Q1 - There is no easy way to do this - but you could power it up (seperate from BB) and apply a high signal at the LED driver inputs. You have access to the schematic. Make sure you LEDs are oriented correctly.
Q2 - See Q1- I would simply try checking for unexpected shorts to GND on the header(with the Hermes completely disconnected from power and the BBB) - and if you don't find any - then try playing some music.
Q3 - Only you can know this - I suspect maybe battery wiring?
Q4 - I power my BBB from a dedicated switching supply as you would normally do for a plain BBB. This supply just needs to be able to supply all the current you need (I use a 2.5A supply) - it does not need to be low noise - totally not important here.
In your picture you are missing a GND connection at the cronus outputs to the DAC. The LCDPS GNDs are not joined.
Q2 - See Q1- I would simply try checking for unexpected shorts to GND on the header(with the Hermes completely disconnected from power and the BBB) - and if you don't find any - then try playing some music.
Q3 - Only you can know this - I suspect maybe battery wiring?
Q4 - I power my BBB from a dedicated switching supply as you would normally do for a plain BBB. This supply just needs to be able to supply all the current you need (I use a 2.5A supply) - it does not need to be low noise - totally not important here.
In your picture you are missing a GND connection at the cronus outputs to the DAC. The LCDPS GNDs are not joined.
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stefanhgm:
- check the voltage to BBB, it shall be 5V +/-0.25V
- battery pins between Hermes-BBB and BBB (2x2 connector next to the J1) is not soldered .. however this should not cause the damage
- you have connected both Cronus and BBB to the same power supply - although this should work, I'd not use that ... use same supply for DAC & Cronus and separate for BBB
- does the old BBB work if not connected to Hermes-BBB? it is strange that any LED is not lit or at least blink when connected to power ... try powering it from USB (but remove the SD card - it consumes too much power)
- check the voltage to BBB, it shall be 5V +/-0.25V
- battery pins between Hermes-BBB and BBB (2x2 connector next to the J1) is not soldered .. however this should not cause the damage
- you have connected both Cronus and BBB to the same power supply - although this should work, I'd not use that ... use same supply for DAC & Cronus and separate for BBB
- does the old BBB work if not connected to Hermes-BBB? it is strange that any LED is not lit or at least blink when connected to power ... try powering it from USB (but remove the SD card - it consumes too much power)
Indeed - as miero said - it is much better to power the BBB 5V supply separately from the clean side of the hermes (Cronus side). The key thing on the BBB supply is to use one with plenty of current capacity. The whole idea of the hermes is to keep the Cronus/DAC isolated from the BBB - that's why you want to use a different (preferably efficient - switchers are good here) and higher current (I recommend 2A type or better) power supply for the BBB.
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Thanks for all your replies!
I removed the battery, connected the Cronus to the clean side of the LCDPS and added the missing ground connection from the Cronus to the Bufallo. I power the BBB with a dedicated power supply.
Now the Bufallo and Hermes work! All four LEDs light up properly. Either it was the battery that destroyed the BBB or I destroyed it by accident.
When I play music with Botic selected in Volumio I don't get an ouptut signal. Any idea what could be the problem now?
I removed the battery, connected the Cronus to the clean side of the LCDPS and added the missing ground connection from the Cronus to the Bufallo. I power the BBB with a dedicated power supply.
Now the Bufallo and Hermes work! All four LEDs light up properly. Either it was the battery that destroyed the BBB or I destroyed it by accident.
You mean I should connect the two GNDs of the LCDPS, right?
When I play music with Botic selected in Volumio I don't get an ouptut signal. Any idea what could be the problem now?
When I play music with Botic selected in Volumio I don't get an ouptut signal. Any idea what could be the problem now?
Volumio support on the BBB no longer includes working images with botic. It has been accomplished but with some persistance...
Link: https://www.diyaudio.com/forums/twisted-pear/258254-support-botic-linux-driver-246.html#post5417006
I see. Thanks for the clarification!I just meant that if you use two supplies for Cronus and DAC - they need to share a common GND.
I have an old version of volumio that offers the Botic output option. I created a separate post for this: https://www.diyaudio.com/forums/twisted-pear/258254-support-botic-linux-driver-259.html#post5558193
Any ideas how I can track down the reason for not receiving an output music signal?
I posted the problem with my Buffalo in the main thread: https://www.diyaudio.com/forums/twi...lo-iii-se-pro-9028-9038-a-76.html#post5559422
Does anyone have a mechanical drawing of the BBB-Hermes board, or even better, one of the whole BBB/Hermes/Cronus stack? I want to drill my metalwork for the standoffs so I can finally build a nice chassis for my decoder instead of having it stuck to a piece of plywood.
