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Category: General
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State of VSCP
I am currently working on a CAN4VSCP gateway based on ESP32C3. It supports TCP/UDP/Multicast/WebSockets and MQTT. I will do some other modules also with this chip and with other chips. Some “blink examples” are needed for example.
Some changes have been checked in to the spec. today.
nano second timestamp
First some changes will be implemented everywhere when a nanosecond timestamp is introduced. This nanosecond timestamp is 64 bit Unix timestamp holding nanoseconds since the epoch (GMT).
The VSCP main header (vscp.h) already has the change. Both formats can be used. Set year = 0xfff and header bits 8/9 to 1 when using the new timestamp.
The string format will change from
head,class,type,obid,datetime,timestamp,GUID,data1,data2,data3....
to
head,class,type,obid,,timestamp,GUID,data1,data2,data3....
The nill datetime was previously used to set the current date in the receiving interface. The same can be now be achieved by either setting the timestamp to zero or setting it to a number less than a second.
GUID format
The format for the GUID can now be more freely expressed and the standard format for UUID’s and short types are possible. Info is here.
Binary format
A binary encrypted format has been available for a long time in the UDP and Multicast etc frames. Working with the gateway I realized that this is generally useful. So I decided to make it a bit more general as described here. Again there is a change to account for the new timestamp.
Wanting to secure an embedded device that have server capabilities TLS/SSL is the first choice. But soon you realize that certificates last maybe just for 90-days, and you have to create mechanism to handle this. It becomes very messy, and the risk is that the user will brick a lot of remote devices if something fails.
An encrypted solution would be nicer to handle and still be secure. This will be the solution for VSCP and luckily it is in place already for UDP and Multicast and works very well.
So this will be added to the WebSockets, TCP/IP link protocol and MQTT protocols as binary alternatives. MQTT and WebSockets already have TLS as an option and my plan was to add TLS to the TCP/IP link protocol as well. But now I am not sure. Will any way add the binary version first.
/Ake
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Socketcan bus error simulations
Found a great tool for CAN error simulation if working on socketcan based systems. Check this if you are into this. Really helpful.
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Happy new year
May 2026 be a year of peace for everyone.
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Microchip xc8 greyed out in MPLAB
If you’re like me and have some old projects written for a PIC 8-bit processor, for which you bought a compiler license, you might not want to keep paying over $100 a year to upgrade—especially if that was your only project needing the compiler. In that case, you may find that your old compiler is greyed out in the compiler selection dialog.
Of course, if your source compiles with one of the later compilers and you can live without the missing optimizations, there’s no issue. However, if you require the optimizations available only in the licensed version, you’ll need to manually edit the configurations.xml file inside the nbproject folder. Specifically, change all references in that file to point to the desired compiler or configuration.
to
If you’re not using XC8 v1.21, make sure you match the compiler version to your installation.
Also…
On Ubuntu, installing XC8 v1.21 may fail with a core dump at the end of installation. The crash usually happens when the licensing tool xclm is run (./xclm -hostinfo).
To fix this, you can copy the xclm executable from a newer XC8 version into the bin folder of v1.21 just before the installer runs it. If you copy it too early, the installer will overwrite it, so you need to time this step carefully.
While it’s easier to simply use newer compiler versions, sometimes older versions are required for legacy projects. For example, I still maintain a few projects built with v1.21, even though I use newer systems for new work.
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“the world” celebrating
Stockholm
Los
ohhhh well… 🙂
Starting August 29th, new regulations have come into effect. Both DHL and UPS currently have no working solution, so on their advice, we are temporarily suspending all shipments to the USA effectiv…
Source: We regret but have to temporary suspend the shipments to USA | olimex
In this article, we’ll start with a quick overview of Ultra Low Power coprocessors (ULPs) in Espressif chips and how they can significantly reduce power consumption in your applications. Then, we’ll walk through a tutorial on how to use ULPs in practice!
