Ping))) to Arduino to Max

I can't test the following, but it works for me in other contexts:

In the .pde file for PING))), replace

  Serial.print(inches);
  Serial.print("in, ");
  Serial.print(cm);
  Serial.print("cm");
  Serial.println();

by

  Serial.print(inches);
  Serial.print("_");
  Serial.print(cm);
  Serial.println();

"_" is used as a separator between your 2 values.

In Max, try this:

A bit OT:
I often have problems with the [serial] object, and I then generally have to restart my Mac. Using [comport] seems to be much more stable...

It's not too difficult to start from scratch, devise a simple serial protocol between the Arduino and Max, and then implement it at both ends. This will give you something that is fairly simple, easy to understand, and which and does exactly what you want, no more, no less.

I'm using a [serial] object on a MacBook Pro and it seems to work fine. I occasionally need to reset the object to run at a speed other than 9600 if I reload the board, but otherwise, no problems.

I would suggest looking at the various examples included in the Arduino software. In particular, look at the Sketchbook>Examples>Communication examples which are all about serial communication.

You can also look at this example I posted a few months ago.

Also follow this quick checklist.

Thank you all so much! Patrick, I tried your patch and arduino code. As before, the arduino side is working fine. Just to clarify, after uploading the arduino sketch onto the board, I should close arduino before opening max, right? ...I've tried both ways.

I think i'm having the same problem as before, it's just clearer now. So I uploaded the modified arduino code, saw the LED blinking and closed arduino. I opened Patrick's patch and clicked print. The max window shows port c: COM3 and port f: COM6 (I know the arduino is on COM6). The drop-down window also shows these two options. But when I select either of them, the max window tells me "specified port not available"!? Didn't it just tell me they were available? Any ideas why this would be happening? Thanks!

I should also mention that I changed <> to <>, but have tried all possible combinations as far as port IDs go. None of this seems to have an effect on the error "specified port not available" message.

I have also made sure that the baud rates are consistent
(9600) between Arduino and Max.

It's indeed better to close the Arduino IDE before opening the Max patch (as [serial] has a close message since Max5, it shouldn't be necessary but it's more secured like that).

I suppose you installed the FTDI driver?http://www.ftdichip.com/Drivers/VCP.htm

Just to make sure your COM port is released, did you try to restart your PC (keeping the arduino running) before starting Max?

p

Yeah, I tried restarting. Reinstalled the driver, restarted, restarted again. Still the same problem...

Then it's probably time to share a patch and probably your sketch...we can only guess at this point.

David

I tried reinstalling Arduino + drivers, still the problem persists.

My patch isn't much different from the one Patrick posted. I changed it to correspond to port f : COM6::

The arduino code is the same as posted here http://arduino.cc/en/Tutorial/Ping with the exception suggested by Patrick above:

int pingPin = 7;

void setup()
{
Serial.begin(9600);
}

void loop()
{
long duration, inches, cm;

// The PING))) is triggered by a HIGH pulse of 2 or more microseconds.
// We give a short LOW pulse beforehand to ensure a clean HIGH pulse.
pinMode(pingPin, OUTPUT);
digitalWrite(pingPin, LOW);
delayMicroseconds(2);
digitalWrite(pingPin, HIGH);
delayMicroseconds(5);
digitalWrite(pingPin, LOW);

// The same pin is used to read the signal from the PING))): a HIGH
// pulse whose duration is the time (in microseconds) from the sending
// of the ping to the reception of its echo off of an object.
pinMode(pingPin, INPUT);
duration = pulseIn(pingPin, HIGH);

// convert the time into a distance
inches = microsecondsToInches(duration);
cm = microsecondsToCentimeters(duration);

Serial.print(inches);
Serial.print("_");
Serial.print(cm);
Serial.println();

delay(100);
}

long microsecondsToInches(long microseconds)
{
// According to Parallax's datasheet for the PING))), there are
// 73.746 microseconds per inch (i.e. sound travels at 1130 feet per
// second). This gives the distance travelled by the ping, outbound
// and return, so we divide by 2 to get the distance of the obstacle.
// See: http://www.parallax.com/dl/docs/prod/acc/28015-PING-v1.3.pdf
return microseconds / 74 / 2;
}

long microsecondsToCentimeters(long microseconds)
{
// The speed of sound is 340 m/s or 29 microseconds per centimeter.
// The ping travels out and back, so to find the distance of the
// object we take half of the distance travelled.
return microseconds / 29 / 2;
}