I have cast around on the TPA website and through the various related threads at DIY Audio and all I've turned up is a drawing of Cronus and I've got the BBB dimensions from its manual. Maybe this information would be a useful addition to the TPA website documents section?
Cheers
I have cast around on the TPA website and through the various related threads at DIY Audio and all I've turned up is a drawing of Cronus and I've got the BBB dimensions from its manual. Maybe this information would be a useful addition to the TPA website documents section?
Cheers
For the Hermes-BBB the PCB design files are in the github repo - you can open them in DipTrace and get all of the dimensions that way.
Great suggestion for making the others easy to access - I will be adding to the docs on the blog site - the Cronus overview would be a nice place for me to add that.
BTW - I am open to pull requests if the community has changes they would like to see in that documentation.
Cheers!
Russ
Great suggestion for making the others easy to access - I will be adding to the docs on the blog site - the Cronus overview would be a nice place for me to add that.
BTW - I am open to pull requests if the community has changes they would like to see in that documentation.
Cheers!
Russ
Thanks Russ, I forgot about the open hardware aspect so neglected to check github. That said, it's a bit of a chore having to download and install DipTrace to view the layouts so it will be great if you can make this sort of information easily accessable on your blog.
The blog looks really promising and I'm sure will be a valuable asset to the community and could, perhaps, address some of the recurring questions that pop up on the various forums.
Ta muchly
The blog looks really promising and I'm sure will be a valuable asset to the community and could, perhaps, address some of the recurring questions that pop up on the various forums.
Ta muchly
Hey folks,
I was successful to run my Buffalo III-SE-Pro 9038 with an external SPIDF signal. So, now I need to get the PCM input from my BBB-Hermes-Cronus combo to work. I think the Cronus board is already recognized from the BBB as shown below:
I was successful to run my Buffalo III-SE-Pro 9038 with an external SPIDF signal. So, now I need to get the PCM input from my BBB-Hermes-Cronus combo to work. I think the Cronus board is already recognized from the BBB as shown below:
And I already measured the outputs of the Cronus and could not see a difference when I played music. Any hints what else could be wrong and how I could debug the Cronus?
Attachments
Hello Russ and everyone.
I'm trying but can't find any diagram of how to connect Hermes, Cronus and Beaglebone Black togheter. I'venever done anything like this (i'm a pure noob) so I'm in trouble. There is not much documentation on oficial website.
Can you help me out please. Maybe some connection diagram and some assembly advice would do. For now I do not even know where to start from. Your boards will work with dddac1794 by doede. I have all still in the pieces.
Thanks in advance
I'm trying but can't find any diagram of how to connect Hermes, Cronus and Beaglebone Black togheter. I'venever done anything like this (i'm a pure noob) so I'm in trouble. There is not much documentation on oficial website.
Can you help me out please. Maybe some connection diagram and some assembly advice would do. For now I do not even know where to start from. Your boards will work with dddac1794 by doede. I have all still in the pieces.
Thanks in advance
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Hello again.
I have managed to make it. All assembled. Turns out it was not a big challenge as it seemed. Was enough to find right photos on the forum
I'm still left with some questions to ask you.
1. It is better to for Beaglebona Black board to have its own supply or is ok to draw from Hermes?
2. Could anyone give me some help on how to actually program corectly the BBB? I saw links from Russ White for Driver etc. Is that enough? Or shoul I look for some other codes?
3. What connections should I do for powering on and of automatically the BBB when switching on my power supply for my dddac1794?
Thanks
I have managed to make it. All assembled. Turns out it was not a big challenge as it seemed. Was enough to find right photos on the forum
I'm still left with some questions to ask you.
1. It is better to for Beaglebona Black board to have its own supply or is ok to draw from Hermes?
2. Could anyone give me some help on how to actually program corectly the BBB? I saw links from Russ White for Driver etc. Is that enough? Or shoul I look for some other codes?
3. What connections should I do for powering on and of automatically the BBB when switching on my power supply for my dddac1794?
Thanks
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I have managed to install botic on eMMC. Then I'M stuck. Seem like you need to have at least a basic training in linux language. This overgrow me a bit. Was trying to learn on Debian. There you have putty and tightVNC server to browse everything inside the remote desktop and that makes it simplier. Seems at least. Here I do not see any remote desktop. No idea on how to open and modify files. Make library erc. Is putty the only option? I do understand now why no one dares to pick tiching lessons with me
Can you guys give me some references where I could get some step by step by hand guaiding references to learn from to understand how to move inside and understand the Botic?
