Scratch

Phydeaux wrote:

im heading an arduino project for my class, i have s4a installed on the computer. I have issues though, when i open the program, after i connect the arduino uno board of course, i doesnt read the board...i cant do anything with it... does anyone have any advice for me?

I have figured out how to get the board to connect, the Uno project is coming along well. we are doing another project that just deals with scratch for the lower kids in our class. its a Lego motor and I'm supposed to make a motor move according to a light sensor, but none of the directions i program in will sense light and dark, i would appreciate any help anyone could provide to me. Thanks

Hi guys, I'm new here.
Anyways, in my science class, I have started on a project with Arduino, and although I got the hang of the code, my teacher wants me to learn the S4A so I would be able to show him how to do things (so he can teach the rest of the class) without having to learn all the code.
Well, I took a look at it, and so far, I am confused. So far, I am used to doing only digital and analog signals, and have absolutely no idea about the motor blocks, and ETC.
Another question - why are there so few digital pin blocks on the menu? I am using an Arduino Uno, and for my project, I need to have 4 digital pins, instead of 3.    Is there any way to change that?

Anyways, any help would be appreciated.

Ivan K

on several digital pins can try "s4a_ddagen" from http://seaside.citilab.eu/s4a_ddagen.zip

Eruman wrote:

on several digital pins can try "s4a_ddagen" from http://seaside.citilab.eu/s4a_ddagen.zip

Also, looking at the firmware, after verifying it, it says the the word 'BYTE' is not supported (as of Arduino 1.0). How do I fix that?

creysiMP wrote:

creysiMP wrote:

Hey community,

I'm facing a problem with my arduino duemilanove and S4A on Mac OS10.7.2. Unfortunately Scratch can't find the board and doesn't show the right port in the selection. Instead of providing me with /dev/tty.usbserial-A400gUZx as the Arduino software does it only has /dev/cu.usbserial-A400gOZx in its list, which doesn't seem to work (even though it does with the arduino software). Any ideas?

...d'oh. Of course! I should upload the firmware to the board... now my next question is: if I do so, will I be able get the original firmware back if I'd like to use my arduino with the arduino software again?

Although we call it "firmware", the S4AFirmware .pde file is an Arduino sketch like any other... sorry for the name confusion!

hansel90 wrote:

hi.. i am trying to interface S4A with an accelerometer.., i have a firmware for the arduino to be interface with S4A. and i also have a code for the arduino and the accelerometer.., but the problem is how to be able to combine the two codes,,..
badly in need for help.., please 

Try to put the accelerometer axis pins (X, Y, Z) to the analog inputs, it should work 

Phydeaux wrote:

Phydeaux wrote:

im heading an arduino project for my class, i have s4a installed on the computer. I have issues though, when i open the program, after i connect the arduino uno board of course, i doesnt read the board...i cant do anything with it... does anyone have any advice for me?

I have figured out how to get the board to connect, the Uno project is coming along well. we are doing another project that just deals with scratch for the lower kids in our class. its a Lego motor and I'm supposed to make a motor move according to a light sensor, but none of the directions i program in will sense light and dark, i would appreciate any help anyone could provide to me. Thanks

Sensors must be connected to analog inputs, and Lego motors... we don't know which pulsewidth they have, but if you figure it out we could change it in the firmware.

hansel90 wrote:

how to you add more input/output analog or digital pins in S4A??
plss help

Sorry, but for now they must be changed in both firmware and S4A source code, so if you have enough knowledge on Arduino and Squeak programming, you can do it. Perhaps we must create a guide?

NonToxic wrote:

Hi guys, I'm new here.
Anyways, in my science class, I have started on a project with Arduino, and although I got the hang of the code, my teacher wants me to learn the S4A so I would be able to show him how to do things (so he can teach the rest of the class) without having to learn all the code.
Well, I took a look at it, and so far, I am confused. So far, I am used to doing only digital and analog signals, and have absolutely no idea about the motor blocks, and ETC.
Another question - why are there so few digital pin blocks on the menu? I am using an Arduino Uno, and for my project, I need to have 4 digital pins, instead of 3.    Is there any way to change that?

Anyways, any help would be appreciated.

