ScratchGPIO7 Launched

I’ve released  ScratchGPIO7 as my latest maintained version.

It has a new way of sending sensor updates into Scratch so I though it was better to increment the main version number rather than just do a background update to V6

So – main changes are background engine room stuff but there is support for the PiAndBash I/O board and the Agobo robot from 4Tronix as well as various bug fixes- (and of course the yet undiscovered new ones 🙂

Please feedback any info 🙂

simplecy at googlemail dot com

 

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83 Responses

  1. bbart20 says:

    maaaaan… i spent 2 days trying to get the gpio6 working… go to sleep at 5 am, wake up 4 hours later and you got GPIO7?? I’ve not got the pi here but does this one give me control of the b+ pins? and would i be able to use few MCP23008 chips? basically my project consists of 64 inputs (1/0) and 3 servos, I have been put off python because it just doesn’t seem to interpret the board as it should for some reason, could be just mine. So I turn to scratch(which with pretty much same code does what it should).
    Bart.

    • cymplecy says:

      Both v6 and v7 give control of all A+/B+ pins. I don’t support the MCP23008 unfortunately 🙁

      My code is a Python prog anyway so if you can’t get it working in a pure Python prog then not much chance of me getting working and talking to Scratch

      Try asking for help on the Pi forums

      Simon

  2. bbart20 says:

    hey Simon
    no worries i got the pins working with scratch just python code acted a bit wierd, but i dont see the pins on the b+, with v6 plus it doesnt show me any pins at all and i downloaded and installed the v7 but it pops up with
    “Failed to execute child process “/opt/scratchgpio7/scratchgpio7plus.sh” (No such file or directory)”

    • cymplecy says:

      With the plus versions – none of the pins are configured as either input or output – the basic version – 11,12,13,15,16,18 are set as outputs – the rest as inputs.

      So that explains why the pins don’t show up

      To make a pin(11 for example) an input broadcast config11input

      That error msg sounds like you didn’t use “bash isgh7.sh” instead of “sudo bash isgh7.sh”

      Simon

  3. cj says:

    Thanks for all your hard work on this Simon, it’s a fantastic resource. Couple of things…
    – Do you know where you ‘menu’ has gone from the top of your site? it’s recently disappeared and makes finding things much harder.
    – I’m having problems with Scratch GPIO crashing erratically whenever I add / play any sound / music file. It can happen just with the ‘miaow’ but consistently if I play a longer (45 second) mp3 file. Any thoughts? Thanks again

    • cymplecy says:

      Eek – yep its gone for me as well! Will look into it asap – ta :

      I’ve rarely use the sound (but have done recently with PiPiano) but I do know that there have been many isses with sound in Scratch in the past and I think there is an outstanding one with NuScratch. i fixed an issue so that i can play midi notes in ScratchGPIO with PiPiano in the 7dev version but I’ve never played wav sound files. But like I say – I’ve seen many posts over the years about sound problems in Scratch on Pi
      Simon

  4. cj says:

    Thanks so much for your reply. We’ve just built a ‘fairy’ car with the pibrella add on and some motors to get my daughters interested in programming and electronics. It really goes fast and fun found the floor and your Scratch GPIO is so useful as they could never have done it in Python at their age. It was going to have a ‘getto blaster’ installed on the back to play a tinkerbell sound track each time a break beam IR sensor was tripped : ) – but Scratch crashes each time the track plays, so I’ll have to rethink that idea! I’ll try with a few different formats and see where I get to.

  5. Jonnie Bee says:

    Hi Simon – great work again.
    I was struggling to get this working on a B+ with latest Raspbian running. Either it wouldn’t open at all or after re-building, it opened but the GPIO pins weren’t activated and therefore not listed. I finally found a simple solution which involved:
    Right clicking on the ScratchGPIO 7 icon and selecting Properties. Then selecting the Desktop Entry tab.
    In the command box I added ‘sudo/’ before the string ‘/opt/scratchgpio7/scratchgpio7.sh
    I also changed the permissions to all users to execute it.
    I thought I would share this in case others are having similar experiences.

