Hi all,
first, I want say congrats to Michael for this amazing place (not only this forum, which is great, but also for the software/hardware support offered on his blog and github).

Then, the question: can anyone detail me the list of hardware and software needed to flash a bleebee (I bought one of this jam on seeedstudio)?
I've seen a Michael's post on it, but I feel like the info provided is not comprehensive.
What cc debugger should I buy (are they all the same or differ wrt the radio module to flash)? I've seen some cheap solutions on ebay? are they eqaully valid for my purpose?
What software to download? Is it free or should I pay for a license?

My first attempt would be to flash the bee with the newest firmware provided in the github rep. (just to be sure I'm doing it well). Later on, I would like to write my own profiles (eg., battery and/or sensed values by an arduino towards a raspberry pi).
Is it feasible?

thanks.
M

Hi,
well the list of hardwares is somehow initially described in this blogpost: http://www.mkroll.mobi/?p=1639

The CC-Debugger I'm using to flash my hardware designs are bundled with the Bluegiga Development kits I bought.

You can get the TI CC-Debugger using this link: http://www.ti.com/tool/cc-debugger?DCMP ... iptionArea
It is available for $49.

The other thing you would need is this TagConnect adapter: http://www.tag-connect.com/TC2030-IDC-NL
And in order to connect the CC-Debugger and the TagConnect you need to order this board as well: https://www.oshpark.com/shared_projects/Ff2LiKQA

From the software side everything is free. The SDK and the programmer tools can be downloaded from Bluegiga.
The Firmware files can be downloaded from my github repository.

I think the first would be to setup the cable. Once you have the hardware setup downloading the software is not a big problem.
Cheers,
Michael.

Thanks Michael,

ok got it but...
what looks strange to me is that a CC Debugger costs $49, while the price of a tag connect is ~$35! And more: after buying it I have to provide also an adapter in the middle.
So the question: what does this connector have of so special?? Is it just a cable, or does it have also some electronics inside?
The reason of the question: I am not planning to deploy 100s of bees, just 4 or 5 of them. So from my side, it would be affordable to manually connect the pins of the debugger directly on the radio board one by one (eg., by using some juper wires). Is it feasible or is there something in the middle that I am missing?

thanks again,
M

Hi,
the adapter board does not include any electronics. It just helps to connect the CC-Debugger and the TagConnect together.
Well attaching simple wires is not yet possible.
I have such a solution in mind for the BLEBee v2.0.0 as described here: http://www.mkroll.mobi/?p=1762
Maybe we can work something out that would fit your demands.

The original CC-Debugger header is still somewhat big, but I could somehow integrate the footprint for it on the PCB so a developer who has demand to connect it, can solder the header himself.
Otherwise I could simply add solder points and a developer could solder the wires manually, but this will look ugly.

Moreover the new BLEBee v2.0.0 uses the BLE113-256k which can be updated OTA so there is no need for a hardware connection to update the firmware.

What duo you think?

Cheers,
Michael.