*** Various Updates ***

[MJ666]

AlienFlight updates
PWM updates
MSP updates (compatibility with CleanFlight Configurator)
Failsafe update
4wire updates for various targets
SDCard support
Balckbox updates
USART 4/5 updates
some more cleanups

[MJ666]

Actually only bench tested @blckmn @kc10kevin @rs2k you may test this at your FC's before merging.
@blckmn this may contain major parts of #190.

[blckmn]

Thanks @MJ666 I'll test this tonight.

[kc10kevin]

@MJ666 thanks. It'll have to wait until this weekend, but I'll test it out.

[MJ666]

Did some short indoor flight testing this morning with the AlienFlight F4 brushed. results are locking promising. Even if SDCard is enabled and no related hardware is present there is no delay during initialization. The CLI is not working well yet but this looks to be the older problem which was also fixed in the raceflight branch already. The PR will not touch the flight code at all. Anyhow if SDCard is enabled in the target it may have an impact.

How do we avoid the need of redoing all the valuable updates again and again in the future. I understand @rs2k and PrestonG working on an internal beta. How can we merge changes without the risk to get an mess again like we had with the raceflight branch wich is finally unusable but contains quite some good improvements and fixes also? This may cause that developers continue more with private builds and will delay or even block general improvements of raceflight.

[blckmn]

@MJ666 this works fine for me here. Checked on bench, scope test and small hover test.

[MJ666]

Did some minor updates. SDCard support it only enabled for the AlienFlight F4 target and the various development boards. @blckmn @kc10kevin have you already tested with SDCard enabled for your boards?

[kc10kevin]

I'll test it out once I figure out how to merge the PR into my repo. I'm still learning github.

[kc10kevin]

Just merged and built. Bench tests look good. Enabled SDCard and settling issue is still present if SDCard not in slot.

[MJ666]

@kc10kevin With the AlienFlight F4 brushed board (no SDCard hardware on the board but support built into the firmware) I can not reproduce the delay (~15s) I have experianced with some previous raceflight builds. The LED is flashing 3 times 2-3 seconds after powerup and I'm ready to fly. Are yu sure your card detect pin is properly configured. Anyhow initialy I have not used an card detect pin on my development board and cold not see this delay. Please let me know if this settling you see on your hardware is different as I described?

[kc10kevin]

It does it even on the flash version of the board if sdcard support is enabled in the code so I can only assume it is not hardware related. I believe the card detect is configured correctly. Pin is high with no card and to gnd when card inserted. I've tried taking out the card detect code and it is still present. No card, delay. Card inserted, no delay. FC boots just fine visually as you mention. I see the delay in the RFC when looking at setup page and cycles. 800 ish for 16-18 seconds then settles. Unflyable until settles. Can confirm this same behavior in beta flight on other FCs as wel. Spracingf3mini.

Code in sdcard.c (in first 20 lines or so) has two constants. 2000 millis and 8 retries. Code keeps looking for the card and finally gives up.

[MJ666]

I'm not home during next days but will have a look at this when I'm back. Looks to be it also tries to initialize the card even if it is not present. If an card detect switch is present and no SDCard is present this should be completely avoided.

[kc10kevin]

@MJ666 Agree. There should be some check to see if the card is inserted. If not, then should skip the code completely.

I built up a couple of boards last night and tested without the SDCard slot on the board. Settling still present.

I deleted the card detect code and settling still there.
I lowered the SDCARD_TIMEOUT_INIT_MILLIS in sdcard.c to 200 and the settling is down to less than 2 seconds. Barely noticeable. Did not seem to affect the card functionality to include initializing the card the first time for use.

[kc10kevin]

Tested passthrough on the Revo and KKNGF4. Does not work properly. KKNG I can connect and see the ESCs, but cannot flash or update. On the revo, I can connect, but get an error when clicking "check."

Can folks check passthrough on their boards? Also the revo if they have it?

[The-Insomniac]

@kc10kevin exact same issues on Revo. blheli gives an error when "check" is clicked.