IzoT™ NodeBuilder® Software ReadMe
Release 4.3 SR8, July 2016

Copyright © 1998 – 2016 Echelon Corporation
All Rights Reserved

The latest version of this file can be located at http://downloads.echelon.com/support/downloads/software/devtools/nodebuilder/4.38/ReadMe.htm.

1      Introduction

This document describes IzoT NodeBuilder Software Release 4.3 SR8.  This file contains important information not included in the IzoT NodeBuilder User's Guide, Neuron® C documentation, or the IzoT NodeBuilder help files.  Additional information and updates, including critical updates, may be available on the NodeBuilder product page at www.echelon.com/nodebuilder.  See Echelon’s Technical Knowledge Base at www.echelon.com/support for answers to frequently asked questions.  For free online training and additional training resources, see www.echelon.com/training.

2      Contents

1        Introduction. 1

2        Contents. 1

3        Requirements. 2

4        Release Identification. 2

5        Updating from IzoT NodeBuilder 4.3. 3

6        Changes in IzoT NodeBuilder 4.3 SR8. 4

7        Changes in IzoT NodeBuilder 4.3 SR7. 4

8        Changes in IzoT NodeBuilder 4.3 SR6. 4

9        Changes in IzoT NodeBuilder 4.3 SR5. 5

10     Changes in IzoT NodeBuilder 4.3 SR4. 5

11     Changes in IzoT NodeBuilder 4.3 SR3. 6

12     Changes in IzoT NodeBuilder 4.3 SR2. 6

13     Changes in IzoT NodeBuilder 4.3 SR1. 7

14     Known Problems and Workarounds. 7

14.1          Testing an IzoT Router from IzoT CT Fails. 7

14.2          FT 5000 Examples do not Compile. 8

14.3          Changes in Default ISI Domain. 8

14.4          IzoT CT Browser Fails after Installation. 8

14.5          FT Termination. 8

14.6          Locating the Neuron C Example Project Sources. 8

14.7          When creating a BAClon enabled device, TSciRates may be undefined. 9

14.8          The __slow and __fast keywords scale with the system clock. 9

14.9          The 100k pull-down on MISO for FLASH memory interface is required. 9

3      Requirements

Hardware and software requirements for computers running the IzoT NodeBuilder tool are listed in the IzoT NodeBuilder User’s Guide.

4      Release Identification

This ReadMe document applies to the IzoT NodeBuilder 4.3 SR8 software.  You can verify that you have the IzoT NodeBuilder 4.3 SR8 software by starting the NodeBuilder project manager, opening the Help menu, and then clicking About NodeBuilder.  The About NodeBuilder dialog appears.  This dialog displays the version number of your NodeBuilder software.  For the IzoT NodeBuilder 4.3 SR8 release, the version number is 4.38.02, where 38 is the minor version and 02 is the build number of the software.

The following table summarizes the IzoT NodeBuilder software release history:

Name

Number

Date

IzoT NodeBuilder 4.3

4.30.47

July 2014

IzoT NodeBuilder 4.3 SR1

4.30.52

September 2014

IzoT NodeBuilder 4.3 SR2

4.30.53

October 2014

IzoT NodeBuilder 4.3 SR3

4.30.55

January 2015

IzoT NodeBuilder 4.3 SR4

4.30.60

October 2015

IzoT NodeBuilder 4.3 SR5

4.30.61

November 2015

IzoT NodeBuilder 4.3 SR6

4.36.01

January 2016

IzoT NodeBuilder 4.3 SR7

4.37.01

February 2016

IzoT NodeBuilder 4.3 SR 8

4.38.02

July 2016

 

5      Updating from IzoT NodeBuilder 4.3

To update an IzoT NodeBuilder 4.3, IzoT NodeBuilder 4.3 SR1, SR2, SR3, SR4, SR5, SR6 or SR7 installation to IzoT NodeBuilder 4.3 SR8, download and install IzoT NodeBuilder 4.3 SR8 on the same computer where you installed IzoT NodeBuilder 4.3.  You do not have to uninstall the original NodeBuilder software— the 4.3 SR8 installer will take care of the update.  The installation will use your same NodeBuilder serial number, so you will not have to enter the serial number again.

