How to flash?

[avenantsoftware]

A turtorial would be nice and also a howto to compile this code or a precompiled firmware download link with tutorial howto flash.

[DerFetzer]

You can find some hints regarding flashing in the readme in my repo.

@TheKikGen Cool, that you could use some information from my findings! Very nice project! 👍

[shinyoficial]

Hi! I've been trying too but I get lost at some point where I no longer have a firmware in the SmartPAD and can't update it. Has anyone done a tutorial yet? It would be very helpful!

[shinyoficial]

If I get it to work I'll make a friendly YouTube tutorial

[TheKikGen]

First, you must upload the bootloader at address 0x08000000, with STM-LINK UTILITY.
You need an ST-LINK V2 stick to do that. It is necessary to open the Smartpad (remove panel from the back), and connect the stick to the CN2 . Pinout is :

1. GND
2. SWDIO
3. SWDCLK
4. RESET

You must also connect the USB cable for powering the Smartpad
Download the bootloader firmware here :
https://github.com/TheKikGen/stm32-tkg-hid-bootloader/releases

Open ST-LINK utility, and flash the bin file at 0x08000000.

Unplug the STLINK, and the usb cable, and plug again the USB cable to the computer. You should see a new HID device in the device manager (or an lsusb command if under Linux).

Use then the tkg-flash utility to upload the Kikpad firmware

[billyjack669]

So once the bootloader has been installed via the STLink flash, which file do we send via tkg-flash? You say "the Kickpad firmware" but is that something I compile myself from this project? Is it available somewhere else?

At this point my SmartPad shows up as COM4. What's the next step to make this thing awesome?

[s0len0id]

this awesome project is a work in progress, documentation too ☺️
The same question came up recently in the Mpc live X and Force hacking modding custom Facebook group:
At the line # 182, uncomment //#include "mod_kikpad MPCForce.h" and comment all other modules above

[billyjack669]

Thanks. I had seen that comment area but decided to uncomment the mod_kikpad_MPC.h instead (since I have no idea what I'm doing or which module does what specifically.)

My thought is that I verify / compile, export then flash it with TKG-flash.exe
Once I have this working I'll put together the steps I used to make it go and possibly even throw a Youtube video together.

Also, thanks @s0len0id for the tips and your reverse-engineering project. I'll join the FB group as well.

[billyjack669]

That didn't seem to work either. No COM port anymore, and the unit will appear in Windows for a bit "We are setting up TKG BTL" but then it seems to disconnect.

If this process turns out to be out of my league, can I use the ST-Link to push the SmartPad firmware back to the unit?
What steps are needed to revert to that firmware?

[martynpiper]

@billyjack669 I'm actually having the same issue as you.

[billyjack669]

@billyjack669 I'm actually having the same issue as you.

Good LOL, I'm glad I'm not the only one. I really want to use this as an Ableton controller (a Novation Launchpad type device honestly, this unit's got a lot of potential). If you come up with anything please share! One of the bootloaders will make it become a COM port again, and sometimes it says it's a maple COM port (depending on which bootloader you flash.)

[luteijn]

I haven't gone much further than opening up one of my two smartPADs, a V0.13 PCB is inside, located the CN2. Next step will probably have to be soldering some pins/a header on CN2. From what I gather I can then flash tkg_hid_midiplus_smartpad.bin using the ST-LINK and screw the back on the device again.
Next step is then to set up an arduino ide again and use that to connect to the bootloader over the normal usb connector and flash either one of the example/test modules from the repository, or make something myself along those lines to have the device do something interesting when buttons are pressed, knobs are turned or light up some pads if note on midi events are sent to it.
I guess it could even be turned into a self-contained gadget that uses the usb only for power, but for me it would make the most sense for it to be set up to send/receive midi messages over usb-midi to a host, and then I'd process those in a separate program on the host.

The firmware bit seems straightforward enough and the people above seem to have managed that bit with the guidance provided. I also don't worry too much about writing my own midi-controlled program either (or just use some existing midi enabled software).

The tricky bit is building the software to run on the pad. It's been a while since I did anything with the arduino environment, but I did manage to get use it to program bare 'at-tiny' microcontrollers, some esp based boards and of course various arduino's in the past, so I'll probably get it to work by googling 'using STM board with arduino' or something like that, but it might be nice to get this kickstarted with some explanation of the setup of the arduino programming environment used by the author.

[TheKikGen]

Of course a more complete documentation would be comfortable for the users. Keep in mind that I'm doing these projects for free in my spare time though, and that I also have professional activities that keep me quite busy.

I invite you to contribute to the documentation and post your suggestions, additions.

That being said,

You need to flash the tkg-hid bootloader in your Smartpad with ST-Link stick.
To check if everything is ok, reboot the Smartpad : you should see a HID device in your usb peripherals.

About Arduino environment : I use the Roger's core for stm32.

Follow the instructions there to install this core after the Arduino platform setup.
Try to compile some examples from the "File/examples" menu to check if the ARM compiler works.

The STM32F103RBT6 is used for the Smartpad. I have adjusted the configuration files for this uC.

You will find here my full stm32duino package you can copy in your (home)/Arduino/hardware directory.
You need to restart the Aduino IDE you copied.

