PICAXE Programming Tools

Overview

• Automated Docker-based setup that allows easy, cross-platform PICAXE programming.
• Works on Mac, Linux (not yet armhf) and Windows.
• Jinja2 for powerful, cross-platform pre-processing.
• Cross-platform support for the include directive.
• Works without docker (requires jinja2 to be installed and for the PICAXE compilers to be on the path).

Installation

To use this software, you will need Jinja2, Python3, and PICAXE compilers on your PATH or Docker (will build suitable images automatically).

Clone the repository:

git clone https://github.com/colin-nolan/docker-tools.git

Then call the picaxe executable, ./picaxe.

For a permanent installation, you may wish to clone the repository into /usr/local/src/docker-picaxe and symlink the picaxe file into /usr/local/bin, e.g ln -s /usr/local/src/docker-picaxe/picaxe /usr/local/bin.

Usage

usage: picaxe [options] code-location

Options:
    -c, --chip string           Name of the PICAXE chip to use, e.g. "picaxe20m2" (can be set through the environment: PICAXE_CHIP=string)
    -d, --device string         Location of the device to programme if applicable (default: /dev/ttyUSB0; can be set through the environment: PICAXE_DEVICE=string)
    -h, --help                  Display this help
    -n, --no-docker             Do not use Docker, even if found on the path (requires jinja2 and PICAXE binaries on PATH instead)
    -o, --output-preprocessed   Output the preprocessed PICAXE code onto stdout
    -p, --preprocessor-only     Only run the pre-processor (do not syntax check or upload to device)
    -r, --compiler-only         Only run the compiler (syntax check + device upload) (do not run the pre-processor)
    -s, --syntax-only           Only run the compiler to check syntax (do not upload to device)
    -v[vvv]                     Set log verbosity where more "v"s will give more verbosity (default=2; can be set through the environment: PICAXE_LOG_LEVEL=int)

Examples

Syntax Check

Syntax check code for use with picaxe20m2 chip and output pre-processed code (usually fed into compiler):

./picaxe --chip picaxe20m2 --syntax-only --output-preprocessed /path/to/code.bas

If the syntax is

• Correct: a zero status code will be given ($1). Info messages can be seen with -vvv.
• Incorrect: a non-zero is given, along with the error message.

Hint: the pre-processed code can be redirected to a file and used with the simulator in the PE6 Editor.

Pre-process + Compile (syntax check) + Upload

It is assumed by default that connection to the PICAXE is via USB cable (device: /dev/ttyUSB0):

./picaxe -vvv --chip picaxe20m2 /path/to/code.bas

The usual COM1 link location is /dev/ttyS0:

./picaxe -vvv --chip picaxe20m2 --device=/dev/ttyS0 /path/to/code.bas

Notes

Motivation

PICAXE chips are great devices - they are cheap, resilient, and versatile. However, the tooling is a little disappointing, particularly outside the Windows environment. This work makes the compilers a little easier to use (e.g. in a CI environment).

Pre-Processor

For some reason, the official pre-processor is only distributed for Windows, bundled with the PE6 editor. However, given that most interesting directives (e.g. #macro) are arguably not particularly well designed, this work does not attempt to provide a like-for-like replacement for the originally pre-processor. Instead, it uses the modern Jinja2 template engine, which can be used to achieve thr same results.

If you require cross-platform support of the original directives, this effort has been made in the community to preprocess some of them.

Exit Codes

The exit codes that the program gives have a meaning - see the constants file for details. There can be useful if used as part of a script or if logging is turned down.

Long Format Arguments

Yes: --chip picaxe08m2

No: --chip=picaxe08m2

Development

Code

• Python code has been formatted using black -l 120.

Tests

To run the bats based test suite:

bats --jobs "$(nproc)" -r ./tests

(Requires Docker and python3 -m venv to be available.)

Legal

Do not distribute the PICAXE compilers (including in Docker images).

I am not affiliated to Revolution Education Ltd in any way.

This work is in no way related to the company that I work for.