  6. Peggy says:

    Hi
    thank you very much for this brilliant support for the raspberry pi!! Germany I made motortest.sb easily running in the first place, but now pi2go starts to react chaotic to the commands. Happy about any hints!! 2morrow I plan a workshop for pedagogic educators as I think the connection of pi2go and scratch is a very good approach also for us here in Germany.
    Best wishes

    • cymplecy says:

      Pi2Go is an excellent robot. Do you have Pi2Go or Pi2GoLite? Does it work fine when you swittch off and on, load SCratchGPIO7plus and then open your motorstart.sb? Can you email me motorstart.sb simplecy at googlemail dot com please

  7. jon says:

    I am having trouble getting my pi2golite to work with my new pi 2, program runs by nothing happens on buggy

    • cymplecy says:

      Lots of software has broken with release of the Pi2 🙁
      As soon as the GPIO libraries and servo libraries are updated to cope with new requirments then I’ll hopefully be able to get ScratchGPIO working on the new hardware
      I’ll put a note on my install page to warn people

  8. Gavin says:

    Hi,
    Thanks for your work on ScratchGPIO. I’ve downloaded it and installed on my pi. I have a pi2go lite which I have just built. tested with the python scripts from 4Tronix. I was wondering if you have some scratch examples for the pi2go on your site. I’ve searched and could not find any. Or do you have any additional documentation for using ScratchGPIO with the pi2go.

    Thanks
    Gavin

  9. rutar says:

    I couldn’t get ScratchGPIO7 working on a raspberry pi B+, when I try to launch it after installation, it seems that it just open a simple version of Scratch, I don’t get any message and I don’t see any pin available in the “sensor value” ; if I try to launch it in a terminal ( I tried with root privileges ), it says “There was an error connecting to Scratch! I couldn’t find a Mesh session at host: 127.0.0.1, port: 42001”
    Any clue ?

    • cymplecy says:

      Some people have played with there network settings and removed the local loopback address – if this means something to you – can you check and report back please ?

      Simon

  10. Dear Simon, I have similar type “error connecting to Scratch” as rutar [11-feb-2015; 9:23pm] but then only at autostart. I have NO error using scratchgpio7 in raspbian desktop. I executed your steps to get Scratch at autostart but I only see raspbian desktop after boot. When executing scratchauto in terminal I get the errors, see log-file in txt-doc on link on web-side.

    • cymplecy says:

      The autostart.sb file should be based on rsc.sb (to get Remote Sensor Connections enabled)
      So open up rsc from Scratch – and follow the instructions to create the variable etc. Press green flag (to set the variable) then save it as autostart

      Simon

  11. Bakicc says:

    I’ve got problems with scratch7 and a raspberry pi B+. I cannot get the blink11 demo working.

    After installation scratch won’t start. I edited the shortcut and added “sudo” in front of /opt/scratchgpio7/scratchgpio7.sh. After this scratch is starting up.
    The blink11 script is not working when I start it from scratch. When I use the blink.py script it works and the led is blinking.

    Log:

    Executing: /usr/bin/squeak-stack -memory 128M -vm-sound-alsa /usr/share/scratch/NuScratch140115.image /home/pi/Documents/Scratch Projects/rsc.sb
    meArm NOT imported OK
    MCP23008 imported OK
    sgh_MCP230xx NOT imported OK
    Not imported OK
    PWM/Servo NOT imported OK
    ADC/DAC NOT imported OK
    8×8 NOT imported OK
    nunchuck not imported – check I2c is setup
    Minecraft imported OK
    RPi.GPIO Version 0.5.10
    Board Revision 3
    sghGC Debug enabled
    3
    PiGlow init
    i2cbus: 1
    No PiGlow Detected
    No Compass Detected
    No PWM/Servo Board PCA9685 detected
    No ADC/DAC PCF8591 Detected
    No AdaMatrix Detected
    No PiMatrix Detected
    No MCP23017 Detected
    looking for nunchuck
    No NunChuck Detected
    pi camera init
    starting at 0

