Installation Issues

I'm wanting to verify that the output voltage for a regular DC motor is always the same as the input voltage? Only current is modified?

Or is it the other way around?

Hi
I received my PicoBorg Reverse today, very fast delivery.
I followed the getting started instructions and i am able to use the desktop shortcut to control the motors manually with the slider. works great.

Now I am trying to use webiopi to trigger python macros from a webpage. ( had running successfully using the pirocon controller, all be it with out enough power to turn)
https://code.google.com/p/webiopi/wiki/INSTALL

When i try to use the picoborgreverse from inside another python script, (the "macros" file that webiopi uses to control the gpios) the terminal tells me that there is no module named PicoBorgRev.

i have a copy of PicoBorgRev.py in the same folder as my macros python script, is this right?
do i need to make it so the PicoBorgRev.py file has some sort of root permission?
also i think that webiopi needs to set relevant gpios to out when it starts up, if i were tell the gpios that the picoborgrev uses, to be out for this. would that be ok with I2c? what would those gpio numbers be?

Thank you, i hope i have explained the problem clear enough, if not please ask, i have also attached a copy of the python i am trying to call the picoborgrev commands from.

Thank You
Jay

i should mention the attached file still contains the gpio setup i mentioned from the webiopi pirocon setup, its the last sections at the bottom.
i have left it so you can see what i meant by webiopi needing to setup gpios.

when i run python and then help from the command line and go to see the list of modules, i dont appear to have anything to do with the picoborgrev listed there.

Thank you. i will try as you said.
I should be able to follow those instructions with out too much hassle, the first code is to be entered in the LXterminal, the second is a change to the my python file, and the third is to be entered line for line? into LXterminal, is that right?
Thank you, for helping you have made things a lot easier for me and i look forward to using the simple commands way of controlling the motors with your picoborgrev, instead of gpios on/off/on etc

I am building a web browser controlled mobile IP camera, using a heng long tiger1 for the chassis, its just a camera on tank tracks really, but its my starting point, one day my own droid. i'm just starting to get a hang of python

i currently have the pi, the picoborgrev, and a router nicely fitted inside the tank with just the turret missing.
in its place will be a HD pan/tilt ip camera,
with webiopi i have a page with just, for now, the direction buttons, a image place holder, and a text to speech (currently festival but i am looking at using google voice eventually). i want to use an old adapted mobile to trigger a bistable latching relay to turn the whole thing on and off, and i found a tutorial about having your pi tweet you when it boots up, this way i could start the robot and access it and drive it around the house from anywhere, the whole thing is totally unnecessary but cool. future ideas for it include, metal track upgrades so it can go outside, ultrasonic range finder, and if i ever work it out i would love to use opencv and or ROS with a kinect. oh and a cool paint job.

Thanks again
Jay

I have my cables wired correctly, I've checked them three times. Used ScanForPicoBorgReverse() command and it can't find it. Suggestions? Could it be something in my Pi? (FYI call me dumb but I literally blew up my last PBR unit. Hooked a car battery up to the battery pins and had 'em backwards. Pop went the I2C units, literally split one in half, oops. Could that have messed up my Pi as well?) -Nathan-

I have ordered another Pi and I will check it once it comes in

Edit: I'll never know what caused this, but my copy of debian was a couple months old, just got a fresh one and worked like a charm :)

Having a problem thats stumped me, code excerpt below:

pi@raspberrypi ~/picoborgrev $ sudo python pbrSequence.py
Loading PicoBorg Reverse on bus 1, address 44
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "pbrSequence.py", line 12, in
PBR.Init() # Set the board up (checks the board is connected)
File "/home/pi/picoborgrev/PicoBorgRev.py", line 234, in Init
self.bus = smbus.SMBus(self.busNumber)
IOError: [Errno 2] No such file or directory

^ It seems to be able to find PicoBorgRev.py fine if its reading line numbers, the board LED flashes red once when connected and i'm using the default code files supplies which installed no problem. Even when I try manually assigning the busNumber to 1, manually setting path to include the python library. This problem stops me from launching any script requiring PicoBorgRev - But I cant even tell if its a hardware or software problem.