Install the midixparser library in your Arduino libraries directory : https://github.com/TheKikGen/midiXparser/archive/refs/heads/master.zip

In the Arduino IDE, you need then to choose STM32F1 boards (stm32duino in sketchbook), then STM32F103RB variant.
About Kikpad : at first use the mod_kikpad_demo.h that is a basic midi keyboard sending notes.
Uncomment from the line #176

// Kikpad functionnal module.Uncomment only one.

#include "mod_kikpad_demo.h"
//#include "mod_kikpad_MPC.h"
//#include "mod_kikpad_MPCClipsTest.h"
//#include "mod_kikpad_MPCClipLauncher.h"
//#include "mod_kikpad_MPCForce.h"

It is important to known that the upload method (bootloader) will change the start address of your binary, during the linking process. Choose "Tkg HID bootloader 3.1" in the tools/upload method menu.

Compile with ctrl+R. If everything is ok, get the binary in your working directory with ctrl+alt+S, the file shoud be named "kikpad.ino.generic_stm32f103rb.bin". At this point, use the tkgflash utility to upload the binary into your kikpad the first time, or if update, switch the Kikpad to update mode (see below=.

For all modules, you can :
// RESET = HOLD BT_CONTROL4 & MASTER8 THEN PRESS SET
// UPDATE (bootloader mode) = HOLD MODE2 & MASTER7 THEN PRESS SET

[TheKikGen]

Attached a binary file for the kikpad demo module. Compiled for tkg hid bootloader.
mod_kipad_demo.generic_stm32f103rb.bin.zip

[luteijn]

#1
=== phase 1 - bootloader ===
0) open up pad, locate CN2 and solder on some wires/header/pins. install openocd and stlink tools from distro repository; get the tkg bootloader and flash stuff from
https://github.com/TheKikGen/stm32-tkg-hid-bootloader/releases

1. connect st-link to CN2 (reset to 4, clk to 3, io to 2 and gnd to 1) and to pc via usb (lsusb shows mine as: Bus 001 Device 018: ID 0483:3748 STMicroelectronics ST-LINK/V2

2. power up pad via usb ( Bus 001 Device 020: ID 1acc:3801 Midiplus Co, Ltd. ) and bulk erase microprocessor via mass-erase:
   $ openocd -f /usr/share/openocd/scripts/interface/stlink-v2.cfg -f /usr/share/openocd/scripts/target/stm32f1x.cfg -c init -c "reset halt" -c "flash banks" -c "stm32f1x mass_erase 0" -c "stm32f1x unlock 0"
   (as per https://github.com/DerFetzer/open-cleverpad - but I have a v2 stlink, so using that config file), then power-cycle the pad, lsusb no longer shows it, as it is now a tabula rasa (all ones showing up as 0xFF when dumping memory with st-link)

3. use stlink utility to flash a new bootloader to the blank microprocessor.
   I used the 3kb file tkg_hid_midiplus_smartpad.bin and flashed it to x08000000 via the gui.

4. powercycle pad again (replug usb); check vi st-link that indeed the bootloader is now in the device memory and lsusb shows a new device, in my case: Bus 001 Device 042: ID 1209:beba Generic serasidis.gr STM32 HID Bootloader
   now you can unplug the st-link from CN2, make sure the wires/header/pins soldered to CN2 won't short anything and close the pad up again.

=== phase 2 - flashing the demo module ===
0) got the precompiled demo module from
https://github.com/TheKikGen/kikpad/files/7090902/mod_kipad_demo.generic_stm32f103rb.bin.zip
as I didn't feel like setting up the arduino IDE stuff yet.
This needs to be flashed with tkg-flash, which I already had from phase 1 step 0

1. luteijn@diana> sudo ./tkg-flash mod_kipad_demo.generic_stm32f103rb.bin

+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| TKG-Flash v3.1 STM32F103 HID Bootloader Flash Tool |
| High density device support. |
| (c) 2020 - The KikGen Labs https://github.com/TheKikGen |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
Build : 3.210129.1521

Searching for [1209:BEBA] HID device...|
[1209:BEBA] HID device found !
Firmware file size is 20692 bytes.
Main stack pointer : 0x20005000
Reset handler : 0x080021E1
Waiting for INFO block...
INFO - Informations reported by the bootloader :
Firmware version : 0310
MCU Flash memory size : 128 K (medium density device)
Page size : 1024 bytes
Page offset : 4 pages
Flash base address : 0x08001000
Flashing firmware :
START command sent successfully.

[++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++] 21504 bytes sent.
** Checksum error. Firmware could be corrupted. !

Firmware flashing done !
21 sectors written.
TKG-Flash end.
luteijn@diana>

This seems to work but that checksum error is worrying. Also, nothing much seems to have changed in lsusb output. Sometimes when plugging in the pad. some of the leds have some activity, but somehow looks like the module isn't started... Warrants another try sometime soon though.

[luteijn]

My next step should probably be to check via st-link what was actually flashed to 0x08001000 and check out the issues in the bootloader repo - maybe also try to flash from a win10 machine, maybe it's just a linux issue with the tlg-flash utility
Or manually merge bootloader and module binaries and flash the whole thing with st-link tools...
Or first get the arduino environment set up, which I'll hace to get round to eventually, as I do want to make my own stuff, not just load pre-baked binaries...

30 min later, after a shower:
Tried something else: instead of using the prebuild binary of tkg-flash, made a local version. No Checksum error with that, but will need to test a bit more later.. work first.