Hello,

I just finished building my Meggy Jr. RGB and it works great. However, I've been running into some bumps when trying to program it using the official guide.

Here's the steps of exactly what I have done so far in regards to programming:

1. Install Arduino 0022 for Linux (64 bit) on my 64 bit Ubuntu Linux system.
2. Start Arduino. I get no errors on startup.
3. Go to /home/(myuser)/sketchbook and create a folder called "libraries"
4. Unzip the Meggy Jr. RGB library, version 1.4, which I downloaded from here.
5. Put the unzipped "MeggyJr" folder into /home/(myuser)/sketchbook/libraries/.
6. Restart Arduino.
7. In Arduino, go to Tools -> Board. I have the ATmega328 chip. The manual states that I should select "Duemilanove w/ ATmega328". However, this is not an option. The closest to that I could find was "Arduino Duemilanove or Nano w/ ATmega328", so I select that.
8. In Arduino, go to File -> Sketchbook -> libraries -> MeggyJr -> MeggyJr_MeggyBrite (not File -> Sketchbook -> Examples -> Library -> MeggyJr -> MeggyJr_MeggyBrite as the manual states)
9. The MeggyBrite code pops up in a new window.
10. I try to verify, or compile, the program by pressing the "Play" button in the top left corner. Instead of compiling successfully however, I am presented with the following error which appears at the bottom of the window: "Cannot run program "avr-g++": java.io.IOException: error=2, No such file or directory".

Any more information or ways to fix this problem would be greatly appreciated. Thanks ahead of time for any responses.

I've replied on the mailing list as well. Sounds like your library isn't installed correctly, because the examples aren't showing up in the examples menu.

Your sketchbook is typically stored in a directory called Arduino in your documents directory. The exact location is shown in the preferences dialog in the Arduino software.

[quote=Windell]I've replied on the mailing list as well. Sounds like your library isn't installed correctly, because the examples aren't showing up in the examples menu.

Your sketchbook is typically stored in a directory called Arduino in your documents directory. The exact location is shown in the preferences dialog in the Arduino software.
[/quote]

When I go to File -> Preferences, my sketchbook location is shown as /home/habs (which is my username) /sketchbook. Here is the file tree of that folder:

.
└── libraries
└── MeggyJr
├── Changes.txt
├── examples
│   ├── MeggyJr_Attack
│   │   └── MeggyJr_Attack.pde
│   ├── MeggyJr_Blink
│   │   └── MeggyJr_Blink.pde
│   ├── MeggyJr_CheckButtonsDown
│   │   └── MeggyJr_CheckButtonsDown.pde
│   ├── MeggyJr_CheckButtonsPress
│   │   └── MeggyJr_CheckButtonsPress.pde
│   ├── MeggyJr_CustomColors
│   │   └── MeggyJr_CustomColors.pde
│   ├── MeggyJr_EasyDrawDots
│   │   └── MeggyJr_EasyDrawDots.pde
│   ├── MeggyJr_FroggyJr
│   │   └── MeggyJr_FroggyJr.pde
│   ├── MeggyJr_MeggyBrite
│   │   └── MeggyJr_MeggyBrite.pde
│   ├── MeggyJr_RandomColors
│   │   └── MeggyJr_RandomColors.pde
│   ├── MeggyJr_Revenge
│   │   └── MeggyJr_Revenge.pde
│   ├── MeggyJr_ScrollText
│   │   └── MeggyJr_ScrollText.pde
│   ├── MeggyJr_SetPxClr
│   │   └── MeggyJr_SetPxClr.pde
│   └── SerialCommunication
│   ├── MeggyJr_BinaryClock
│   │   ├── MeggyJr_BinaryClock.pde
│   │   └── Processing
│   │   └── SetArduinoClock
│   │   └── SetArduinoClock.pde
│   ├── MeggyJr_RemoteDraw
│   │   ├── MeggyJr_RemoteDraw.pde
│   │   └── Processing
│   │   └── MeggyRemoteDraw
│   │   ├── data
│   │   │   └── Ziggurat.vlw
│   │   └── MeggyRemoteDraw.pde
│   └── MeggyJr_SerialMonitor
│   └── MeggyJr_SerialMonitor.pde
├── gpl-3_0.txt
├── keywords.txt
├── MeggyJr.cpp
├── MeggyJr.h
└── MeggyJrSimple.h

Hopefully that helps some. I'm fairly certain it is installed correctly, but maybe there is something missing?

