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Silverxxx Acro FW flash to H8 mini (Blue Board)
#1
Firstly I have to give recognition and HUGE praise to Silverxxx over at RC forums who wrote this FirmWare. (Full thread here) That thread has over 500 pages(!) though and I found the instructions somewhat difficult to follow, so...

Because the software doesn't allow me to access all the options without the board/ST-Link connected I can't give screen shots, I'd suggest using these instructions alongside the YouTube vid linked below.
I followed these video instructions from Joshua Carlson on youtube but still had quite a hard time of it, and the video cuts at the point which was giving me most trouble!

My ST-Link is this one I purchased from BG...

Keil is the program that actually flashes the firmware, ST-Link Utility is, essentially, used as a bug fix because Keil has an issue connecting or recognising the board before ST-Link Utility has established the connection. So you need to connect 1st through ST Link Utility for Keil to recognise the connection and allow the flash...

I will do this in steps

1. Download the 'H8 Blue Board' zip or rar, install ST-Link Utility and Keil MDK ARM (Kiel core, mentioned in the youtube vid, has been updated.)

2. Sorry, but you will have to cut the header pins, not sockets, off one end of the ST-Link wires. Leave minimal exposed wire and solder to the H8 pads CLK, DAT and GND. I found that the pads on the board can be easily overheated, so try to solder carefully but quickly!

Try to solder on the 'outside' of the pads to minimise risk of shorting between the wires.

   

3. Confirm that you ARE using the blue H8 mini board and attach wires from -
the Board   ->   The ST Link
         CLK   ->   SWDIO
         DAT   ->    SWCLK
         GND   ->   GND

Just to confirm that it is the pads on the H8 board which are marked incorrectly, not my ST-Link.

4. Attach battery to power the board.

5. Plug ST Link into USB, if you have a USB extension to see the LED's on the ST link it helps... You should hear windows sound to confirm connection.

6. run ST Link utility... Here comes the part I had problems with!
6.1. In ST Link utility select 'target' from the top menu and settings (bottom option)
6.2. Confirm that it doesn't say "No ST-Link detected" at the top and that you CAN change options.
6.3. If it does say "No ST-Link detected" close the settings menu and select 'ST-Link' -> 'Firmware Update' from the top menu. If it shows firmware version hit 'yes' to update ST-Link firmware. At this point my ST-Link would loose connection before completing firmware update, if this happens close the firmware update window and disconnect the ST-Link from USB. Then immediately open 'ST-Link->Firmware Update' as you reconnect ST-Link and hit 'yes' as fast as possible! The LED's on the ST-Link should flash as it is updating and remain solid blue when update completed and successful. ST-Link should now be showing as connected.

7. Once the board is recognised and connected in ST-Link Utility go to 'Target' -> 'Option Bytes' open the top drop down box and change protection to 'Level 0' This might bring up a message saying that you need to change settings in 'Target' -> 'Settings' -> 'Mode' & 'Reset Mode'
If so, go back to 'Target' -> 'Settings' and change 'Mode' to the recommended setting, it might give a message that it has changed 'Reset Mode' option automatically. 

8. At this point ST Link Utility should have updated the ST-Link firmware and the board should be connected and recognised and the blue LED on the ST-Link remaining on..? If not go back and go through steps 6 and 7 again. Leave ST-Link Utility running and connected while you complete steps 9, 10 & 11...

9. Unpack  the 'H8 blue board master' zip/rar file, open 'H8mini_blue_board-master' -> 'Silverware' -> and double click 'silverware.uvprojx'. This will run 'Keil uVision 5' and load Silverxxx code...

10. In Keil click 'Flash' -> 'Flash Tools' and select 'Debug' from the top menu (2nd from the right.) In the top right of this screen you will see a checkbox marked 'use' confirm that this IS 'checked' and change the selection in the drop down box to 'ST-Link Debugger' and click 'OK'

11. From Keil main page, select 'Project' -> 'Build Target' this will show some activity in the 'Build Output' window at the bottom, when it completes you have come to the stage of NO TURNING BACK!

12. Bring ST-Link Utility to the front of your screen and hit the icon showing the plug with the red x or select 'Target' -> 'Disconnect' Once disconnected Keil should recognise the board and be able to modify...

13. Bring Kiel back to the front and hit 'Flash -> 'Erase' This is the point where the stock FC Firmware is GONE FOREVER! You might get an error message saying something like 'the erase has not been completed successfully' RCGroups say this is expected and it HAS actually deleted the software. I ran the erase option again and the second time it didn't show any errors. At this point the LED's on the quad go off and it pretends that it is dead(!) which scared me a bit!

14. Hit 'Flash' -> Download and you should see the code flying up the 'Build Output' window, when completed the LED's on the quad should start flashing again, but with a fade on/fade off stylishness it never showed before, it is now looking for a TX to bind with..! Done!
 
