Quote:
Originally Posted by lopsided98
I think you are not going to ever be able to get the source for the NI libraries. I wanted to get access to understand the driver station protocol, and it seems that NI wants to keep it to themselves.
If you can't get information through CTRE, you could try using a logic analyzer to sniff the CAN bus and reverse engineer the protocol and heartbeat packets while the Talon is connected to a roboRIO. If you could figure enough of the protocol, it shouldn't be that hard to write your own driver for the Beaglebone.
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NI writes the code, but it is FIRST's call as to whether something is released or not. If it doesn't affect safety, it is generally fair game -- like the implementations of WPILib and NetworkTables. If a modification to a library, to the FPGA, or to the DS, causes a team to lose control of a robot, that could be a pretty bad thing. So, some libraries are considered a part of the safety system and are kept closed.
While reverse engineering is a great skill to work on and can be fun and productive, I would not suggest it for the CAN motor controllers used in FRC. My suggestion is still to get in touch with CTRE, get their firmware package that is already written for nonFRC applications, and use that for offseason projects that do not use a roboRIO. If you then want to use the motor controllers for FRC again, reimage them.
What part of the DS protocol or source were you interested in? I don't remember this coming up.
Greg McKaskle