Downloading IC to your
Handy Board
First Step
by Shana Negin:
orginally found at
http://cs.smith.edu/~snegin/handyboard/download.html
Before you can run interactive
c, you must download it into the handyboard. Instructions to do this are in
your manual. I also suggest looking at the official
FAQ's, becuase there are answers to many questions there. There are some
parts of the instructions that are not completely clear. Here I have copied
the Quick Start instructions, (from the manual by Fred G. Martin) and I have
added some tips to help you figure it out. The instrctions from the manual are
in regular print, and my additions are in italics.
- Connect the Handy Board
to the Serial Port of the host computer, using the separate Serial Interface
board. The Serial Interfact board connects to the host computer using a standard
modem cable ( the short cord with a nine-hole connector on one side, and
a 25 prong connector on the other). The serial port is in the back of the
computer. Some computers have more than one port. If this is the case, you
should choose port one.
- You do NOT have to
plug either the handy board OR the serial interface into a power outlet to
use it. You only use the power adapter when charging.
- Put the Handy Board into
Bootstrap mode, by holding down the stop buton while turining the system power
on. The pair of LED's by the two push-buttns should light up, and then turn
off. When the power is on and both LED's are off, the handyboard is in download
mode.
- To use interactive
C, you must download it into the handy board. You can do this using the disk
that came with the kit, or you can get the software over the web from Official Handy Board
page if you look under the software menu.
- Once you have the
software installed, or you have the disk in the 'A' drive, you can
downlaod Interactive C. Even though there is a windows downloader, I (along
with many other windows users) have found that windows 95 is too fast, and
using the downloader under windows NT doesn't really work at all. If you want
to run the downloader under windows, consult the "http://el.www.media.mit.edu/projects/handy-board/faq/index.html">official
FAQ's. Otherwise, run the downloader through DOS.
- How to access DOS:
run a program called MS-DOS PROMPT or COMMAND PROMPT. It will
bring up a DOS window. To run the installer, you should be in full screen
DOS mode, so press alt+enter, and your screen should flicker. When
it comes back up, you will be in full screen DOS mode.
- If you are running
the downloader off the disk, type a:. Otherwise, move to the folder
where you have put the IC files. IC requires that the IC files be in C:\>IC
so this better be where you are trying to go. You can change directories by
typing cd where is the name of the directory
that you want to move to. You must include all the steps necessary to get
from your current position to where you are. For example, if you are in
c:\>WINDOWS
and you want to go to
c:\>IC
, you can't just type
CD IC. You must go WINDOWS-->C:-->ic. You can do this
in two steps:
- C:\>cd .. (sends
you back one directory from wherever you are)
- C:\>cd IC (puts
you in IC dirctory)
Or in one step:
At any point, you may
type DIR to see what files are in your current directory.
- Once you are in the IC
directory,you must download the ic software into your board. If your board
is prepared, then type dl pcode_hb.s19 (or whichever pcodeprogram is
in your IC directory) and hit enter. Follow all instructions that the program
gives. With luck, the program will download sucessfully. The progam will inform
you when this is true. If the program does NOT download sucessfully, go back
and check to see that everything is set up correctly.
- Once theprogram is
downloaded correctly, Turn the Handy Board off and then on, and the Interactive
C welcome message should appear on the Handy Board's LCD Screen.
- Run Interactive C