************************************************************************************************* ABOUT: - Author of this document and the new firmware: James Robertson email: jtrelectronics gmail com - Web site http://www.newfoundelectronics.com Version 3 of the POC package. VX8062 DMX CONTROLLER FIRMWARE - Velleman K8062/VM116 Hardware compatible. - FULL SPEED device. 80x faster than old Velleman firmware. - New software support for Windows XP and Windows 7 - Linux MAC OSX open source support provided by Simon at OPEN DMX http://opendmx.net - Possible upgraded hardware to follow. BACKGROUND Please read the information on the OPEN DMX web site. Here: http://opendmx.net/index.php/Velleman_K8062_Upgrade PROOF OF CONCEPT (LITE) FREE RELEASE. This is a proof of concept release of the VX8062 upgrade for the VELLEMAN K8062 DMX transmitter. It is offered free of charge for an indeterminate amount of time for evaluation of the new FULL SPEED VX8062 drop in replacement firmware for the Velleman K8062/VM116 DMX controllers. While the channel count had been reduced to 96 channels it does operate at FULL SPEED and is many times faster than the existing velleman firmware. A full 512 channel version has been tested and will be available for a very low cost. In addition to the full channel count, the full version of the VX8062 firmware also contains a bootloader and can be upgraded as improved firmware becomes available. The firmware is a completely new design hand coded in assembler for maximum speed. It is the work of James Robertson and is copyright 2011. All rights reserved. You are granted permission to program and use this firmware if you are the end user of a already purchased Velleman K8062 or VM116 kits. Any other use is prohibited unless permission is granted by James Robertson. CONTENTS This zip file should contain FIVE files. README.TXT This file. VX8062_poc_v3.HEX. Firmware for a **PIC18F2550-I/SP micro. k8062_VX8062_V2.dll This is the VIXEN output plugin DLL. K8062e.exe* K8062d.dll Replacements for Velleman files of the same name. *If this package is emailed this file may be renamed to K8062E.ex in the package to get past email filters. If so please rename it to K8062E.EXE prior to use. The new POC firmware is a test release and is limited to 96 channels. However those 96 channels work at a much higher bandwidth than even 8 channels with the old velleman firmware. The full release firmware will contain 512 channels and work at the maximum speed that DMX allows. There is currently no inbuilt test mode in this firmware and this may or may not be added in the future. This firmware only supports the USB mode and requires no battery and the battery should never be fitted while the VX8062 firmware is in use. It is intended that the full working firmware will be available for "cost plus a few dollars" to pay for the tools required probably with an special introductory price. If it were to become apparent that there was community support that included many hundreds of people willing to support this project via small donation, consideration may be given to producing this as an open source project. HOW TO UPGRADE To use the VX8062 POC files you will required a PIC programmer capable of programming the PIC18F2550, and a blank **PIC18F2550-I/SP. Follow your PIC programmer instructions to write the VX8062_poc_v3.HEX firmware to the new chip. Replace the new chip inside the K8062, taking note of the pin-1 location I.E. Look at the old firmware before you remove it to see where the notch at one end of the PIC is and fit the new firmware in the same way. ** Other PIC18F2x5x PICs can also be used: PIC18F2450, PIC18F2455, PIC18F2458, PIC18F2553 (I/SP package) however some of these PICs may return an error message stating that the config words were not written correctly. This message can be ignored as the slight differences between parts do not effect the operation of the firmware. Note that any PIC with a "J" in the part name IS NOT suitable and will not work. Do not use any PIC18F2xJ5x PICs as these are 3V only devices and the K8062 is a 5V device. ADDITIONAL CHANGES REQUIRED FOR VELLEMAN K8062 V1 AND V2 BOARDS If you have an earlier V1 or V2 K8062 you will need to also replace the crystal to a 4MHz crystal before this firmware will work. You will also have to remove R9. To tell if you have either a V1 or V2 K8062 there are three ways. V1 and V2 comes with a PIC16C745 not a PIC18F2550 They have a 6MHZ XTAL instead of a 4MHz crystal R9 is fitted. If the above is true then you need to change the crystal and remove R9 in addition to fitting a new PIC18F2550. USING YOUR EXISTING PIC18F2550 FOR THE VX8062. If you want you can reprogram the existing PIC18F2550 with the new VX8062 firmware. However once you do this you will not be able to role back and do not expect Velleman to help out as they, understandably hold onto their firmware pretty closely. Reprogramming your PIC18F2550 is strongly recommended against, the only exception to this recommendation is if you have otherwise decided that the Velleman K8062 is not serviceable to you with the LOW SPEED firmware it has and would otherwise be a waste. UPGRADE FILES FOR ALL DMX SOFTWARE (EXCEPT VIXEN see below). K8062e.exe & K8062d.dll are replacements for the Velleman files of the same name. Place them in the folder where your existing velleman files of the same name are. Before you do, please rename your existing velleman files to K8062e.exe.vel and K8062d.dll.vel so you can easily roll back to them if required. These files have been tested with freestyler, DMX control, and the existing velleman DMX apps with (as of the time of this writing they have been tested with win XP only but are expected to work with windows 7). The fasttime32.dll velleman uses is not required as a new timer component was built-in to the new software drivers. This drivers are rewrites of the existing open source versions provided by Velleman and are used to preserve the compatibility with existing DMX software that already supports the K8062 and VM116 kits. UPGRADE FOR VIXEN SOFTWARE. The vixen upgrade uses the K8062_VX8062_V2.dll, This is an entirely self contained output plugin. To use, copy this file directly into the vixen output plugins folder. There is no other install procedure required. In vixen, select this output plugin under the "Attached plugins" menu. This output plugin has been tested with win XP and Windows 7 and with the full release version of VX8062 has ran a 512 channels at 20ms update for hours without problem. Please send feedback to jtrelectronics @ gmail com