Ivan K

Maybe in next release we'll change one of the servo pins to digital, as there is more people requesting to have 4 digital inputs. Respecting the motor blocks, pins 4 and 7 are for Parallax (Futaba) CR servos and 8 and 12 for standard ones.

Paranoism wrote:

@Eruman, who are you directing this to? I am NonToxic, BTW, just felt like changing the username.

And as for the S4A, I, instead of needing to use 4 digital pins, decided to use the 3 provided and one analog pin as a digital 1 (setting the value to 255).
Another question/possible bug- when I did that analog to 255, at some point, the program just crashes and does not do anything, which causes the Arduino to continue doing what Scratch told it to do before it froze. Why does the program freeze? I ran the same script many times, and re-uploaded the firmware, yet the program still freezes, although at different intervals.

Here's the block sequence-

When greenflag clicked,
forever
  digital 13 on
  analog 5 value 255
  wait 2 seconds
  digital 13 off
  analog 5 value 0
  wait 2 seconds
  digital 11 on
  digital 10 on
  wait 2 seconds
  digital 11 off
  digital 10 off
  wait 2 seconds

Digital 11 and 10 go to 2 transistors that make the motor go one way, and the digital 13 and analog 5 go to the other 2 transistors that make the motor go the other way.
The transistors are 2222A.

Weird, we never heard about this bug until now. Can you share a screenshot of the crashing error, or a scheme of your assembly to test it?

Paranoism wrote:

Eruman wrote:

on several digital pins can try "s4a_ddagen" from http://seaside.citilab.eu/s4a_ddagen.zip

Also, looking at the firmware, after verifying it, it says the the word 'BYTE' is not supported (as of Arduino 1.0). How do I fix that?

It's fixed on version 1.4, please download it from the website!

creysiMP wrote:

Hi!

I was just wondering if anybody knows of a possibility to share S4A-projects? I know that the implementation of the upload-function in S4A is forbidden under the Scratch license, but it does not state that uploading in general is forbidden, does it?

That's right! In fact, the license says that you cannot share projects to any MIT Scratch website, but you can do it in any other way (in theory).

Sorry for the late reply, we don't visit often this forum. Again, if you have questions that have to be replied quickly, please email us at scratch@citilab.eu.

And thanks to all for using S4A! 

Hi everybody!

After a little while I now have some time to spend with Arduino and S4A again. I wonder if there is any possibility to play melodies when connecting a piezo sounder or speaker to the board. Short knocks are the most I can get our of my piezo sounder with S4A. I know the arduino sketch for that, and came to the conclusion that playing meldodies is not possible with S4A because of delay interferences with the S4A-firmware sketch. Am I right there? That's the link: http://www.arduino.cc/en/Tutorial/PlayMelody

Any help is greatly appreciated.

hi there, i just ran into s4a, what a wonderful project. ive installed s4a on my box, but alas it wont find my uno r3, even if i specify the correct usb port
.is there a way i can test the firmware on the uno?

abee wrote:

Have you completed all steps of "Instructions" on the following page?
seaside.citilab.eu/scratch/downloadsl]

do i need to reload the firmware on th 16u2 aswell? that page dont specify it.

We are making an interactive dollhouse out of an old iMac G3 jellybean. Our team all knows Scratch but we are just starting with Arduino. The S4A site seems to be down and I noticed that there has been no response from citilab.eu on here since this time last year. Does anyone know of an alternate site to access Scratch for Arduino? Should I go Picoboard instead? Help! :-)

could you please send any video tutorial to send data via xbee in S4A. i connected my two arduino with xbee at two different usb port. when i opened S4A connect with COM13, now i try to send data to another xbee(COM17).i dono how to select COM17 port to send a message from one xbee to another. please solve my problem

I've seen your forms and studied all the topics , thanks to you, it helped me alot to found solutions instantly of my projects.And now my another question are
1) how could i send a data, if arduino with xbee in robot and arduino with xbee connect to pc.i dono how to find a destination port in S4A and transmit a data.I've seen video(http://seaside.citilab.eu/scratch),please explain how would you this to communicating a robot wirelessely .
2)is it possible to use one arduino and two xbee to send a data. (i.e). arduino with xbee in robot and xbee alone connecting to S4A.

Has anyone been sharing S4A projects "legally"? I would love to be in on that.