Thoughts??

Hi there,

I am having issues when i lanuch diddySequence.py or any other examples. I keep getting following error:

pi@raspberrypi ~/diddyborg $ ./diddySequence.py
Loading PicoBorg Reverse on bus 1, address 44
Missing PicoBorg Reverse at 44
PicoBorg Reverse was not found
Trying bus 0 instead
Loading PicoBorg Reverse on bus 0, address 44
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "./diddySequence.py", line 15, in
PBR.Init()
File "/home/pi/diddyborg/PicoBorgRev.py", line 264, in Init
self.Init(False)
File "/home/pi/diddyborg/PicoBorgRev.py", line 234, in Init
self.bus = smbus.SMBus(self.busNumber)
IOError: [Errno 2] No such file or directory

I also try changing the bus number to 0 as suggested and running following but no luck.
>>> PicoBorgRev.ScanForPicoBorgReverse()
Scanning I�C bus #1
No PicoBorg Reverse boards found, is bus #1 correct (should be 0 for Rev 1, 1 for Rev 2)[]

I am using raspberry pi rev 2. (Linux raspberrypi 3.12.28+ #709 PREEMPT armv6l GNU/Linux).
Lights on picoborgrev is blinking fast(Red Color) and i have already checked wiring plenty of times.
I ran following diag. tools. Please see below.

pi@raspberrypi ~ $ lsmod
Module Size Used by
i2c_bcm2708 4943 0
i2c_dev 5769 0
snd_bcm2835 19584 0
snd_soc_bcm2708_i2s 6202 0
regmap_mmio 2818 1 snd_soc_bcm2708_i2s
snd_soc_core 127841 1 snd_soc_bcm2708_i2s
snd_compress 8259 1 snd_soc_core
regmap_i2c 1661 1 snd_soc_core
snd_pcm_dmaengine 5505 1 snd_soc_core
regmap_spi 1913 1 snd_soc_core
snd_pcm 83845 3 snd_bcm2835,snd_soc_core,snd_pcm_dmaengine
snd_page_alloc 5132 1 snd_pcm
snd_seq 55484 0
snd_seq_device 6469 1 snd_seq
snd_timer 20998 2 snd_pcm,snd_seq
leds_gpio 2079 0
led_class 4118 1 leds_gpio
snd 62252 7 snd_bcm2835,snd_soc_core,snd_timer,snd_pcm,snd_seq,snd_seq_device,snd_compress

I tried following with PicoborgRev plugged into pi
pi@raspberrypi ~/diddyborg $ sudo i2cdetect -y 1
00: 0 1 2 are without -- else all are with --

then shutdown and using triborg, i added both XloBorg and PicoborgRev and rebooted. I ran sudo i2cdetect -y 1. This time i had row 00 & col e = 0e, row 10 & col c = 1c
I even got a raw sample from xloborg. So this just proves my i2c in funtional.

Using ls /dev...I only see i2c-1. I don't see i2c-0...am i suppose to in raspberry pi v2?

I have also commented out blacklist i2c-bcm2708 in /etc/modprobe.d/raspi-blacklist.conf

Please help me...I think i tried everything. I want to make my Diddyborg mobile. Thanks!

Can someone link me to a place where I can buy this robot, I would like it to be already constructed and the software and thing to be installed. Please email me back at ...

Thanks Oliver

Used the ScanForPicoBorgReverse and none was found.
I downloaded the most recent raspbian to the pi and now the gui wont open.
Checked with another pi and it still isn't detecting the PBR.
-Patrick

The PicoBorg Reverse comes with two 3 way cables which fit very neatly onto pins 1-6 of the GPIO. My problem is that I currently have a Slice of Pi board taking up those and more pins on the Model B+ I am using.

The Slice of Pi board offers up the required SDA, SLC, 3v, 5v and GND connection but only 1 of each. The supplied cables have connection to both the Pi 5v GPIO pins 2 and 4.

My question is, do I have to provide 5v to both the pins on the PicoBorg Reverse or will providing to either be okay?

Thanks in advance

Even better than I hoped. Thanks for the quick response.

