I haven't used bitlash with an Arduino before, so I took this opportunity to try it out. First, I downloaded and installed bitlash-1.0rc2 in the Arduino's hardware directory. Then, I compiled bitlash-demo.pde in the Arduino programming Environment and sent it to the Arduino via USB.
Getting comms established with the Arduino from LabVIEW was easy and I got the bitlash splash message right away. However, the Advanced Serial Write and Read.vi is very awkward for this kind of communications. If you don't know how big the message coming from the remote device will be. you have to wait until the read times out. If you didn't get all the message you'll have to go again to get it all. Sequencing the write and read commands manually is a pain.
Everytime you run this example, it reconfigures the port and bitlash restarts. A more versatile VI should initiate the port once, then enter a loop to either write to the port or read the number of bytes at the port and read them in a loop then wait for more bytes until the whole message has been recieved. When you're done, close the port before the IV terminates.
Plus there are a couple of gotchas with bitlash:
* bitlash requires each command to end with a newline command (\n)
* When the serial port is configured, the default for Enable Termination Char is True. Reset this to false.
If you send "print d13 /n", the Arduino will answer back with the current value on the pin. The bitlash docs cover the commands and arguments to set the pins and read them. Sending "while 1:d13=!d13; snooze(100)(\n)" with cause the LED on d13 to flash. Control C will bring control back to the terminal.
At first glance, I think bitlash and LabVIEW together will be a powerful combination. If any one going to NI Week wants to meet to discuss possible apps, let me know here so we can organize something.