Sorry -- I can't seem to edit posts as a guest. Here is a fixed tree:

Directory Tree

ifd
└── libraries
    └── MeggyJr
        ├── Changes.txt
        ├── examples
        │   ├── MeggyJr_Attack
        │   │   └── MeggyJr_Attack.pde
        │   ├── MeggyJr_Blink
        │   │   └── MeggyJr_Blink.pde
        │   ├── MeggyJr_CheckButtonsDown
        │   │   └── MeggyJr_CheckButtonsDown.pde
        │   ├── MeggyJr_CheckButtonsPress
        │   │   └── MeggyJr_CheckButtonsPress.pde
        │   ├── MeggyJr_CustomColors
        │   │   └── MeggyJr_CustomColors.pde
        │   ├── MeggyJr_EasyDrawDots
        │   │   └── MeggyJr_EasyDrawDots.pde
        │   ├── MeggyJr_FroggyJr
        │   │   └── MeggyJr_FroggyJr.pde
        │   ├── MeggyJr_MeggyBrite
        │   │   └── MeggyJr_MeggyBrite.pde
        │   ├── MeggyJr_RandomColors
        │   │   └── MeggyJr_RandomColors.pde
        │   ├── MeggyJr_Revenge
        │   │   └── MeggyJr_Revenge.pde
        │   ├── MeggyJr_ScrollText
        │   │   └── MeggyJr_ScrollText.pde
        │   ├── MeggyJr_SetPxClr
        │   │   └── MeggyJr_SetPxClr.pde
        │   └── SerialCommunication
        │       ├── MeggyJr_BinaryClock
        │       │   ├── MeggyJr_BinaryClock.pde
        │       │   └── Processing
        │       │       └── SetArduinoClock
        │       │           └── SetArduinoClock.pde
        │       ├── MeggyJr_RemoteDraw
        │       │   ├── MeggyJr_RemoteDraw.pde
        │       │   └── Processing
        │       │       └── MeggyRemoteDraw
        │       │           ├── data
        │       │           │   └── Ziggurat.vlw
        │       │           └── MeggyRemoteDraw.pde
        │       └── MeggyJr_SerialMonitor
        │           └── MeggyJr_SerialMonitor.pde
        ├── gpl-3_0.txt
        ├── keywords.txt
        ├── MeggyJr.cpp
        ├── MeggyJr.h
        └── MeggyJrSimple.h

24 directories, 24 files

tree v1.5.3 © 1996 - 2009 by Steve Baker and Thomas Moore
HTML output hacked and copyleft © 1998 by Francesc Rocher
Charsets / OS/2 support © 2001 by Kyosuke Tokoro

I don't understand why you think that I need to see a list of the library contents. In any case, I'm fairly certain that the library is *not* installed correctly, because (1) it doesn't show up in your menu and (2) the sketches don't compile.

Most likely, something about your path, or how it shows up in the Arduino preferences isn't quite lining up right. If you've changed the library location, you need to restart Arduino before the library location will be updated. Could also be a permissions issue, of course.

Quote by: Windell

I don't understand why you think that I need to see a list of the library contents. In any case, I'm fairly certain that the library is *not* installed correctly, because (1) it doesn't show up in your menu and (2) the sketches don't compile.

Most likely, something about your path, or how it shows up in the Arduino preferences isn't quite lining up right. If you've changed the library location, you need to restart Arduino before the library location will be updated. Could also be a permissions issue, of course.

Sorry about the tree. I thought it could help determine if specific files are missing.

I'm probably going about this in the wrong way, but I made a video of the problem in the hopes that it could show something we couldn't see before or clear up any confusion.

Here is the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKqlYyD32mQ

Also, if it may be a permissions error, I took a screenshot of the Permissions dialogue box:

>Sorry about the tree. I thought it could help determine if specific files are missing.

From the video, at 0:54, it looks like MeggyJr does show up under examples now. Remember that you need to restart Arduino after changing the library location.


>Also, if it may be a permissions error, I took a screenshot of the Permissions dialogue box:

Taking a screenshot won't correct any permission problems that exist, I'm not sure how you think that this will help.

