Skip to content

Commit f12df73

Browse files
updated readme
1 parent d7a9b3e commit f12df73

File tree

1 file changed

+14
-5
lines changed

1 file changed

+14
-5
lines changed

readme.md

Lines changed: 14 additions & 5 deletions
Original file line numberDiff line numberDiff line change
@@ -1,17 +1,19 @@
11
#Firmata
22

3-
Firmata is a arduino library that establishes a protocol for talking to the Arduino from the host software. The aim is to allow people to completely control the Arduino from software on the host computer.
3+
Firmata is a protocol for communicating with microcontrollers from software on a host computer. The protocol can be implemented in firmware on any microcontroller architecture as well as software on any host computer software package. The arduino repository described here is a Firmata library for Arduino and Arduino-compatible devices.
44

55
##Usage
66

7-
To use on your arduino you just need to upload a sketch included in the arduino IDE:
7+
There are two main models of usage of Firmata. In one model, the author of the Arduino sketch uses the various methods provided by the Firmata library to selectively send and receive data between the Arduino device and the software running on the host computer. For example, a user can send analog data to the host using ``` Firmata.sendAnalog(analogPin, analogRead(analogPin)) ``` or send data packed in a string using ``` Firmata.sendString(stringToSend) ```. See File -> Examples -> Firmata -> AnalogFirmata & EchoString respectively for examples.
88

9-
File > Examples > Firmata > StandardFirmata
9+
The second and more common model is to load a general purpose sketch called StandardFirmata on the Arduino board and then use the host computer exclusively to interact with the Arduino board. StandardFirmata is located in the Arduino IDE in File -> Examples -> Firmata.
1010

11-
Most of the time you will be interacting with arduino with a client library on the host computers. Firmata is implemented in a number of popular programming languages.
11+
##Firmata Client Libraries
12+
Most of the time you will be interacting with arduino with a client library on the host computers. Several Firmata client libraries have been implemented in a variety of popular programming languages:
1213

1314
* procesing
1415
* [https://github.com/firmata/processing]
16+
* [http://funnel.cc]
1517
* python
1618
* [https://github.com/firmata/pyduino]
1719
* [https://github.com/lupeke/python-firmata]
@@ -21,6 +23,7 @@ Most of the time you will be interacting with arduino with a client library on t
2123
* ruby
2224
* [https://github.com/patcoll/ruby-firmata]
2325
* [https://github.com/PlasticLizard/rufinol]
26+
* [http://funnel.cc]
2427
* clojure
2528
* [https://github.com/nakkaya/clodiuno]
2629
* javascript
@@ -30,8 +33,14 @@ Most of the time you will be interacting with arduino with a client library on t
3033
* [https://github.com/shigeodayo/Javarduino]
3134
* .NET
3235
* [http://www.imagitronics.org/projects/firmatanet/]
36+
* Flash/AS3
37+
* [http://funnel.cc]
38+
* [http://http://code.google.com/p/as3glue/]
3339

34-
The version of firmata in the arduino IDE contains the latest stable version of firmata. If you need to use any updates made to this repository just clone the repo into the location of firmata in the arduino IDE.
40+
Note: The above libraries may support various versions of the Firmata protocol and therefore may not support all features of the latest Firmata spec nor all arduino and arduino-compatible boards.
41+
42+
##Updating Firmata in the Arduino IDE
43+
The version of firmata in the arduino IDE contains the latest stable version of firmata (Arduino 1.0 includes Firmata 2.3). If you need to use any updates made to this repository just clone the repo into the location of firmata in the arduino IDE.
3544

3645
Mac OSX:
3746

0 commit comments

Comments
 (0)