I noticed some others stating that they had problems with the cable harness. I too had an issue where the PBR was not being recognized. I tested the harness after reading through this thread, and that was the issue.

Yes, please use that address.

I have problems whit diddyborg example diddyJoy.
it will only print this on screen:

pi@carPI ~/diddyborg $ ./ps3DiddyJoy.sh
sixad is already running.
run '/usr/bin/sixad --stop' to stop it
Loading PicoBorg Reverse on bus 1, address 44
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/home/pi/diddyborg/diddyJoy.py", line 17, in 
    PBR.Init()
  File "/home/pi/diddyborg/PicoBorgRev.py", line 234, in Init
    self.bus = smbus.SMBus(self.busNumber)
IOError: [Errno 2] No such file or directory

I'Dont know what's wrong.

it's working now. thanks

Hi All,
I bought my DiddyBorg from ModMyPi this week, arrived last night and had fun so far putting it together with my 7yr old son. As a side, unfortunately the kit was delivered without any allen keys so we can't attach the wheels - modmypi don't appear to be that fussed or helpful so far with regards to sending me one.

Anyway, i've moved onto the programming side whilst I get the allen key/wheels thing sorted out, but i've hit a block.

(i'm using a new Raspberry PI 2)

I am powering the rPi via the usb port with the reverse attached as directed (a red light flashes once when power is turned on). However running diddySequence results in the following:

pi@raspberrypi ~/diddyborg $ ./diddySequence.py
Loading PicoBorg Reverse on bus 1, address 44
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "./diddySequence.py", line 15, in 
    PBR.Init()
  File "/home/pi/diddyborg/PicoBorgRev.py", line 234, in Init
    self.bus = smbus.SMBus(self.busNumber)
IOError: [Errno 2] No such file or directory

I've read through this thread and tried the recommendations put forward but I don't seem to be getting any further.

`lsmod` returns

pi@raspberrypi ~/diddyborg $ lsmod
Module                  Size  Used by
bnep                   10206  2
rfcomm                 34707  10
i2c_bcm2708             4758  0
i2c_dev                 6027  0
snd_bcm2835            18850  0
snd_pcm                75388  1 snd_bcm2835
snd_seq                53078  0
snd_seq_device          5628  1 snd_seq
snd_timer              17784  2 snd_pcm,snd_seq
snd                    51667  5 snd_bcm2835,snd_timer,snd_pcm,snd_seq,snd_seq_device
ecb                     2027  1
evdev                   9950  2
btusb                  20357  0
hid_apple               4844  0
bluetooth             287443  24 bnep,btusb,rfcomm
arc4                    1745  2
rt2800usb              17898  0
rt2800lib              71839  1 rt2800usb
rt2x00usb               8764  1 rt2800usb
rt2x00lib              37292  3 rt2x00usb,rt2800lib,rt2800usb
mac80211              483884  3 rt2x00lib,rt2x00usb,rt2800lib
cfg80211              395310  2 mac80211,rt2x00lib
crc_ccitt               1153  1 rt2800lib
rfkill                 16651  4 cfg80211,bluetooth
uio_pdrv_genirq         2958  0
uio                     8119  1 uio_pdrv_genirq

so are they the i2c drivers I should expect to see?

Here is the output of `ls /dev`

pi@raspberrypi ~/diddyborg $ ls /dev
autofs           fuse     loop7               ppp    ram4     stderr  tty17  tty29  tty40  tty52  tty7       vcs3   xconsole
block            hidraw0  loop-control        ptmx   ram5     stdin   tty18  tty3   tty41  tty53  tty8       vcs4   zero
btrfs-control    hidraw1  MAKEDEV             pts    ram6     stdout  tty19  tty30  tty42  tty54  tty9       vcs5
bus              input    mapper              ram0   ram7     tty     tty2   tty31  tty43  tty55  ttyAMA0    vcs6
cachefiles       kmsg     mem                 ram1   ram8     tty0    tty20  tty32  tty44  tty56  ttyprintk  vcsa
char             log      memory_bandwidth    ram10  ram9     tty1    tty21  tty33  tty45  tty57  uinput     vcsa1
console          loop0    mmcblk0             ram11  random   tty10   tty22  tty34  tty46  tty58  urandom    vcsa2
cpu_dma_latency  loop1    mmcblk0p1           ram12  raw      tty11   tty23  tty35  tty47  tty59  vc-cma     vcsa3
cuse             loop2    mmcblk0p2           ram13  rfkill   tty12   tty24  tty36  tty48  tty6   vchiq      vcsa4
disk             loop3    net                 ram14  root     tty13   tty25  tty37  tty49  tty60  vc-mem     vcsa5
fb0              loop4    network_latency     ram15  shm      tty14   tty26  tty38  tty5   tty61  vcs        vcsa6
fd               loop5    network_throughput  ram2   snd      tty15   tty27  tty39  tty50  tty62  vcs1       vcsm
full             loop6    null                ram3   sndstat  tty16   tty28  tty4   tty51  tty63  vcs2       vhci

