Can ChromaServer be used with any other interface circuits?
Good question. I’ve actually tried to keep the interface as general as possible to allow for other circuit designers’ innovations. For anyone contemplating using the code with other circuits, here are at least some of the aspects of the server code that are specific to my circuit design: • ChromaServer communicates through a serial port. The places in the code where this is important, however, are not that many. • ChromaServer basically assumes that only one Chroma can transmit to it, even when several are hooked up. You’ll notice that the event interfaces do provide a ChromaIndex argument in case this fact ever changes – still, the assumption is hardcoded in explicit and implicit ways. • In the Connect method of the ChromaController class, the existence of a powered-up circuit is determined by testing the CD and DSR pins of the serial port; both need to be high. • The UART in the circuit is reset by pulsing the DTR pin of the serial port low.
