!"
)
APPENDIX B:
Loading New Software into the ZM-30
This appendix overviews a way the user can load an updated software program into the ZM-30, as provided on the
project’s Internet web site.
BACKGROUND
Increasingly today, microcontrolled projects have an ability to be “field updated” with new capabilities and software
updates made available by the designer. So instead of needing to send your instrument back for re-programming to
get these new features, you can now simply download the program update from the Palstar website and send it to the
ZM-30, and the instrument will automatically update its internal memory with the new program. What a great way
to keep your project completely up to date with the latest features!
PC REQUIREMENTS
•
Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows 2000, and Windows XP.
•
Works with computers ranging from 33 MHz Intel 486 processors up to 2.4 GHz P4 processors.
•
An available RS-232 serial port. (USB-to-RS232 adaptors may work for those computers having only
USB-based serial ports.)
•
“TeraTerm” (a terminal emulator program) must be installed. You can freely download it at
http://hp.vector.co.jp/authors/VA002416/teraterm.html
. Install the program (it’s easy!) and follow the
Usage steps below.
USAGE
1.
Download the latest ZM-30 software from the project website located at
www.palstar.com/zm30
. Save the
S19 file to a known location on your PC (e.g., your desktop folder.) The S19 file is the file with the “.s19”
extension to its filename. This is a text representation of the binary image to be loaded onto the ZM-30.
2.
Connect your ZM-30 to the PC using a standard, straight-through male-female DB9-type serial cable. Do
not use a null modem cable that swaps pins 2 and 3 from end-to-end.
3.
Start up the TeraTerm program on your PC. If not already set up, configure the communications as 9600
8N1, no flow control (in the
Setup
Serial Port
menu) , and be certain to have the line delay set to at
least “40ms/line”. Make sure that you have TeraTerm configured to be using the active serial port in your
PC. Be certain that no other program has control of the serial port – e.g., if your Palm HotSync program is
running, as evidenced by its icon in the system tray in the lower right of the screen, you must quit that
program by right-clicking the icon and select “exit”.)
4.
Issue the
Update Software
command on the ZM-30, located as an option under the SETUP menu. The
program called “HCmon” will display its sign-on message on the PC screen.
5.
Type
C
to clear out memory. See the C character echoed to the screen and the HCmon> prompt displayed
again.
6.
Type
L
to load new program. See message “…waiting …”
7.
Pull down
the File
Send File
menu.
8.
Navigate to where you saved the *.s19 file
9.
Once in the folder that contains
zm30v2-2.s19
file, select that file and click the Open button. (Be careful to
only load S19 files! If you mistakenly select any other file extension, it is very likely that you'll mess up the
bootstrap loader program.)
10.
See line after line of ASCII data displayed in short one-second bursts. This will continue for about 2
minutes until the entire program has been sent to the ZM-30 and has been flashed into its memory. DO
NOT INTERRUPT THIS PROCESS!! When it is complete, the
HCmon >
command prompt will be
displayed again.
11.
Type
X
to exit the HCmon program and the ZM-30 will power down. Disconnect the serial cable and
power the ZM-30 on again with the On/Off pushbutton to start the newly-loaded program. You will see the
new version number presented in the LCD sign-on message.