Uploading to SD as startup vs internal Flash

#1

Hey!
I'm having troubles with executing my patch from SD, the Upload to SD as startup option produces a console message returning a success, but the patch doesn't load. This behavior persists after power-cycling the unit with an Android charger instead of the regular USB.

Upload to flash seems to do the trick every time, but it seems I have to do a firmware reset before uploading a new patch.
If I leave it plugged into the computer via USB, the patch seems to load but my MIDI controller isn't connected.

What is the priority for a patch if there is one both on SD and flash?

Cheers!

Load patch on start up problem
#2

Startup patches (start.bin) on sdcard take priority over a patch in internal flash.
sdcards with a start.bin can be hotswapped, inserting a card will launch the patch on the sdcard, ejecting one will stop the patch running.

If sdcard is not working properly, could you try formatting the sdcard?

#3

I formatted it to FAT32, MBR, 3.9Gb with the label AXO, read & writable..
Also i ran some diagnostics with the following output:

Axoloti says: Open OK...
Axoloti says: lseek1 OK...
Axoloti says: lseek2 OK...
Axoloti says: lseek3 OK...
Axoloti says: nstreams = 1,
Axoloti says: NBUFFERS = 128,
Axoloti says: BUFSIZE = 4096
Axoloti says: open : 24779 ms
Axoloti says: write BW : 866 kB/s
Axoloti says: close : 99 ms
Axoloti says: open : 126 ms
Axoloti says: read BW : 3495 kB/s

Don't have another card available atm, but I'll try it out as soon as I can.

#4

That number jumps out, that is extremely slow.

#5

Did you use mac, win or linux for formatting?

#6

Diskutils in OSX Mountain Lion

#7

Could you try formatting the card with Axoloti?
Menu Window->Remote
then press down three times ("sdcard tools") + enter
down one more time ("format") + enter
then check if the sdbenchmark result has improved...

#8

Beautiful! Thanks for the heads up, totally missed the format card option! smiley

It seems a lot more responsive too in the benchmark:

Axoloti says: Open OK...
Axoloti says: lseek1 OK...
Axoloti says: lseek2 OK...
Axoloti says: lseek3 OK...
Axoloti says: Open OK...
Axoloti says: lseek1 OK...
Axoloti says: lseek2 OK...
Axoloti says: lseek3 OK...
Axoloti says: nstreams = 2,
Axoloti says: NBUFFERS = 128,
Axoloti says: BUFSIZE = 1024

Axoloti says: open : 1374 ms

Axoloti says: write BW : 260 kB/s

Axoloti says: close : 9 ms

Axoloti says: open : 53 ms

Axoloti says: read BW : 981 kB/s

What's wrong with the Diskutils config?

#9

Sorry the format card option is very well hidden, I was hoping it is not often needed...
Hmmm you're quoting only part of the benchmark results, with different buffersize and number of streams.
These numbers are not comparable.

sdcards are picky about the right formatting - aligning filesystem clusters with actual flash sectors.
I would assume though that modern formatting tools just do it right.
Filesystem cluster size may also been different, and also affects performance.

#10

everytime I try to format with remote SD card tools, I receive this message and Axoloti get disconnected

Ping: WaitSync Timeout, disconnecting now
Disconnect request

#11

the problem with sound files seems to be definitely solved by formatting the SD Card from the Axoloti. I'm now using a 8x mono wave player and everything works like a charm.
And I'm amused. And Axoloti is one of the best things ever. Definitely.

#12

a bit of a follow up on this, summarizing and some things I found out e.g. buggettes we have

  • SD Benchmark
    create new patch , add wave/sdbenchmark, go live.
    (it tests using different buffersizes, streams etc .. i.e. different configurations, hence why you get different numbers)
    it will leave a couple of files around on the SDCard, so do a format afterwards to delete them.

  • Formatting in Axoloti
    Use Axoloti Remote , as described above.
    It WILL given you a Timeout and disconnect the board BUT it will format the card still.
    (I guess we are blocking thread which sends keep-alive for too long, so UI is disconnected)

  • Menu / Window / File Manager
    used for uploading file. it will only work with 8.3 filenames it does NOT convert longer names to 8.3,
    and if you try to upload you will get a whole bunch of 'failed' messages, and it will not upload.

SDCard Benchmarks
#13

Cheers, tech! I'll go with a micro SD to a regular converter for uploading tho. smile

#14

the 8.3 is not really an issue... as renaming wouldn't really work (unless we do some clever name mangling/un-mangling) as your patches need to use the same name as on the card. i.e. get into the habit of using 8.3 just like the good ol' days wink

I guess file manager could be extended a bit... though perhaps better to one day support USB Mass storage.
(though we will be limited on our USB speed, so will always be faster to use a USB3 card reader)

saying that... would be pretty cool if the File Manager was 'intelligent' and could perhaps do sample rate conversion (etc) on wav files.

#15

Ah, finally the good ol' days are back! ;D
But I second on the upload->convert functionality!

#16

got here via search is this info documented anywhere?

uploading to flash
uploading to SD
booting from flash/SD?

#17

hmm.. i found it here via search but not in the help contents from the Axoloti itself

#18

After re-formatting my card I tried uploading to flash for the first time in the Patcher App.
When turning the axo off and on again, nothing happens, it does not appear to be working.
Is it only me? Uploading as startup to the SD card works fine however.