    PATH: /opt/scratchgpio7
    Starting to connect… Trying
    There was an error connecting to Scratch!
    I couldn’t find a Mesh session at host: 127.0.0.1, port: 42001
    Trying
    Connected!
    Sender Init
    Send Msgs Init
    Running….
    set pins standard
    setting pin 7 to in with pull up
    setting pin 8 to in with pull up
    setting pin 10 to in with pull up
    setting pin 11 to out
    setting pin 12 to out
    setting pin 13 to out
    setting pin 15 to out
    setting pin 16 to out
    setting pin 18 to out
    setting pin 19 to in with pull up

    setting pin 21 to in with pull up
    setting pin 22 to in with pull up
    setting pin 23 to in with pull up
    msgs runnning
    setting pin 24 to in with pull up
    setting pin 26 to in with pull up
    setting pin 29 to in with pull up
    Some error reading pin 29
    The channel sent is invalid on a Raspberry Pi
    Some error reading pin 31
    The channel sent is invalid on a Raspberry Pi
    Some error reading pin 32
    The channel sent is invalid on a Raspberry Pi
    Some error reading pin 33
    The channel sent is invalid on a Raspberry Pi
    Some error reading pin 35
    The channel sent is invalid on a Raspberry Pi
    Some error reading pin 36
    The channel sent is invalid on a Raspberry Pi
    Some error reading pin 37
    The channel sent is invalid on a Raspberry Pi
    Some error reading pin 38
    The channel sent is invalid on a Raspberry Pi
    Some error reading pin 40
    The channel sent is invalid on a Raspberry Pi
    Some error reading pin 29
    The channel sent is invalid on a Raspberry Pi
    Some error reading pin 31
    The channel sent is invalid on a Raspberry Pi
    Some error reading pin 32
    The channel sent is invalid on a Raspberry Pi
    Some error reading pin 33
    The channel sent is invalid on a Raspberry Pi
    Some error reading pin 35
    The channel sent is invalid on a Raspberry Pi
    Some error reading pin 36
    The channel sent is invalid on a Raspberry Pi
    Some error reading pin 37
    The channel sent is invalid on a Raspberry Pi
    Some error reading pin 38
    The channel sent is invalid on a Raspberry Pi
    Some error reading pin 40
    The channel sent is invalid on a Raspberry Pi
    Some error reading pin 29
    The channel sent is invalid on a Raspberry Pi
    Some error reading pin 31
    The channel sent is invalid on a Raspberry Pi
    Some error reading pin 32
    The channel sent is invalid on a Raspberry Pi
    Some error reading pin 33
    The channel sent is invalid on a Raspberry Pi
    Some error reading pin 35
    The channel sent is invalid on a Raspberry Pi
    Some error reading pin 36
    The channel sent is invalid on a Raspberry Pi
    Some error reading pin 37
    The channel sent is invalid on a Raspberry Pi
    Some error reading pin 38
    The channel sent is invalid on a Raspberry Pi
    Some error reading pin 40
    The channel sent is invalid on a Raspberry Pi
    Some error reading pin 29
    The channel sent is invalid on a Raspberry Pi
    Some error reading pin 31
    The channel sent is invalid on a Raspberry Pi
    Some error reading pin 32
    The channel sent is invalid on a Raspberry Pi
    Some error reading pin 33
    The channel sent is invalid on a Raspberry Pi
    Some error reading pin 35
    The channel sent is invalid on a Raspberry Pi
    Some error reading pin 36
    The channel sent is invalid on a Raspberry Pi
    Some error reading pin 37
    The channel sent is invalid on a Raspberry Pi
    Some error reading pin 38
    The channel sent is invalid on a Raspberry Pi
    Some error reading pin 40
    The channel sent is invalid on a Raspberry Pi
    Some error reading pin 29
    The channel sent is invalid on a Raspberry Pi
    Some error reading pin 31
    The channel sent is invalid on a Raspberry Pi
    Some error reading pin 32
    The channel sent is invalid on a Raspberry Pi
    Some error reading pin 33
    The channel sent is invalid on a Raspberry Pi
    Some error reading pin 35
    The channel sent is invalid on a Raspberry Pi
    Some error reading pin 36
    The channel sent is invalid on a Raspberry Pi
    Some error reading pin 37
    The channel sent is invalid on a Raspberry Pi
    Some error reading pin 38
    The channel sent is invalid on a Raspberry Pi
    Some error reading pin 40
    The channel sent is invalid on a Raspberry Pi
    Some error reading pin 29
    The channel sent is invalid on a Raspberry Pi
    Some error reading pin 31
    The channel sent is invalid on a Raspberry Pi
    Some error reading pin 32
    The channel sent is invalid on a Raspberry Pi
    Some error reading pin 33
    The channel sent is invalid on a Raspberry Pi
    Some error reading pin 35
    The channel sent is invalid on a Raspberry Pi
    Some error reading pin 36
    The channel sent is invalid on a Raspberry Pi
    Some error reading pin 37
    The channel sent is invalid on a Raspberry Pi
    Some error reading pin 38
    The channel sent is invalid on a Raspberry Pi
    Some error reading pin 40
    The channel sent is invalid on a Raspberry Pi
    Some error reading pin 29
    The channel sent is invalid on a Raspberry Pi
    Some error reading pin 31
    The channel sent is invalid on a Raspberry Pi

