The owlcms-firmata program controls devices using Excel configuration files. This allows for builders to change which pins are used on the Arduino board, and to create new devices according to their needs - for example, to create an announcer device with red/white and challenge buttons.
These instructions refer to version 2.0. The program is obtained from the releases directory.
- This will create a desktop icon and start menu entries.
- To uninstall, use the standard "Installed apps" system settings menu.
Important
Java is required to run the program. RaspberryOS includes Java. For MacOS and Linux, you have to install Java 17 once, beforehand.
Then download the .jar file from the releases directory and run.
java -jar owlcms-firmata.jar
When the program is started for the first time, it creates a subdirectory in the user's home directory. The subdirectory is called owlcms\devices on Windows and .owlcms/devices on Mac and Linux/RaspberryOS.
The format for configuration files is documented here .
Note
The configuration files are NOT changed or updated by subsequent installations.
You can delete configuration files you don't need, and you can rename the files to whatever you want.
If you want to get the default configuration files again, you need to delete the devices directory and restart the program (make a copy of your old files just in case).
When the program is started, it will attempt to detect your connected devices. If your devices are not yet connected, you can use the Detect Devices button later.
After the detection step, the devices found are listed at the bottom, but they cannot be activated since we are not connected to owlcms.
The next step is to connect to the server. Normally you will use the address of your own owlcms server and the default parameters (port 1883, and no username/password).
The program will then interrogate owlcms to see if there are multiple platforms in use. If so, you will be asked to select which one. If there is only one, this step is automatic.
If the person building the device used the standard firmware for the Arduino Board, you need to select which configuration to use from the files in the configuration directory. After selection, the Start Device button becomes enabled.
The person building the device can copy the standard firmware and name it the same as a configuration file. When that is the case, the name of the configuration file is pre-selected, and the start button is already enabled.
If you plug or unplug devices, you can scan again by using the Detect Devices button. It may happen that the Device Detection does not see all the devices. You may try again after waiting a few seconds. If that fails, stopping the program and restarting it again typically solves the issue (Windows is sometimes a little bit finicky about USB serial ports)