If you are using the IzoT WireShark Plug-in, update your WireShark software to version 1.12 or newer.  The version of the IzoT WireShark plug-in included with SR2 and newer will not work with versions of WireShark prior to 1.12.

If you created any custom devices with Neuron firmware 21.03.07 included with the original NodeBuilder 4.3 software, or with Neuron firmware 21.03.09 included with the NodeBuilder 4.30 SR1 software, or if you have an FT 6000 EVBs shipped prior to October 2014 that are running Neuron firmware version 21.03.09 or earlier versions, then update the firmware in your devices or EVBs to match the new Neuron firmware 21.04.08 firmware included with the service release.  To update the firmware in your devices or EVBs, follow these steps:

1.      If you do not already have a current version of NodeLoad or NodeUtil, download and install one of the utilities from www.echelon.com/downloads.  If you are downloading NodeUtil, also download the latest NodeUtil Node Utility User’s Guide.  NodeLoad is easier to use for just downloading images to device, whereas NodeUtil provides other useful tools for device developers, including tools for verifying Neuron firmware version numbers.

2.      Download the following boot loader file with NodeLoad or NodeUtil:

<LonWorks>\images\ver21\bla6000.ndl

Enter your LonWorks directory for <LonWorks>.  By default, the LonWorks directory is C:\Program Files (x86)\LonWorks or C:\LonWorks depending on which Echelon software you previously installed on your computer.

To download with NodeLoad, enter NodeLoad /? to display help.  To download with NodeUtil, see the NodeUtil documentation for the Y command.

3.      Download the following Neuron firmware image file with NodeLoad or NodeUtil:

<LonWorks>\images\ver21\b6050v4.ndl

4.      If you are using NodeUtil, you can verify the firmware version number with the S command.

5.      Rebuild any applications you created for your custom devices or FT 6000 EVBs using Neuron firmware version 21.04.08.

6      Changes in IzoT NodeBuilder 4.3 SR8

The following fixes are included in IzoT NodeBuilder 4.3 SR8.

7      Changes in IzoT NodeBuilder 4.3 SR7

The following fixes are included in IzoT NodeBuilder 4.3 SR7.

LodInitSettings lis = {0x80, 0x0F00, 0x07};

Then the backward compatible code would be:

LodInitSettings lis = {0x80, 0x0F};

Yes, this allocates more sectors (0x0F) than originally intended (0x07), but it will do so in a way that matches what actually occurred in the old device.  [NDB-5674]

8      Changes in IzoT NodeBuilder 4.3 SR6

The following enhancements are included in IzoT NodeBuilder 4.3 SR6.

This error has been corrected; IzoT NodeBuilder Hardware Template Editor reads “neuron.xml” data correctly, regardless of local and regional settings. [NDB‑5661]

This error has been corrected and the network kernel debugger’s message buffer is correctly accounted for. [NDB-5662]

9      Changes in IzoT NodeBuilder 4.3 SR5

The following enhancements are included in IzoT NodeBuilder 4.3 SR5.

10  Changes in IzoT NodeBuilder 4.3 SR4

The following enhancements are included in IzoT NodeBuilder 4.3 SR4.

11  Changes in IzoT NodeBuilder 4.3 SR3

The following problems were fixed in IzoT NodeBuilder 4.3 SR3.

12  Changes in IzoT NodeBuilder 4.3 SR2

The following problems were fixed in IzoT NodeBuilder 4.3 SR2.

13  Changes in IzoT NodeBuilder 4.3 SR1

The following problems were fixed in IzoT NodeBuilder 4.3 SR1:

·         Power failure recovery has been improved when downloading an NDL file.  (NDB‑5409)

·         Network variables bound using the alias table (such as can occur with fan out connections) were not always updated properly.  (NRNFW-509)

·         Memory was sometimes corrupted when loading large applications.  (NRNFW-500)

·         Memory allocated for sending a message was sometimes not freed if application_restart() was called while sending a message.  (NRNFW-498)

·         If an application contained eeprom far data and all of it was declared as uninitialized (uninit without any explicit initializers), the exporter sometimes crashed when creating the NEI or NDL files.  Variables declared with the uninit eeprom far attributes variables and not explicitly initialized are now initialized to zero in the NMF file.  (NDB-5466)

·         The NME file generated by the NodeBuilder software for programming serial EEPROM memory parts for a Series 5000 Smart Transceiver or Neuron Chip was sometimes corrupted, preventing the device from operating correctly.  (NDB-5462)

·         Open Media Authentication (OMA) could be enabled for targets with version of Neuron firmware prior to version 14 that do not support OMA.  (NDB-5462)

·         Linker errors were reported by the retrieve_stat() function for the _stats_unlock and _stats_lock symbols.  (NDB-5460)

·         An incorrect offset out-of-range error was sometimes reported when compiling an application.  (NDB-5423)

14  Known Problems and Workarounds

This section lists known problems and their workarounds for this release.  Numbers in parentheses at the end of the problem/workaround descriptions are Echelon's internal problem tracking IDs.