  12. JH says:

    Dear Simon,i have encountered some problems using the ScratchGPIO7Plus on Raspberry Pi B+ with Initio robot, whenever i start dropping a few blocks in, the raspberry pi would randomly freezes up,initially i thought it could be the problem with the power, so i did a swap from 1A to a 2A adapter
    but the freezing still happens, so…any thoughts on this?

    • cymplecy says:

      Wwell number 1 do this
      http://simplesi.net/pi2-issues/

      And then come back if still doing it

      Simon

      • KM says:

        I’ve been having exactly the same freezing issue with ScratchGPIO07Plus (and earlier versions) with Initio Robot and Pi B (or B+). Freezes up just after adding blocks or within seconds of loading a pre-made file. Have tried more powerful PSU/batteries and keep updating software etc in hope it resolves but no joy so far. Not sure what to try next….

        • cymplecy says:

          can you email me a pic of a script that locks up on you please?
          simplecy at googlemail dot com

          • KM says:

            Sorry for delay in getting back. I discovered that if I disconnected the Initio robots L & R Obstacle Sensors from the Pi then I no longer got the lock ups. I’ve just added the new “iBoost 64” board and routed the Obstacle sensors etc through it and all worked well without a single freeze in an hour of use.

          • cymplecy says:

            Phew – glad it is
            A – sorted
            B – was a hardware issue

            🙂

            Simon

    • cymplecy says:

      can you email me a pic of a script that locks up on you please?
      simplecy at googlemail dot com

      • JH says:

        hi Simon,so sorry for the late reply,when im using the Scratchgpio5plus or 6 on the B+ with initio robot like what KM mentioned above,,after loading the test scripts, even maximizing the screen would freezes up the pi too. Also, i noticed that when using the 6plus, the Motor codes are in opposites,-100 would run forward and 100 would run backwards instead

        • cymplecy says:

          Hi
          unfortunately, without upgrading to V7 and upgrading your OS to latest and a copy of an actual script that locks up on you its too hard to remote diagnose what the problem is – some much stuff has changed on the Pi recently and 99.9% of problems are due to the changes

  13. Dave Carter says:

    Hi cymplecy
    I have a slice of pi /o board fitted.
    Is it possible to control the 16 pins using ScratchGPIO 7plus?
    I have tried using “set addon” with various names, but I still can’t get it to work?
    Thanks
    Dave C

  14. Dave Carter says:

    Hi Simon
    I should have said in the above post, that I am a total novice with pi & programming.
    So please forgive me if its a stupid question!
    Have searched the Intranet, still no luck.
    Thanks again
    Dave C

  15. Dr Peter Grigg says:

    Having difficulty establishing Scratchgpio7 on Pi. I am attempting to go through the ordinary computer route and downloading into the SD card. The instructions do not say where in the SD card. At the moment sudo bash /boot/install_scratchgpio7.sh complains No such file or directory. I would assume that there might be a ‘root’ directory visible under windows to where I should download. But the visible folders are ‘OS’ and ‘defaults’. Would appreciate advice. Thank you

    • cymplecy says:

      Using the download route is more a route of last resort when you Pi is not connected to the internet. The card must have previously been setup to work normally on a Pi before using it.

