triggerbox

camera triggering with clock synchronization to host PCs

firmware build and install

This firmware can be compiled and installed with the Arduino IDE or at the command line.

Arduino IDE compilation

The file triggerbox.ino in the folder firmware/triggerbox can be opened directly in the Arduino IDE.

Command-line compilation

To build this firmware for an Arduino Nano or Arduino Uno board on Ubuntu linux, do the following steps.

Install the required software:

sudo apt-get install arduino-mk

Make the firmware and upload it onto your Arduino device. With Arduino Nano:

# Do this if you are using an Arduino Nano
cd firmware/triggerbox
ln -s Makefile.nano Makefile
make upload

With Arduino Uno:

# Do this if you are using an Arduino Uno
cd firmware/triggerbox
ln -s Makefile.uno Makefile
make upload

Device setup

After building and uploading firmware to the device, its name must be saved to it with the arduino-udev package.

In the below, replace /dev/ttyUSB0 with /dev/ttyACM0 if needed. This is needed with Arduino Uno hardware, for example.

Unplug and replug the triggerbox, then run this to flash the EEPROM on the device with its new name (which will be trig1):

arduino-udev-name --set-name trig1 --verbose /dev/ttyUSB0

Now, run the udev rules to make a symlink to the device at /dev/trig1:

udevadm control --reload-rules
udevadm trigger --attr-match=subsystem=tty
ls /dev/trig1

Troubleshooting

If your device is at /dev/ttyACM0, the modemmanager package may interfere with its normal operation. Therefore, ensure you do not have modemmanager installed:

apt-get remove modemmanager

If the commands above in device setup suceeded but there is no device at /dev/trig1, check the output of:

arduino-udev-name /dev/ttyUSB0