RoadTest Thread for LattePanda 3 Delta

robogary said:

the product road forks and I need to deal with Microsoft directly to buy W10 pro ( on Holiday Sales for $35 rapidly shrinking USD ) 

The RoadTest was for a non-W10 licensed version ... those that are licensed have a Certificate of Authenticity (CoA) sticker with the key in the box.

As far as I can tell, you will have to fork out if you want to use W10 on it ... personally with my own previous-gen non-RoadTest unit, I went right to Ubuntu ...

- Gough

robogary said:

or is this where the product road forks and I need to deal with Microsoft directly to buy W10 pro ( on Holiday Sales for $35 rapidly shrinking USD ) 

Unfortunately, as Gough Lui quoted from the RoadTest page, the boards we were able to acquire for the RoadTest do not come with a Windows 10 license. This would have to be acquired by yourself or try using Linux on the device.

Sure, thank you. I appreciate all the advice. I'd never had acquired a PC without a license, so this process is new to me. I hope my posts didnt sound whiney, that wasnt my intent. Rewording,  I was wondering if I just need to go direct to Microsoft online get a license key, type that in, and everything is good , without having to reload W10 on the Panda. Im trying to avoid making a mess :-) 

I actually had previously tried this same project setup on Linux with Raspberry Pi 4 on a  Road Test and an old PC that was converted to run Linux Mint. ......which makes this a good comparative test :-)  One app in particular is an older Windows program that just wouldnt cooperate with Linux and Wine. 

Opps , so sorry for creating confusion. The LattePanda3 has a built in Arduino Leonardo " coprocessor."

The Windows install to LattePanda3 included Arduino IDE with the needed board manager setup for this on board Leonardo.

Using the provided Arduino IDE , and example code "blink" , I changed "blink" to drive an LED wired to the LattePanda3 Arduino outputs. It worked OK. 

I surfed the LattePanda website for more info on programming the onboard Arduino , only finding info using LattePanda1 Arduino. 

So my real question is: where can more info, particularly tested program examples,  be found on using the Arduino IDE 1.8.16 , to program on onboardo LattePanda3 Arduino Leonardo ? Specifically,  if W10 program status can be read as an input to the on board Arduino Leonardo, or if an Arduino Leonardo output can be mapped to trigger a W10 action.

For example, wire a pushbutton to the Arduino input, the Arduino is programmed to cause a W10 program or batch file to run.

Or 

Read the status of a W10 program as an input to the Arduino Leonardo program , whuch is programmed to drive another Arduino output.  An example of what I mean, is if LattePanda3 is controlled remotely by VNC , I'd like to have the onboard Arduino Leonardo turn on an output connected to an LED as visible indicator someone connected remotely.

robogary said:

So my real question is: where can more info, particularly tested program examples,  be found on using the Arduino IDE 1.8.16 , to program on onboardo LattePanda3 Arduino Leonardo ? Specifically,  if W10 program status can be read as an input to the on board Arduino Leonardo, or if an Arduino Leonardo output can be mapped to trigger a W10 action.

For example, wire a pushbutton to the Arduino input, the Arduino is programmed to cause a W10 program or batch file to run.

Or 

Read the status of a W10 program as an input to the Arduino Leonardo program , whuch is programmed to drive another Arduino output.  An example of what I mean, is if LattePanda3 is controlled remotely by VNC , I'd like to have the onboard Arduino Leonardo turn on an output connected to an LED as visible indicator someone connected remotely.

Ah these kind of things are relevant to the Arduino group.

Basically there are no 'special' interactions between the operating system and the arduino as far as I'm aware, you're communicating with it over a serial port, so any software you're running in Windows will need to talk to the Arduino over the serial port.

Eg. write python code that runs on Windows, and sends information over the serial port, to a program you've compiled and is running in a loop on the Arduino that is expecting the instructions over serial, and then the two will talk to one another.

That's my understanding, I don't believe there are any other special integrations between the Arduino micro/coprocessor and the LattePanda hardware, unlike say, the BeagleBone Black hardware where the PRUSS (microcontroller) shares RAM with the main processor/operating system and can do 'direct memory access' to respond and behave to what's happening in the shared memory.

Because it's an Arduino Leonardo, it should also be able to act as a mouse / keyboard for inputs into Windows:

https://docs.arduino.cc/built-in-examples/usb/KeyboardAndMouseControl

So this documentation becomes relevant and that's a way in which it can 'feedback' from the Arduino into Windows. Else Windows as an operating system won't be expecting any input from the Arduino unless software's running.

Thanks for great insights, I get you now with the shared ram description.

I was pretty sure python could do the job with Raspberry Pi, but thats a different beast.

The LattePanda3 Arduino was stated as a "coprocessor" , my misinterpretation of what a coprocessor is. 

The LattePanda3 COM4  must be hardwired to the onboard Arduino serial port, and why COM4 is required to be selected to dowload the onboard Arduino from the IDE.  Seems the onboard Arduino is a standalone device, and any interface to a program or OS needs to be engineered, likely thru UART or a less straightforward pathway. 

Interesting! So you can kind of think of it as a regular small windows machine with an Arduino strapped to it and permanently plugged into a com port. Except much neater and without the duct tape.

I had thought so, but after doing more web surfing, the Leonardo is a different animal than the other Arduinos......the only Arduino model I dont have on hand and hadnt played with. Arduinos. https://create.arduino.cc/projecthub/products/arduino-leonardo

Road Testing is always a learning adventure. 

Chris is correct, its an Arduino project for this piece of the Road Test project, not so much LattePanda3 , so 'm off down the virtual rabbit hole into Leonardo and its applications. Glad I got started on this right away.

Newark lists the Arduino Leonardo as no longer available:-) 

Can you post details of device driver which is shown in Device Manager after double clicking to Arduino related COM device?