  16. Dave Carter says:

    Hi Simon
    My apologies, I was not very clear in my explanation, or am I reading your response incorrectly?
    I have fitted an “I2C” expansion board, called “slice of pi/o” made by Ciseco.
    I wondered if it was possible to use the ScratchGPIO7 version to control the pins on the additional board? Which are marked up as GPA0 – GPA7 & GPB0 – GPB7
    Thanks for the quick response and help .
    Much appreciated.
    Regards Dave C

  17. Dr Peter Grigg says:

    Hi Simon
    Thanks for the quick reply. I have two SD cards, one purchased and one created by myself. Both cards work in PI. Both cards only have OS and Defaults directories. So your final comment “The card must have previously been setup to work normally on a Pi before using it.” has been met. Can you offer more advice please.
    Regards Dr Peter Grigg

    • mrteach says:

      it looks like you didn’t copy the fine into sd card. Just place it in where config.txt is located which is the root of the SD card.

  18. MisterG says:

    I’ve trying to run Scratch GPIO7 on my B+ to control the Unicorn Hat (Pimoroni). I am sshing into the Pi via my Mac. When I run an LXSession and get the screen up I cannot get the Scratch program to run. It opens an X11 window with (somethingIcantRemember).image and nothing else. Switching back to the command line gives lots of failing to connect to Mesh session messages as above. I have updated and upgraded as in the recommendations posted. Any other ideas?

    • cymplecy says:

      Hi
      You can’t normaly get a GUI program (which Scratch is) running over an SSH terminal session
      I use X11VNC on my Pi and use TightVNC on my PC to connect to it.

      As well as all that, the UnicornHat needs to have the Pimoroni software installed

      So I’d try and get their software running showing pretty lights before going back to ScratchGPIO

      Simon

      • MisterG says:

        Thank you for that – I suspected the ssh was the problem (and that’s why I mentioned it). The Unicorn Hat blinks happily with the examples from Pimoroni so I need to learn a bit more Python … or pass it on to my 11-y-o daughter!

  19. Dave Carter says:

    Hi Simon
    That’s an excellent reply

  20. J S Frost says:

    Investigating ScratchGPIO, I realised the current versions are not compatible with my FUZE – hopefully will be in due course. How do you remove it?

  21. Dr Peter Grigg says:

    I am still trying to install ScratchGPio7 onto Pi – but with no success. This time I am now working through Pi and the internet.
    Following your instruction wget http://bit.ly/1wxrqdp -O isgh7.sh – I get 10 lines of text the final line stated ‘isgh7.sh’ saved [984]. So I assume that the installer has been successfully obtained.
    Following the next part of your instructions (I assume that this is done in the LX Terminal Window) sudo bash isgh7.sh. I seem to have a problem. There are 14 lines of a detailed text of which the first line states
    isgh7.sh: line 1: syntax error near unexpected token ‘<' and within the 14 lines are the words 'failed' and 'error'.
    Please could you advise. I am not acquainted with Linux so I have to follow your instructions slavishly.

    • cymplecy says:

      Looks like a corrupted download 🙁 Your not being very lucky are you 🙁
      I’m just going to make sure it works for me on a fresh image and then i’ll get back to you

      Simon

      • cymplecy says:

        Everything worked for me using the Feb15 Raspbian image – I’m starting to think that there is something worng with your Pi or SD card or power supply 🙁

  22. bobc says:

    Hi Simon,
    Is there a way to talk to a peripheral connected to a RPI via the I2C communication bus and be able to read the GPIO pins? Specifically I am wondering if I can use Scratch with this board or something like it? https://www.adafruit.com/products/2340

    Thank you

    • cymplecy says:

      I have to write code for each I2C board.

