ArduinoIDE

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You can use the official Arduino IDE which is not fancy but it’s the easy way to get started and is widely used and documented.

Here’s how easy it is to upload a blink program to a Moteino using an FTDI-Adapter (MoteinoUSB has FDTI built in):

There are 2 IDE options in my personal preferred order:

  • I recommend an older stable version of Arduino: 1.0.6 which is fast and works well. You can download 1.0.6 from the official page or from here as a last resort. I really dislike all recent 1.6.x versions, although they got a library and board manager which can be helpful.
  • If you want to use the latest Arduino stable release you can get it from here (it is v1.6.7 – Dec/2015).

Then you will need to install the Moteino libraries from my GitHub repository. Arduino has a library installation tutorial, so I will not repeat that information here. One thing that is important is to download the repositories as ZIP files, then rename their contents (remove the “-master” in the folder name) then put them in your {ArduinoSKETCHES}/libraries. You will need at the minimum 2 libraries: RFM69 and SPIFlash for basic RFM69 sketches but there are many more. For LoRa transceivers (RFM95/96) please see this page for the library link. Here is my example path and content of the RFM69 library installed:Library_PathThis {ArduinoSKETCHES} folder is configured from the Arduino preferences under File>Preferences, you can leave the default configuration or you can move it to a different custom location like I did:
Library_PathPreferences

If you are using an older version of the IDE (1.0.6 or 1.5.x), you need to manually install the Moteino core files to add the Moteino and MoteinoMEGA in the Tools>Boards menu. You can skip this if you have a regular Moteino or MoteinoUSB (you can upload by choosing Tools>Boards>Arduino UNO). Download the whole repository ZIP, then extract the Moteino.zip from that master zip file and extract it in your {Arduino}/hardware folder (up to 1.0.6). If you run a recent IDE version (1.6.5+) then copy Moteino/avr from the ZIP into {Arduino}/arduino/avr and append Moteino/avr/boards.txt from the ZIP into {Arduino}/arduino/avr/boards.txt.  After an IDE close/reopen Moteino and MoteinoMEGA should show as new targets under the Boards menu.

Once the libraries and the core are installed, and you reopened the Arduino IDE for changes to take effect, then you can open the Gateway and Node examples from the examples menu (under RFM69 library). Choose your target board under Tools>Boards>Moteino or MoteinoMEGA (or Arduino UNO if you skipped the core instalation and have a regular non-MEGA Moteino). Change the serial port to match that to which the target Moteino is connected to (Tools>Serial Port). Click Upload to run the Gateway sketch on the first Moteino (first adjust the FREQUENCY and IS_RFM69HW settings to match your transceiver hardware version), then repeat for the Node sketch. You can then open the serial monitor for the gateway Moteino (the far upper right icon in the IDE) and choose 115200 baud and No Line Ending settings at the bottom. For the gateway this is what you should be seeing:
Serial_gateway_IDEOnce you understand how to use the IDE you are ready to upload other example sketches from the RFM69 library, or create your own. You will find that as examples get more complex, more libraries are required to be installed.

The LowPowerLab forum is a great active place to post your Moteino projects or ask for help/support when you get stuck.

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