I would apreciate it a lot
I'm surprised that no one made any video in youtube with some guidelines on it. That would be so much helpful to those who are doing it for first time ever and struggle. This might have opened some bigger audience among diy aficionados.
Can you guys give me some references where I could get some step by step by hand guaiding references to learn from to understand how to move inside and understand the Botic?
I would apreciate it a lot
I'm surprised that no one made any video in youtube with some guidelines on it. That would be so much helpful to those who are doing it for first time ever and struggle. This might have opened some bigger audience among diy aficionados.
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Perhaps I can help - not because I'm a linux expert but because I'm a teacher (among other things).
Linux is derived from the computer language Unix, whose origins go back as far as 1969. [Unix was a dominant language in commercial and defense applications involving hardware that, by today's standards, almost makes us laugh!] Importantly, the original human interface was/is based on text and when operating at a basic level Linux requires us to use the 'command line' with written commands. Of course, there are desktop environments available for Linux but they often interfere with the function of simple tasks when running on basic single-processor hardware. Audio processing is a relatively simple task that we want to occur without interruption, and it can be done without the complex overlay of a desktop environment. So to make that happen, we use the old-fashioned text-based interface and that includes the command line. Here's one 'cheat sheet' of basic commands:
Linux Command Line Cheat Sheet by DaveChild - Download free from Cheatography - Cheatography.com: Cheat Sheets For Every Occasion
Botic was written by Miroslav Rudišin (@miero). It is a basic 'kernel' that allows the BBB to import a master clock, it fixes various details concerning real-time signal generation, and it sends the output to the GPIO pins on which Hermes is listening. The operating details, once fixed using text editing, do not require further attention. References:
http://bbb.ieero.com/index4.shtml
GitHub - miero/linux-beagleboard-botic: The official BeagleBoard and BeagleBone kernel repository
In order to edit files from the command line, you use an editing program and you have several options. The most reliable is, IMO, 'nano' (via the command line, using Putty & ssh) because it (almost) only uses characters that work in the operating system. 'Nano' is built into the Botic distro.
How to Use Nano Text Editor Commands in Linux
You can also use an FTP interface on a remote desktop machine. I use Macs and the program 'Fetch' (running on the Mac) allows a familiar editing process for remote text files - it incorporates the mac's 'TextEdit' program. So, if the Linux command line is too much to swallow right away, try a full-function FTP package from your usual working machine. That program logs into the BBB using the same credentials as you would in Putty with an ssh connection (IP address of BBB, username on the BBB, password, maybe port (22?)).
Once the BBB is properly configured and sending a signal into your DAC, you are still not really 'done'. The final steps are to set up a control environment to source and play your sound. The linux program 'MPD' (Music Player Daemon) is pre-installed in the Botic distro. It can be operated from the command line, but there are a number of convenient interface programs that provide a modern environment to control the basic player, and a quick online search will find them. One, called 'Volumio', is somewhat appealing but not currently supported on the BBB. I personally disable MPD and use a program called 'squeezelite', though I look forward to changing to a very different setup sometime in the future. The range of Linux music organizing and playing software is beyond the scope of this answer, and something about which you probably will have future questions. When I first started working with the BBB, this book was very helpful:
Intro to the BBB by Derek Molloy
In conclusion, I hope that learning to use the BBB and make it serve your particular goals and preferences is a rewarding process.
Best,
Frank
Linux is derived from the computer language Unix, whose origins go back as far as 1969. [Unix was a dominant language in commercial and defense applications involving hardware that, by today's standards, almost makes us laugh!
] Importantly, the original human interface was/is based on text and when operating at a basic level Linux requires us to use the 'command line' with written commands. Of course, there are desktop environments available for Linux but they often interfere with the function of simple tasks when running on basic single-processor hardware. Audio processing is a relatively simple task that we want to occur without interruption, and it can be done without the complex overlay of a desktop environment. So to make that happen, we use the old-fashioned text-based interface and that includes the command line. Here's one 'cheat sheet' of basic commands:Linux Command Line Cheat Sheet by DaveChild - Download free from Cheatography - Cheatography.com: Cheat Sheets For Every Occasion
Botic was written by Miroslav Rudišin (@miero). It is a basic 'kernel' that allows the BBB to import a master clock, it fixes various details concerning real-time signal generation, and it sends the output to the GPIO pins on which Hermes is listening. The operating details, once fixed using text editing, do not require further attention. References:
http://bbb.ieero.com/index4.shtml
GitHub - miero/linux-beagleboard-botic: The official BeagleBoard and BeagleBone kernel repository
In order to edit files from the command line, you use an editing program and you have several options. The most reliable is, IMO, 'nano' (via the command line, using Putty & ssh) because it (almost) only uses characters that work in the operating system. 'Nano' is built into the Botic distro.