      But I support the Pimoroni Explorer board which has capacitive inputs so that would be worth “exploring” 🙂

      Simon

  23. Keri says:

    Hello!
    Thanks for all the work that was put into this. I am having a little trouble and was hoping someone could help.
    I installed Scratch GPIO 7 on my Raspverry Pi but I can’t get it to control the outputs. I am trying to blink an LED that is on pin 11. It does not work using blink11.py in Scratch but I run the program in LX Terminal as sudo it works. This means my circuit is fine, the LED works and it is pinned out correctly.
    Can anyone tell me how to run Scratch as sudo? I tried to go to file properties then add sudo to the command line.
    Any other suggestions for how to get this to work with scratch?

    I have a Raspberry Pi model B+ v1.2

    I am still pretty new to all this so I appreciate any help!
    ~Keri

    • cymplecy says:

      Once ScratchGPIO is installed you need to run the ScratchGPIO7 icon on the desktop which launches Scratch AND my background program tat interfaces Scratch to the GPIO pins.

      Are you doing that or just using the normal Scratch icon?

      • Keri says:

        Thank you for your reply. I am using the icon on the desktop. Scratch GPIO 7. I’ve also tried ScratchGPIO7Plus just in case. I have gone into sending and disabled and reenabled remote sensor connections. I have also done the updates and upgrades. I’ve tried changing the language that broadcasts to pin11on, pin11high, etc.

        The next thing I’m going to try is to uninstall and reinstall your software. I’m new to Linux in general so I need to figure out how to uninstall it!

        Thanks again for your help! I’ve been trying to figure this out for a week.
        ~Keri

  24. Keri says:

    Thanks again for the site to debug, but I am not getting what I should be getting!
    When I went to sudo python scratchgpio_handler7 it couldn’t find the file. When I added .py at the end it came up with a bunch of things that were not imported.

    This is a picture of what I did. (The picture is poor quality because the image was projected onto cardboard)
    https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7_KoKdC_vxbXzZ6V0JpTTN1M3M/view?usp=sharing

    • Andrew says:

      Keri – have you remembered to create the AddOn variable and set it to PiDie? That seems to be my usual error…

      • Keri says:

        Thanks Andrew, but I am not using a PiDie. I’m connecting the pins on the Pi with jumpers to the LED and resistors etc.

        Is there something else I may have missed?

  25. Andrew says:

    Hi Simon, thanks for your most excellent extension to Scratch, I love the fact that you have tied together two such brilliant fun-makers. One question – when I mesh two RPis with PiDies then it is only possible to read the sensors on one machine. I assume it is because they have the same name and mesh therefore dumps one lot of values. Is there any way that I could amend the sensor names that ScratchGPIO assigns? I am happy to furtle around in the depths of Scratch’s Squeak to do this as it is only a proof of concept. Thanks.

  26. sarfaraaz says:

    Hi Simon
    I am developing new add on board which available all features for pi.my question is can I use your scratch7 and other add on board’s library which is available in scratchgpio.

  27. Kei Homma says:

    Hi Simon
    I’ve trying to run Scratch GPIO7 on my B+ ,but,high CPU utilization because of does not operate at script.
    Already it has tried http://simplesi.net/pi2-issues/

  28. Peter Selley says:

    Thanks for the excellent Scratch GPIO7 software. I’ve recently bought an Agobo Robot powered by a Raspberry Pi A+, encouraged by my 7 year old’s enthusiasm. Like some others I managed to run some basic motor programs in Scratch when the pi and robot were directly connected to a monitor, but I had difficulty initially when trying to control Scratch remotely from a machine, to allow the robot to become untethered. I initially saw your instructions Simon on a forum somewhere else to “ssh –X” into the pi from a laptop and then open Scratch GUI from the command line on the remote computer. That got me into Scratch ok and on the first go I seemed to be able to get the GPIO pins and motors to work on the robot; subsequently it froze however and I have not been able to make it work again using that method. So then I went to using x11vnc on my laptop, having tried to create an autostart file on the pi in etc/xpg/autostart to initiate x11vnc on startup each time. This seems to work. Using ssh is of course simpler in terms in initial setup, so I just wanted to check whether I may be getting something wrong when using that method? Many thanks.

