Tessel sdcard module does not work with ambient module

[brutaldev]

I've posted a StackOverflow question with all the details: http://stackoverflow.com/q/33184440/564726

[natevw]

For referenc here, the problem is:

Simply introducing the ambient-attx4 module prevents the SDCard from writing successfully.

var tessel = require('tessel');
var sdcardlib = require('sdcard');
var ambientlib = require('ambient-attx4');

var sdcard = sdcardlib.use(tessel.port['A'], { getFilesystems: true }, function (err, fss) {
  if (err) throw err;      
  console.log('SD card is ready...');

  var fs = fss[0];

  fs.writeFile('someFile.txt', 'Hey Tessel SDCard!', function (err) {
    if (err) throw err;
    console.log('Write successful.');
  });

  ambientlib.use(tessel.port['B'], function (err, ambient) {
    if (err) throw err;        
    console.log('Ambient is ready...');
  });
});

Result:

Error: Error flag(s) set: ERASE_RESET,ILLEGAL_CMD,ADDR_ERROR,IDLE_STATE,ERASE_SEQ,CRC_ERROR
    at _new ([string "colony-init.lua"]:504)
    at finish (/app/node_modules/sdcard/index.js:430)
    at callback (/app/node_modules/sdcard/index.js:422)
    at func ([string "tessel.js"]:963)
    at apply ([string "colony-js.lua"]:380)
    at func ([string "events.js"]:180)
    at call ([string "colony-js.lua"]:354)
    at emit ([string "events.js"]:89)
    at <anonymous> ([string "colony-node.lua"]:52)

Unfortunately, I do not have an ambient module (or any ATTiny modules) and so it could be difficult to diagnose whether this is a hardware, firmware or library issue. Any chance you have a logic analyzer, even a cheap 20Msps USB one? A sample of the SPI bus (clock/miso/mosi) from either port plus the select lines from both ports simultaneously could be enlightening.

[brutaldev]

Hey @natevw, I do not have a logic analyzer (I don't even know what that is 😕). Is there any other way I can get the info you're looking for?

[natevw]

You might try the Tessel forums to see if others have similar problems or a workaround. There's some logging that can be turned on in the sdcard library, but I don't know how much it would help if it is a problem with multiple devices on the SPI bus. If there's not some sort of solution through the forums, perhaps the TM team could look into it with their expertise or send me one of the incompatible modules to do more troubleshooting myself. Sorry I don't have better ideas, just hard to know what's going on without being able to see it myself.

[brutaldev]

Thanks for the feedback. I've trawled the forums already and this was my last resort when I couldn't find anyone experiencing the same problem. Will certainly be easier to figure this out if you had the modules to reproduce it.

[Frijol]

@brutaldev can you please cross-post to the forums? You might be the first, but not the last to see this problem, so we typically debug there so any future people with the same problem can see the process.

Thanks!

[brutaldev]

@Frijol No problem, will copy the StackOverflow post to the forums when my account is activated :)

[Frijol]

whoops! Sorry, approved

[brutaldev]

Thanks @Frijol. I have posted the same question on the forum as requested: https://forums.tessel.io/t/tessel-sdcard-module-does-not-work-with-ambient-module/2100

[Frijol]

Thanks! We'll take a look.

[brutaldev]

Using v0.2.5 of the ambient-attx4 module and v0.8.7 of the sdcard module.

This is the output of npm ls:

├─┬ [email protected]
│ ├─┬ [email protected]
│ │ └─┬ [email protected]
│ │   └── [email protected]
│ └── [email protected]
└─┬ [email protected]
  ├─┬ [email protected]
  │ └── [email protected]
  ├── [email protected]
  ├─┬ [email protected]
  │ └── [email protected]
  ├── [email protected]
  └── [email protected]

Checked for updates and these are the latest published versions. Perhaps a dependant project has been updated that broke things?

[johnnyman727]

@brutaldev it looks like the SPI bus isn't being locked properly properly when each module is using it. Unfortunately, I don't have time to investigate Tessel 1 regressions at the moment.