How to Use Nano Text Editor Commands in Linux
You can also use an FTP interface on a remote desktop machine. I use Macs and the program 'Fetch' (running on the Mac) allows a familiar editing process for remote text files - it incorporates the mac's 'TextEdit' program. So, if the Linux command line is too much to swallow right away, try a full-function FTP package from your usual working machine. That program logs into the BBB using the same credentials as you would in Putty with an ssh connection (IP address of BBB, username on the BBB, password, maybe port (22?)).
Once the BBB is properly configured and sending a signal into your DAC, you are still not really 'done'. The final steps are to set up a control environment to source and play your sound. The linux program 'MPD' (Music Player Daemon) is pre-installed in the Botic distro. It can be operated from the command line, but there are a number of convenient interface programs that provide a modern environment to control the basic player, and a quick online search will find them. One, called 'Volumio', is somewhat appealing but not currently supported on the BBB. I personally disable MPD and use a program called 'squeezelite', though I look forward to changing to a very different setup sometime in the future. The range of Linux music organizing and playing software is beyond the scope of this answer, and something about which you probably will have future questions. When I first started working with the BBB, this book was very helpful:
Intro to the BBB by Derek Molloy
In conclusion, I hope that learning to use the BBB and make it serve your particular goals and preferences is a rewarding process.
Best,
Frank
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Here is a big thank you Frank for your help with opening stage and the way you've put it. Yes. I did notice that without actually learning the program language there is little to expect. I have already checked around for this kind of courses. In place where I leave there is no much hope. Need to reach for online corses maybe.
I have ordered the book you mentioned right away.
There is one of users of this site who is willing to help me out with just start. Just to make it play. Then with all the patience I will take the time to learn.
I thank you very much for your "to the point" help and links.
Best regards from Italy
Kris
PS.
Couldn't tell you are a teacher
I have ordered the book you mentioned right away.
There is one of users of this site who is willing to help me out with just start. Just to make it play. Then with all the patience I will take the time to learn.
I thank you very much for your "to the point" help and links.
Best regards from Italy
Kris
PS.
Couldn't tell you are a teacher
To keep it easier at the start, you might consider the following:
1. Initially just put some music files onto a usb stick rather than try to set up a network attached storage. Once you have music playing you can tackle setting up a network drive and mounting it.
2. Use MPD as your music player. Generally botic will work fine with the defaults.
3. If you have a smart phone it makes a really good 'client' to control MPD. Attach the BBB via ethernet cable to a wifi hub. I just bought the cheapest one I could find and use it just for my music system. It then can be the wireless hub to allow you to connect your phone, or a windows computer to the BBB to control MPD. You will need an app on your phone to talk to MPD. I downloaded MPDROID. It works perfectly. You select the music you want to play and start stop skip tracks etc. It becomes your remote control.
4. You will need to be able to log into your wifi router from your phone or laptop. There you can check to confirm BBB/botic has booted up, connected to the LAN and what IP address it uses. You need the IP address to tell MPDROID where to find botic/MPD.
5. Later when music is playing, you can take the next step which is to connect a network attached storage device to the network with an ethernet cable. There you will need to configure files in botic. This will require editing using NANO and getting command lines to configure and mount your storage device. Once set up you can pretty much forget it. It will just run.
Hope all this helps get you started.
1. Initially just put some music files onto a usb stick rather than try to set up a network attached storage. Once you have music playing you can tackle setting up a network drive and mounting it.
2. Use MPD as your music player. Generally botic will work fine with the defaults.
3. If you have a smart phone it makes a really good 'client' to control MPD. Attach the BBB via ethernet cable to a wifi hub. I just bought the cheapest one I could find and use it just for my music system. It then can be the wireless hub to allow you to connect your phone, or a windows computer to the BBB to control MPD. You will need an app on your phone to talk to MPD. I downloaded MPDROID. It works perfectly. You select the music you want to play and start stop skip tracks etc. It becomes your remote control.
4. You will need to be able to log into your wifi router from your phone or laptop. There you can check to confirm BBB/botic has booted up, connected to the LAN and what IP address it uses. You need the IP address to tell MPDROID where to find botic/MPD.
5. Later when music is playing, you can take the next step which is to connect a network attached storage device to the network with an ethernet cable. There you will need to configure files in botic. This will require editing using NANO and getting command lines to configure and mount your storage device. Once set up you can pretty much forget it. It will just run.
Hope all this helps get you started.