TinyCircuits Troubleshooting PlatformIO

by Jason Marcum

TinyCircuits Troubleshooting PlatformIO

PlatformIO offers an extension for Visual Studio Code (VSCode) that allows for programming our boards (and many others) directly from the IDE. This guide will help you troubleshoot uploading and compiling problems depending on what boards you are using, on WIndows 10.

Materials 

Hardware: 

    Software: 

      Background:

      • The TinyScreen+ TinyScreen.cpp file needs to be edited if an error like "&SPI1 not defined" occurs
      • The correct driver for the TinyDuino needs to be installed if an error like "avrdude: ser_open(): can't set com-stat" occurs

      TinyScreen+

      If the error "&SPI1 not defined at line XXX" comes up during compile/upload to the TinyScreen+ in PlatformIO, follow the below steps to fix it.

      1. Open File Explorer in Windows 10
      2. Navigate to Documents -> Arduino - libraries -> TinyScreen
      3. Open "TinyScreen.cpp" with a text editor like Notepad/Wordpad/etc.
      4. In the text editor, navigate to the line "XXX" where the error occurs (for example, at line "487") and edit "&SPI1" to "&SPI"
      5. Once an Arduino project is started/imported, locate the platform.ini file in the project directory and add "SPI" to lib_deps, like shown below

      TinyDuino Processor Board

      If the error "avrdude: ser_open(): can't set com-stat" shows up during upload when using PlatformIO, follow the below steps to reinstall drivers.

      • Open the device manager in Windows 10 by searching for it
        • With the TinyDuino plugged in through USB, and switched on, find the device in Device Manager > right click > Uninstall device
          • On the next screen, check “Delete the driver software for this device” and then left click “Uninstall”, the device will disappear
            • Unplug the TinyDuino and then plug it back in, a “USB Serial Port” device should show up under “Other devices”
              • Go to https://ftdichip.com/drivers/d2xx-drivers/ and scroll down to the Windows download, left click “2.12.36.4” (or whichever version that happens to be) for either 32-Bit or 64-Bit (depending on your computer), like below. In File Explorer, right click the downloaded .zip and extract it, we’ll tell Windows to use these drivers
                • Go back to Device Manager -> right click “USB Serial Port” under “Other Devices” -> left click “Update driver”
                  • Left click “Browse my computer for drivers”
                    • Left click “Browse…” on the next screen
                      • Navigate to the extracted drivers folder, left click “OK” after selecting the driver parent folder
                        • Left click “Next” and then wait for the drivers to install
                          • A screen like below should show up if installation is successful
                            • Close out of everything, open VSCode, go to PlatformIO home (typically an icon in the bottom left), and left click “Import Arduino Project” -> ensure to select the board “TinyCircuits TinyDuino Processor Board” as shown below
                              • Now try uploading using PlatformIO

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