14.1    Testing an IzoT Router from IzoT CT Fails

If you use the Test command from the IzoT CT Manage window to test an IzoT Router, you may see the following error message: "OpenLNS CT was able to communicate with the device using Neuron ID addressing, but could not communicate with the device using subnet/node addressing.  However, through the use of Neuron ID addressed messages, OpenLNS CT has verified that the device contains the expected subnet/node address."  Workaround: Add the IzoT Router to your network as described in the Setting Up the IzoT Router and Installing the IzoT Router in a Network topics in the IzoT Manual at www.echelon.com/docs/izot.  (IZTR-82)

14.2    FT 5000 Examples do not Compile

The NcMultiSensorExample, NcSimpleIsiExample, and NcSimpleExample examples for the FT 5000 Smart Transceiver fail to compile—the examples for the FT 6000 Smart Transceivers compile correctly.  Workaround: No workaround is required if you are building the FT 6000 examples for an FT 6000 Smart Transceiver.  To rebuild the FT 5000 examples for an FT 5000 Smart Transceiver, replace all include directive double backslashes with single backslashes.  (NDB-5384)

14.3    Changes in Default ISI Domain

The LonTalk/IP default domain for ISI is 0x49.53.00 ("IS\0").  This is a change from the original ISI default domain of 0x49.53.49 ("ISI").  Workaround: To use the LonTalk/IP default ISI domain, no workaround is required.  To create ISI devices operating on the original ISI default domain of 0x49.53.49 (“ISI”), assign the 0x49.53.49 primary domain ID by overriding the IsiGetPrimaryDid() callback function.

If DHCP is enabled and an IP address is assigned by a DHCP server, the Neuron firmware will use the IP address assigned by the DHCP server, and will not use the default ISI domain.  Workaround: To use the default ISI domain, use the #pragma dhcp disabled directive to disable the DHCP client for your devices when using ISI.  (NDB‑5337)

14.4    IzoT CT Browser Fails after Installation

The IzoT CT Browser sometimes displays a system error when started after installation.  Workaround: Restart Windows to complete the installation.  (LMWIN-1930)

14.5    FT Termination

An FT terminator is required for the FT 6000 EVK network.  The IzoT Router includes a built in terminator for the FT network that is enabled by default.  Workaround: Do not use a standalone FT network terminator if you enable the IzoT Router built-in terminator.  (IZTR-77)

14.6    Locating the Neuron C Example Project Sources

After restoring the IzoT NcMultiSensor example network, you must specify the NodeBuilder project.  When prompted whether to create a new or open an existing project, select Open an Existing Project and browse to the NcExamples.NbPrj project located in your local C:\Users\Public\Documents\LonWorks\OpenLnsCt\Source\FT 6000 EVB folder.  (NDB-5374)

14.7    When creating a BAClon enabled device, TSciRates may be undefined

When building a device with BAClon support, the examples include a file blonsys.h.  blonsys.h references a variable of type TSciRates, which is defined in io_types.h, so within your own project, before including blonsys.h, also include io_types.h (NDB‑5668).

14.8    The __slow and __fast keywords scale with the system clock

The “IO Model Reference for Smart Transceivers and Neuron Chips” implies that using the __slow keyword gets you an SCL rate of 100 kbps, and the __fast keyword gets you a 400 kbps rate.  While this is true with a system clock of 80 MHz, note that the SCL clock rate scales with the system clock rate (NDB-5663).

14.9    The 100k pull-down on MISO for FLASH memory interface is required

The “6000 Series Chip Data Book” claims that for the FLASH memory interface, the 100k pull-down on MISO can be omitted.  Instead, this pull-down is required (NDB‑5656).

 

 

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