Farmduino_monitor - new github code - development console

Software Software Development
1

farmduino_monitor – a developer console for Farmduino diagnostics

Hi everyone,

I’ve been having issues with my motors on Genesis v1.6 and needed a way to talk directly to the Farmduino over USB – without FarmBot OS in the way – so I could test individual motors, read driver status and debug my own custom firmware.

I ended up writing a small terminal tool and thought it might be useful to others, so I’m sharing it here.

GitHub: GitHub - jan2son/farmduino_monitor: Interactive serial monitor for Farmduino (FarmBot Genesis v1.x) – real-time telemetry, command shortcuts, scripts and session logging over USB serial. · GitHub

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What it does

farmduino_monitor is an interactive serial console for Farmduino. It connects over USB and gives you a full-screen terminal UI (think mc or htop) with:

  • Real-time status line – position, encoder values, endstops, motor load, stall detection
  • Scrolling event log – all firmware responses decoded and colour-coded
  • Built-in shortcuts – approve, pos, home, unlock, lock, ver, params and more
  • Raw command input – type any G/F-code directly (F22 P36 V63 Q0 etc.)
  • Command annotations – type ann to toggle inline descriptions from the firmware README next to every command and response
  • Scripts – put a .txt file in scripts/, one command per line, run it by name; inline # comments supported
  • Session log – everything saved to logs/ with kernel-style timestamps

Tested against firmware v6.6.26 (52053ec8, FARMDUINO_V32 + K16) on Genesis v1.6.

Why I built it

FarmBot OS does a great job but when something goes wrong at the hardware level – a driver not responding, a motor with no torque, endstops reading wrong – it’s hard to isolate the problem through the web UI. I needed to:

  • send commands to a single motor without the others connected
  • read TMC2130 driver status (DRV_STATUS via the patched firmware)
  • iterate quickly on parameter changes without restarting FBOS

This tool fills that gap. It’s essentially a smarter minicom that speaks Farmduino’s R/F/G-code protocol.

Requirements

pip install pyserial
python3 farmduino_monitor.py /dev/ttyACM0

Python 3.8+, Linux/macOS.

Happy to hear if anyone finds it useful or has suggestions. If you’re debugging motor or driver issues on Genesis v1.5/1.6 (TMC2130 boards) it might save you some time.

3 Likes
2

Here is script example - Y motor/driver/cabling test

  • spare farmduino expected with PC on USB-B, motor connected on Y connector, 24V powering
  • script disable first : encoders, homing and endstops
  • then move - watch motor

scripts/y-driver-test.txt

approve
F22 P101 V0 Q0
F22 P102 V0 Q0
F22 P103 V0 Q0
F22 P36 V63 Q0
F22 P37 V63 Q0
F22 P38 V63 Q0
F22 P51 V0 Q0
F22 P52 V0 Q0
F22 P53 V0 Q0
F22 P54 V0 Q0
F22 P55 V0 Q0
F22 P56 V0 Q0
F22 P18 V0 Q0
F22 P19 V0 Q0
F22 P20 V0 Q0
#F12 Y200 Q0
G00 X0 Y200 Z0 Q0
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Wow😃

Maybe the Arduino IDE gives more basic but similar features ?

Love your Python 3 skills !

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Hi, python is just rapid prototyping, I like C. Maybe next step. Now I wish to manage the farmduino this way and drop the farmbot web server and farmbot OS because a) does nothing b) MIPI and openCV or interference of a video on remote ai host is soo difficult c) reliability and difficulty of the code is over complicated d) modularity of the architecture is very poor e) error handling is very bad for rpi voltage, mipi camera, farmduino hw issues (my X2 driver is dead and I want to switch to AUX which 1. is unsupported even in farmduino code 2. there is no way to link the drivers a different way). So I want to change the architecture completely, drop the buildroot and use yocto instead with mender and strong security and finally run it on real embedded HW like intel. I want more from the farmbot…

1 Like
5

The farmbot frontend is super heavy…

6

Couldn’t one simply swap the pin assignments in farmbot-arduino-firmware-main\src\pins.h like this:

    // X2-AXIS
  #define E_STEP_PIN 15     // X2_STEP_PIN
  #define E_DIR_PIN 30      // X2_DIR_PIN
  #define E_ENABLE_PIN 14   // X2_ENABLE_PIN
  #define E_CHIP_SELECT 29  // X2_CHIP_SELECT

changes to:

    // X2-AXIS
  #define E_STEP_PIN 40     // X2_STEP_PIN
  #define E_DIR_PIN 41      // X2_DIR_PIN
  #define E_ENABLE_PIN 37   // X2_ENABLE_PIN
  #define E_CHIP_SELECT 43  // X2_CHIP_SELECT

and

    // Auxiliary motors
  #define AUX_STEP_PIN 40
  #define AUX_DIR_PIN 41
  #define AUX_ENABLE_PIN 37
  // #define AUX_CHIP_SELECT 43

changes to:

    // Auxiliary motors
  #define AUX_STEP_PIN 15
  #define AUX_DIR_PIN 30
  #define AUX_ENABLE_PIN 14
  // #define AUX_CHIP_SELECT 29

and connect the X2-motor to the AUX-output (leaving encoder circuitry connected as is)?
If I understand correctly this would just replace the broken TMC2130 of the X2-module with the (hopefully intact) TMC chip of the AUX module

-Franz

1 Like