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Pico: What is this error condition and what causes it?

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written by: earthspot

jim said:
If you do find out how to make it happen at will, do post..
jim


The only thing I've been able to relate it to is plugging in an (old fashioned) busker amp into the subminiature jack output socket. The transient triggers the error.

Also, pretty well every time I start up EigenD with the pico plugged-in, it malfunctions.

Interestingly I've just taken the decision to use Time Machine to revert my "other" Mac to Snow Leopard. I reckon that Mountain Lion deploys too many new technologies that will take years to shake down. ML takes away (in heritage software, which I still need -- and understand) far more than it gives me. With every day that passes I get less and less enamoured of iCloud. And, from the pov of the end-user, what else does (Mountain) Lion give me? (No... I don't possess an iPhone or iPad, so I won't appreciate any strides they've made towards integration with these devices!)

IMO Snow Leopard was a truly brilliant release, and represented a culmination of all that Apple is (/was) good at. I speak as a long-time Apple worshipper and a former Apple development partner. Now Steve Jobs is dead, the developers are out of control. In a year or two there will be nothing to choose between MacOS and Windows. I'm prepared to wager they'll even reinvent the Paperclip.

I'm being deliberately provocative. Someone please contradict me, with material evidence.

written by: earthspot

Tue, 12 Feb 2013 23:33:21 +0000 GMT

Frequently my Pico stops responding and starts flashing its lights 4 times a second.

Can't associate it with anything I do, nor cause it to happen voluntarily. Occasionally happens when I start EigenD with the Pico plugged-in.

The remedy is to unplug the Pico and plug it back in and let EigenD find it again.

Might this error condition be caused by hardware, software, or a loose connection? It mostly happens when I use the Pico with my Macbook Air (Mountain Lion + 8GB main memory) which Activity Monitor shows is mostly unused. But I have once seen it happen with my iMac.


written by: geert

Wed, 13 Feb 2013 08:12:59 +0000 GMT

Usually it's a USB problem that's the root cause for this, either the USB cable that connects your Pico, either the USB bus on your computer that could be overloaded, have problems, ...


written by: earthspot

Wed, 13 Feb 2013 13:38:07 +0000 GMT

Tried a different cable -- did it again.

Not a thing I'd like to happen on-stage.

Never seen it happen yet when I've freshly restarted the MBA however.

What's the actual nature of the error condition? Does some routine in the keyboard pico 1 agent fail on a timeout? Might a rapid software recovery be feasible, fired off by a screen interaction, without me having to fumble for the USB plug and count 5 seconds?


written by: Zygurt

Fri, 15 Feb 2013 07:52:55 +0000 GMT

Hi Earthspot,

I've had a similar thing happen, but only when I've had my laptop closed and I open the lid. Hasn't happened in quite a while for me though.

Tim


written by: jim

Fri, 15 Feb 2013 16:14:48 +0000 GMT

Hi Earthspot.

I've been having this problem too with newer versions of EigenD. We'd thought it was to do with newer code in there, changing the timing, but since you are getting it with the current release EigenD its not that.

I'm investigating it at the moment. On my MBA, same spec as yours, it seems to come and go.

jim


written by: earthspot

Fri, 15 Feb 2013 20:18:11 +0000 GMT

jim said:
Hi Earthspot.
I'm investigating it at the moment. On my MBA, same spec as yours, it seems to come and go.
jim


Thanks, Jim. Yes I'm using 2.0.74-stable on MBA. "System Information" shows me:

Hardware Overview:

Model Name: MacBook Air
Model Identifier: MacBookAir5,1
Processor Name: Intel Core i5
Processor Speed: 1.7 GHz
Number of Processors: 1
Total Number of Cores: 2
L2 Cache (per Core): 256 KB
L3 Cache: 3 MB
Memory: 8 GB
Boot ROM Version: MBA51.00EF.B02
SMC Version (system): 2.4f17

I was about to post a reply saying that Zygurt gave me an idea -- and sure enough shutting the lid and reopening it cures it for me (once the pico restarts).


written by: geert

Sat, 16 Feb 2013 08:40:38 +0000 GMT

I'm wondering if this might not be a USB power issue. Have you tried with a high speed USB 2 powered hub in between?


written by: earthspot

Tue, 19 Feb 2013 19:36:12 +0000 GMT

geert said:
I'm wondering if this might not be a USB power issue. Have you tried with a high speed USB 2 powered hub in between?


This sounds plausible to me. As soon as I find out how to make it happen at will, I'll try it with a powered hub.

I note from "System Information" > USB > PicoHarp

Current Available (mA): 500
Current Required (mA): 488

And here we are, expecting a battery-powered device to deliver its nominal spec 100% of the time.


written by: jim

Wed, 20 Feb 2013 10:53:12 +0000 GMT


It does seem power related, and the Pico does push the power boundaries, but....

On my MBP, I'm getting this only with ML, not with Lion or SL (I've only got ML on the MBA so far, and it wont boot my SL or Lion external disks) And it happens whether I'm plugged in or not.

If you do find out how to make it happen at will, do post.. For me, it starts happening when I do something else, and when I start to investigate, it goes away again....

jim


written by: earthspot

Wed, 20 Feb 2013 20:57:43 +0000 GMT

jim said:
If you do find out how to make it happen at will, do post..
jim


The only thing I've been able to relate it to is plugging in an (old fashioned) busker amp into the subminiature jack output socket. The transient triggers the error.

Also, pretty well every time I start up EigenD with the pico plugged-in, it malfunctions.

Interestingly I've just taken the decision to use Time Machine to revert my "other" Mac to Snow Leopard. I reckon that Mountain Lion deploys too many new technologies that will take years to shake down. ML takes away (in heritage software, which I still need -- and understand) far more than it gives me. With every day that passes I get less and less enamoured of iCloud. And, from the pov of the end-user, what else does (Mountain) Lion give me? (No... I don't possess an iPhone or iPad, so I won't appreciate any strides they've made towards integration with these devices!)

IMO Snow Leopard was a truly brilliant release, and represented a culmination of all that Apple is (/was) good at. I speak as a long-time Apple worshipper and a former Apple development partner. Now Steve Jobs is dead, the developers are out of control. In a year or two there will be nothing to choose between MacOS and Windows. I'm prepared to wager they'll even reinvent the Paperclip.

I'm being deliberately provocative. Someone please contradict me, with material evidence.



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