Firmware for Naze32 rev6 using Cleanflight on Mac OS X

Update (25-Apr-2016): Check out the video on Flite Test. If their instructions don't work, feel free to try what I did listed below.

Here's a short guide for anyone using a Mac to install the latest Cleanflight firmware in a new Naze32 rev6 flight controller. At the time of this writing, Cleanflight Configurator is version 1.1.0 and the Naze32 firmware is version 1.11.0.

Solder a bridge across the two pads marked "boot" on the board. See Figure 1. I did this simply using a bare wire; very easy to remove later.

Figure 1. Solder bridge across Naze32 boot pads.

Do not attach the Naze32 to your Mac. Be patient.

Download and install the USB to UART Bridge VCP Driver.

Download and install the Cleanflight Configurator at the Google Play store.

Restart your Mac.

Open the Cleanflight Configurator app in Chrome.

Do not make any changes to the Welcome screen. Switch to the Firmware Flasher by clicking the tab in the sidebar.

Figure 2. Switch to Firmware Flasher.

Choose the most recent, stable NAZE firmware from the drop down menu.

Switch on the options for "No reboot sequence", "Flash on connect", and "Full chip erase."

At the bottom of the window, click "Load Firmware [Online]".

Figure 3. Options in Configurator.

Connect a USB cable to the Mac and then the Naze32. The flight controller should only illuminate the blue LED.

Click "Connect" at the top of the window. The firmware will now transfer to your Naze32. An orange progress bar appears at the top of the window (sorry; no screen capture). LEDs on the Naze32 will not flash to indicate a file transfer. Instead, expect the LED to remain a solid blue.

Once transfer is complete (requires less than a minute), close Cleanflight Configurator and then disconnect the Naze32 from your Mac.

Remove solder bridge that connected boot pads in the first step. Desoldering braid works well for these small pads.

Re-open Cleanflight Configurator.

Connect a USB cable to the Mac and then the Naze32 rev6 board. The board should illuminate blue, gree, and red LEDs. Once the Mac has recognized the Naze32 (within a few seconds), the red LED will stop flashing and you will see a solid blue LED and a flashing green LED.

Click "Connect" at the top of the window and have access to the many configuration screens for the Naze32.

Since your Naze32 now has Cleanflight installed, you will not need to solder a bridge again in the future. If you choose to later install a new version of the firmware, do not choose "No reboot sequence" from the Firmware Flasher.

Good luck!

Want to learn Linux? Try playing with a Raspberry Pi.

I’ve been playing with a Raspberry Pi (RPi) for some time now but haven’t made much headway until recently. I originally thought it would be a fun little device for mundane tasks like web browsing or simple coding. What I learned, however, is that it has some serious limitations so aspiring to be a simplified desktop environment is really asking too much.

I now appreciate that the RPi is a great way to learn Linux and develop simple circuits paired with scripted logic. The RPi makes this attractive by giving you the freedom to hack anything without fear you’ll do damage to the computer. If something runs amok, with a few keystrokes you can wipe out the memory, operating system and all, and just start over. Sure, you can do all that with your PC or Mac but the reinitialization is far more time consuming.

If you want to get your own RPi up and running quickly, here are a few resources that I found helpful for a fresh install. Beyond a keyboard and mouse, you’ll also need a WiFi USB dongle.

• Start by formatting your SD card with SDFormatter.
• Download the latest Raspbian image.
• Flash the uncompressed image onto your SD card. This is surprisingly more complex than merely moving the image from your computer to the card itself. Well-written instructions are available from Adafruit for both Mac and PC.
• Insert the SD card into your RPi and boot (i.e., plug in the power!).
• On your initial boot, the raspi-config tool will open. This is the best time to modify configurations that will make your life easier. Overall instructions are listed here but the highlights are as follows:
• Expand root partition to fill SD card.
• Open the “internationalisation options” submenu.
• Change your locale. Use the spacebar to turn off/on locales. For the US, turn off GB (en_GB.UTF-8 UTF-8) and turn off US (en_US.UTF-8 UTF-8).
• Change your timezone.
Change your keyboard. This is a very important step. Unless you change these setting, your keys may be incorrectly mapped and cause you an amazing amount of frustration!
• Reboot the RPi upon exit.
• Connect the RPi to your wireless network by editing wpa_supplicant configuration file.
• Now that you have a wireless internet connection, update and upgrade Raspbian.

O Scale Cabin

This is the time of year when a visit to the local hobby shop shifts from RC cars to trains. On our recent trip my son eagerly picked out a new house for his Lionel train set we display each Christmas. Despite the seemingly endless stacks of kits standing before him, he quickly found one that he really liked: a small log cabin produced by Bachmann. When we arrived back home, my son tore open the box and proceeded to assemble the kit. Since it was little more than four walls and a roof, he was done in about 10 minutes!

Staring at a monochromatic chocolate brown building, my son’s charm for the kit quickly vanished. I asked if he would like to paint it and I was happily met with a smile and an enthusiastic nod.

To start we primed the little cabin with grey paint which was allowed to cure overnight. Next we mixed up several different shades of brown to paint the logs. This was followed with a wash of Citadel Agrax Earthshade and later a drybrush with a khaki color. The doors were painted a dark crimson and later the frames were picked out with a bright red. The roof was painted much like the logs except with darker colors.

I think the final product looks great! My son did a wonderful job with just a little bit of direction from yours truly. Although this was a brand new kit, the plastic parts themselves were stamped with a copyright dated 1952. Who says you can’t make a nice model from an old kit? It may not be very detailed but with a nice coat of paint it sure looks good beneath the Christmas tree.