Quote by: Windell

>Also, if it may be a permissions error, I took a screenshot of the Permissions dialogue box:

Taking a screenshot won't correct any permission problems that exist, I'm not sure how you think that this will help.

What could help then? I wasn't trying to fix it directly, but I was hoping that through further inspection you could find a missing privilege.

Here is a list of all files, with their permissions, in the sketchbook folder (this time I spared the space by uploading it to Pastebin):

http://pastebin.com/raw.php?i=q5KfMrWW

Inside Arduino, does MeggyJr show up as an option under the menu item Sketch>Import Library...?


From the Arduino menu, select File>Examples>1. Basics> Blink. Press the Verify ("play" button, and see if it compiles.

Quote by: Windell

Inside Arduino, does MeggyJr show up as an option under the menu item Sketch>Import Library...?


From the Arduino menu, select File>Examples>1. Basics> Blink. Press the Verify ("play" button, and see if it compiles.

Yes, it does show as an option under Import Library.

Blink did not compile correctly and I received the same error message.

This led me to believe there was an error in my Arduino installation, so I installed it via Aptitude and launched it as root this time. I put all of my other settings back in, and the programs compiled successfully this time. However, I am getting an error whenever I try to send the program to my Meggy.

When I select "Upload", the program compiles but I receive this error:

"avrdude: stk500_recv(): programmer is not responding"

This happens when I select Tools -> Serial Port -> /dev/ttyUSB0 or Tools -> Serial Port -> /dev/ttyS4 (the only two available options). My Meggy is definitely on as I press the button. I have also tried resetting Arduino while leaving Meggy on. I have also tried pushing the reset button as I am uploading the program. Any ideas?

>Yes, it does show as an option under Import Library.

I was pretty sure that it would, since it shows up under examples now-- that suggested that the library was (at that point) installed correctly.

>Blink did not compile correctly and I received the same error message.

As I expected; just wanted to show you that this wasn't a problem with the MeggyJr library.

>"avrdude: stk500_recv(): programmer is not responding"

Double check that (1) the correct "board" type is selected in the Arduino menu, and (2) the USB-TTL interface is oriented correctly and connected. Also, importantly, double-check all solder connections near the chip and USB-TTL interface.

Is the MeggyJr working correctly in other respects?

Quote by: Windell

Also, importantly, double-check all solder connections near the chip and USB-TTL interface.

Yes, that was it! Two blobs were connected and I had to separate them. Now it works. Thanks a lot for your help regarding this issue.

Quote by: Windell

Is the MeggyJr working correctly in other respects?

Now that you mention it, the red LEDs (across the entire board) work, but are very very dim as compared to the rest of the colors. Sometimes they will blink bright red, but switch back to dim immediately though. I'm pretty sure that's a soldering error?

Another problem I've noticed is that a light of the same color will always be on in the first up and down column as any pixels that are lit in the columns to the right of it, for example

For example, a display that would normally look like this:

+++++++R
+++++G++
++++B+++
++++++++
++++++++
++++++++
++++++++
++++++++

Now looks like this:

R++++++R
G++++G++
B+++B+++
++++++++
++++++++
++++++++
++++++++
++++++++

Quote by: Habstinat

Another problem I've noticed is that a light of the same color will always be on in the first up and down column as any pixels that are lit in the columns to the right of it, for example

For example, a display that would normally look like this:

+++++++R
+++++G++
++++B+++
++++++++
++++++++
++++++++
++++++++
++++++++

Now looks like this:

R++++++R
G++++G++
B+++B+++
++++++++
++++++++
++++++++
++++++++
++++++++

I was able to fix this problem, but the red problem still exists. I checked all of my solder and no more blobs seem to be connected, but there's always the possibility. Any ideas?

the red LEDs (across the entire board) work, but are very very dim as compared to the rest of the colors. Sometimes they will blink bright red, but switch back to dim immediately though. I'm pretty sure that's a soldering error?

Hard to say. The blue LEDs tend to be brighter than they really should, which makes the others look dim by comparison. In the pre-programmed game, do the upper and lower walls look white (as they should), or some other color?

As for bright flashes, that can be done by software, so it's hard to say whether or not it's a hardware issue. A bad solder connection at (either end of) R2 or pin 23 of U3 could also cause this problem.