There are a few things I have given you a heads up about that aren't mentioned in the youtube vid...

I am going to try and activate 'airmode' on one of my H8 boards soon so I will update this post when I do...
Windless fields and smokeless builds
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#2
Thanks for the write up Tom!
I flashed QuadStyles' new H8 with the Dual Firmware for him. Went off without a hitch! Thumbs Up
Here is how I soldered a servo plug for future tuning/ect.
[Image: 9nTr6kbl.jpg]
[Image: XbUjHRWl.jpg]
[Image: g4GAJjRl.jpg]
[Image: S4Ogo2Yl.jpg]

I followed this video to understand and work around the error.

The Obsession IS Real!
My Youtube and Instagram links
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#3
Glad you got him setup. great going DoP! and Tom too!
carl.vegas
Current Quads: Operational: Diatone GT2 200 In need of repair: Bumble Bee, tehStein,  Slightly modified Vortex 250 
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#4
Even in level mode it really unlocks the H8's true potential.

Have you played around with altering the rates and expo yet Tom? In acro the rates feel slow and it definitely could use some expo. Wink
The Obsession IS Real!
My Youtube and Instagram links
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#5
All my H8 boards are dead or missing now!
I am completely dyslexic when it comes to code, and since I still haven't managed to play with PID, expo and rates through Clean/Beta Flight or anything else, yet... Also I de-soldered the CLK, DAT and DIO before realizing that I might need the connections to make these changes! Doh
I have only got the stock TX to bind with plus this was my only acro quad and I developed a drift when in acro mode too, so actually flying acro was basically trying to hover and maintain control for short flights around my house. I did say to quadstyles that it seems like the rates were a little low when I tried a flip but I was pretty sure that it was actually due to my less than skillful flying!
Windless fields and smokeless builds
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#6
Cranked up the rates from 375 to 1200 R/P and 800 yaw. Adjusted pids a bit and added expo, the H8 handles near as well as my F3 brushed builds!

Let me know if anyone needs the numbers Wink

Would an H8 silverware tuning tutorial be a good idea maybe?
The Obsession IS Real!
My Youtube and Instagram links
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#7
(03-Jul-2017, 07:25 AM)Drone0fPrey Wrote: Would an H8 silverware tuning tutorial be a good idea maybe?


An excellent idea..! Just need to get another 3 H8's to last me the next 6 months!
Windless fields and smokeless builds
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#8
Sounds like a visit to Banggood Wink Big Grin
The Obsession IS Real!
My Youtube and Instagram links
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#9
I made a video just covering the tricky part of the blue board flash where the error shows up.
The Obsession IS Real!
My Youtube and Instagram links
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#10
I just left the programming pins soldered to my H8 Mini - they don't add any significant weight and I can connect to the board without having to take anything apart.

[Image: IMG_20170714_121231_zps3pm2y8j2.jpg]

The H8 Mini really is an incredible little machine once it's been updated with silverware. The fact that I can dump the included toy controller and fly it with my Devo 7e makes it even better!

The source code for silverware is a pig though. You don't need to be code dyslexic to have problems reading it as the formatting of the code is genuinely horrible. If I need to look at it, the first thing I do is reformat all the source files so that the structure of the code is more accessible.
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#11
(14-Jul-2017, 11:20 AM)unseen Wrote: I

The source code for silverware is a pig though. You don't need to be code dyslexic to have problems reading it as the formatting of the code is genuinely horrible. If I need to look at it, the first thing I do is reformat all the source files so that the structure of the code is more accessible.

I'd be curious to hear more about how to do that, as I am still completely new to any real code. (CF/BF have me spoiled Wink )
I do not have any issues figuring it out, but anything to simplify should be helpful right? Smile
The Obsession IS Real!
My Youtube and Instagram links
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#12
(14-Jul-2017, 05:12 PM)Drone0fPrey Wrote: I'd be curious to hear more about how to do that, as I am still completely new to any real code. (CF/BF have me spoiled Wink )
I do not have any issues figuring it out, but anything to simplify should be helpful right? Smile

If you are running Linux, there's a really nice command line utility called 'indent' which functions as a C code reformatter. It has more switches than a 96 channel studio mixer so that you can tweak it to reformat C code to exactly your own preference. I have my personal settings for it saved in a file which it uses each time it is run.

So, after cloning silverxxx's repo from github, I just write a few lines of shell code and let indent work its magic on all the source files. The end result is considerably easier to read than it is when you first clone the repo!

If you are running Windows, then maybe there's a port of indent or maybe it's available under Cygwin, but I don't use Windows except at work and that's all C# and Java stuff which is already adequately formatted for you by Visual Studio or Eclipse.
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