Running `sudo i2cdetect -y 0` returns

Error: Could not open file `/dev/i2c-0' or `/dev/i2c/0': No such file or directory

Heyalp piborg - you're my only hope

DC

I knew it would be something straight forward. I now have i2c-1 listed in dev

pi@raspberrypi ~/picoborgrev $ ls /dev
autofs           fuse     loop6               null   ram3    sndstat  tty16  tty28  tty4   tty51  tty63      vcs2   vhci
block            hidraw0  loop7               ppp    ram4    stderr   tty17  tty29  tty40  tty52  tty7       vcs3   xconsole
btrfs-control    hidraw1  loop-control        ptmx   ram5    stdin    tty18  tty3   tty41  tty53  tty8       vcs4   zero
bus              i2c-1    MAKEDEV             pts    ram6    stdout   tty19  tty30  tty42  tty54  tty9       vcs5
cachefiles       input    mapper              ram0   ram7    tty      tty2   tty31  tty43  tty55  ttyAMA0    vcs6
char             kmsg     mem                 ram1   ram8    tty0     tty20  tty32  tty44  tty56  ttyprintk  vcsa
console          log      memory_bandwidth    ram10  ram9    tty1     tty21  tty33  tty45  tty57  uinput     vcsa1
cpu_dma_latency  loop0    mmcblk0             ram11  random  tty10    tty22  tty34  tty46  tty58  urandom    vcsa2
cuse             loop1    mmcblk0p1           ram12  raw     tty11    tty23  tty35  tty47  tty59  vc-cma     vcsa3
disk             loop2    mmcblk0p2           ram13  rfkill  tty12    tty24  tty36  tty48  tty6   vchiq      vcsa4
fb0              loop3    net                 ram14  root    tty13    tty25  tty37  tty49  tty60  vc-mem     vcsa5
fd               loop4    network_latency     ram15  shm     tty14    tty26  tty38  tty5   tty61  vcs        vcsa6
full             loop5    network_throughput  ram2   snd     tty15    tty27  tty39  tty50  tty62  vcs1       vcsm

Here is the output of i2cdetect -y 1

pi@raspberrypi ~/picoborgrev $ sudo i2cdetect -y 1
     0  1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  a  b  c  d  e  f
00:          -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
10: -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
20: -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
30: -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
40: -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
50: -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
60: -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
70: -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

Running diddySeqence.py returns

pi@raspberrypi ~/diddyborg $ ./diddySequence.py                   
Loading PicoBorg Reverse on bus 1, address 44                     
Missing PicoBorg Reverse at 44                                    
PicoBorg Reverse was not found                                    
Trying bus 0 instead                                              
Loading PicoBorg Reverse on bus 0, address 44                     
Traceback (most recent call last):                                
  File "./diddySequence.py", line 15, in                  
    PBR.Init()                                                    
  File "/home/pi/diddyborg/PicoBorgRev.py", line 264, in Init     
    self.Init(False)                                              
  File "/home/pi/diddyborg/PicoBorgRev.py", line 234, in Init     
    self.bus = smbus.SMBus(self.busNumber)                        
IOError: [Errno 2] No such file or directory                      

Could it be that I have dodgy connectors aswell?

I will contact you via the contact form as mentioned, would you be able to fire me over some connectors in addition to the allen key?

Thanks
DC