This and That

One of my readers asked ( in the forums too ) for some help on reading register values from the Nordic chip, so I put together a quick example and added it to the library. This example reads the RF_SETUP register and prints the value in binary to the Serial output:

/**
 * Pins:
 * Hardware SPI:
 * MISO -> 12
 * MOSI -> 11
 * SCK -> 13
 *
 * Configurable:
 * CE -> 8
 * CSN -> 7
 */

#include 
#include 
#include 

void setup() {
  Serial.begin(9600);
  Serial.println( "Starting wireless..." );

  // Setup
  Mirf.init();
  Mirf.setRADDR((byte *)"clie1");
  Mirf.payload = sizeof(unsigned long);
  Mirf.config();

  // Read and print RF_SETUP
  byte rf_setup = 0;
  Mirf.readRegister( RF_SETUP, &rf_setup, sizeof(rf_setup) );
  Serial.print( "rf_setup = " );
  Serial.println( rf_setup, BIN );

  Serial.println( "Wireless initialized!" );
}

void loop() {}

When I ran this code on my board, it printed:

Starting wireless...
rf_setup = 1111
Wireless initialized!

So that’s 00001111 for the value of RF_SETUP. Breaking it down, high bit to low bit, using the datasheet:

0 – No continuous carrier wave
0 – Reserved – must be 0
0 – RF_DR_LOW is 0
0 – No PLL lock signal
1 – RF_DR_HIGH is 1, and according to chart, 01 = 2 Mbps
1 – High bit RF_PWR is 1
1 – Low bit RF_PWR is 1, according to chart, 11 = 0 dBm output power
1 – Not used/obsolete

You can download the library and bundled examples ( including this one ) from the Software page. Cheers!

I’m finally back!  The last three weeks have been grueling.  Mondays and Wednesdays have seen me at ACC teaching my regular Linux class in Austin, then Tuesdays and Thursdays I have been commuting to San Antonio to teach a new Linux class at Northeast Lakeview College.  All spare time was dedicated to making the new Linux course successful.  Anyhow, that’s finally done for a few weeks, so expect to see some new posts!

I just wanted to say that I’m still here.  Been super busy with the holidays and work.  I have more projects to post about, just no time.  Putting together a course for my new teaching position at Northeast Lakeview College in San Antonio.  That’s taking a lot of my time.  Plus, I’m taking the CISSP exam December 12th, which requires lots of studying.  Hopefully I’ll find time to post some new stories!  Like how I got an experimental version of my mesh network running a couple of weeks ago! 

I’ve added a new page to the site! Software! I’ll try to clean up my more useful bits of code and put them up there, free for anyone to use and abuse. I’m always happy to get feedback, so don’t hesitate to let me know just how terrible the code is.

The first bit unleashed on the world is a simple library for controlling status LED’s in your Arduino projects.  Enjoy!