OSX not driving reset line during download

[whaleygeek]

Hi there,

Using MacOSX 10.10.5, PropellerIDE 0.38.5-amd64 (also tried 0.33.3-amd64).

When I press the LOAD or RUN buttons, I get a box pop up and quickly disappear that says in red 'ERROR: Download timed out'.

I put a scope on the prop plug to my Propeller Proto Board and there was no evidence of the RES line being pulled low (trigger setup on scope for falling edge, never triggered).

If I randomly pressed the reset button on the Propeller Proto Board, I managed to get the PropellerIDE to write to RAM and then EEPROM, verify passes, and then the board runs (blinky) as expected. Reset board and the code still runs (so it clearly wrote to EEPROM as well as RAM).

I have tried a prop clip, a prop plug, and a FTDI-TTL-3V3-WE and they all behave in the same way.

It's quite fraught to press the physical reset button at the same time so I don't yet have a reliable downloader.

Any workarounds I can use?

Thanks. Having been an early adopter of Prop and built commercial products with it years ago (on Windows with BST) and only recently dusted off the boards and started using it with my Mac, the IDE looks great - just wish I could get this download to work.

[whaleygeek]

I have found some knowledge here about DTR control (or lack of it) in earlier OSX releases.

https://forums.parallax.com/discussion/166516/propelleride-on-macos-with-ftdi-and-other-issues

It sounds like I need to check this very carefully again (though I recall doing so with Sierra even) because Apple's driver for FTDI devices did not include support for DTR control; an important requirement for programing Propeller's and BASIC Stamps.

[whaleygeek]

Okay, so I think I have solved this myself.

I tried to download the VCP drivers from FTDI for the 10.10 OSX, but the downloaded file reported that it had nothing inside it (!)

So, I read around a bit and discovered that SimpleIDE had FTDI drivers built in, and installed them at install time. Some people say this is bad news for the later OSX versions, but I took a view that my 10.10 is quite old and about the same vintage as SimpleIDE.

So, I installed SimpleIDE and rebooted (it crashed, I had to power cycle), then verified with CoolTerm that my existing FTDI leads were still working (yes they were, phew!)

I then ran the PropellerIDE (not SimpleIDE) and managed to successfully load a .spin program onto my Propeller Proto Board.

My advice to people would be, tread carefully and check OSX versions, and use an install process that is about the same vintage as your OS version.