  29. Rick says:

    Hi I’ve recently got my son interested in programming in scratch, and bought him a magician chasis and the raspirobotboard2. on top of that i’ve got the “Adafruit Bicolor LED Square Pixel Matrix with I2C Backpack” now in the doc’s you mention that the i2C components are recognised automatically, using the debug method i’ve seen the line AdaMatrix detected. However i can’t find out how to use scratchgpio7 to control the matrix.
    any hint’s or tips on how to control the matrix from scratch ?
    Thanks in Advance,
    Rick

    • cymplecy says:

      I’ll have search through my pile of boards and see if I can plug one in and find out for you 🙂

      • Rick says:

        Hi Simon, much appreciated.
        We’ve been looking trough the source code of scratchgpio7, while we don’t understand the majority, we found enough to get some basics of the AdaMatrix working, but not entirely yet.

        We are now able to switch off individual leds, with commands like:
        “broadcast led12green”, or led13yellow, found the sweep command, (very usefull to see if everything is functioning). can switch on rows or columns, the matrix pattern (however with these last commands all leds are green, how can we change that ?) and we’ve found how we can vary the brightness.

        So the question now basically is about the syntax you devised for these commands.
        And 1 major question remaining, is there a routine to send 1 character directly in 1 go the matrix ?, (if we read the python code right there isn’t one correct ?)
        Regards Rick.

        • cymplecy says:

          Hi
          Sorry I didn’t document the matrix commands but I’m very bad at that.
          The original code was for a single colour matrix and I didn’t get round to modifing all the commands for the 3 colours.
          I’ll try and find mine (haven’t seen it in a long while!) and finish it off
          Yep – there is no font of characters but you can make your own font up+ in Scratch 🙂
          If I receive broadcastL
          MatrixColA11111111
          MatrixColB10000000
          MatrixColB10000000
          MatrixColC10000000
          MatrixColD10000000
          MatrixColE10000000
          MatrixColF10000000
          MatrixColG10000000
          MatrixColH10000000

          Broadcast A and wait – should then display an L (it might be upside down!)

          Simon

  30. Matt Proctor says:

    Hi Simon

    Looks like you are doing an amazing job simplifying the interface between Scratch and robots.

    I recently bought a Pi2Go and raspberry Pi 3 to do some codeclub/scout activities, and as I stumble my way through documentation, have come to here.

    At the moment, I am able to get some LEDs to light on and off, but can’t get the motors to move through scratchGPIO.

    In your pi2go example you refer to MotorA/B and elsewhere on the site that those aliases are pin 11/12 (http://simplesi.net/scratchgpio/using-motors/)

    But on the 4tronix page (http://4tronix.co.uk/pi2go/Pi2Go_Pinout.pdf) they say there are *2* pins per motor?

    Should I be using different messages, or is this resolved when I set AddOn=Pi2Go?

    (there’s always the horrible possibility that the board is broken somehow since even with the 4tronix samples from http://4tronix.co.uk/pizazz/ nothing works, but I will try the optimistic route for now)

    any help much appreciated
    thanks
    Matt

    • Matt Proctor says:

      I discovered that my batteries may be too run down (I discovered that there is an indicator on the side of the pi2go for this) so let me buy some new batteries and try again…

    • cymplecy says:

      Hi
      if you follow http://simplesi.net/pi2go/
      and just type in the 1st two scripts then you should see some action when you press up arrow (press enter to stop again)

      However if the robot is not responding to 4tronix Pi2Go instructions http://4tronix.co.uk/blog/?p=475
      then probably not going to work in ScratchGPIO so I’d contact 4Troxnix to try and sort that out first
      Simon

      • Matt Proctor says:

        thanks for responding – the batteries were too low

        For anyone else’s reference (because I only saw this referred to in the notes way down http://www.pi2go.co.uk/) – on the right of the pi2go board there is a green and a red LED (D2 and D3). When the red one is showing, the motors will not work.
        It is possible to insert the batteries and also to connect the r-pi to its micro-usb to try to not drain them so quickly

        thanks
        Matt

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