John Hansen

[aagruntpuddock]

Yes, but follow the instructions carefully!

I just tried to use the Brick center NXT firmware (downloading through the Center) and now have a 'clicking brick'!

Nice start to the year.

[mattallen37]

Yes, but follow the instructions carefully!

I just tried to use the Brick center NXT firmware (downloading through the Center) and now have a 'clicking brick'!

Nice start to the year.

A "clicking brick" is not a problem at all. It simply means that it is in SAMBA mode, and waiting for firmware to be downloaded. I used to always have to attempt to download firmware twice for it to be successful (the first time would put it into SAMBA, and the second time it would download, and be all right), no big deal (at least for me).

[aagruntpuddock]

If you search Google you will find it has been a very big problem for many people for a long time! Some even had to return their bricks to Lego to get them sorted.

I tried both the NXT-G and Brick Center several times but neither could connect to the brick. Tried restarting the computer, resetting the brick, deleting then adding the brick back in through the devices manager but to no avail.

The problem is that Win 7 could not recognise it. First time I tried it was added, but as a digital camera! Perhaps it was confused by the screen, thinking it was a lens............ Later it just came up as 'unidentified', presumably because it was not supplying the signals that the OS expected. Since Windows could not identify the device type, it 'switched it off', thereby preventing any programs from finding it.

I then dusted off my ancient Dell laptop, which runs XP. Connected up first time & managed to get the Lego 1.29 firmware re-installed.