Control Center v1.10.0 Release Information

What is This Post About?

Vertiq has recently released a new version of the Control Center, v1.10.0, which can be found on Github. This version includes several improvements and bug fixes which are described in this post.

Changes in v1.10.0

New Features

Show Only Relevant Parameters for Connected Firmware Versions

Previously, the Control Center had a fixed set of parameters that it always showed, regardless of the firmware version of the connected module. This could lead to confusion when parameters were changed or removed between firmware versions, such as when Manual Arming Throttle Source was removed as part of the v0.1.0 speed firmware release. Starting with v1.10.0, the Control Center will change what parameters are shown based on the connected firmware version. This prevents parameters that are no longer relevant for newer firmware versions from showing up when using those newer versions, but still allows them to be accessible when using older firmware versions. Similarly, it prevents parameters that are only available on newer versions of the firmware from being shown on older firmware versions that do not support them.

Edit Menu and Settings Configuration

v1.10.0 adds an Edit menu to the top bar of the Control Center. This menu allows for configuring various settings of the Control Center, as shown below.

Currently there are only two settings available for configuration. The “Enable new version popup notification” setting allows enabling or disabling the pop-up that shows that a new version of Control Center is available when the Control Center is opened. The “Advanced flashing options” setting allows showing more options when flashing, as described in detail in the section below.

Flashing Application Section Firmware By Default to Improve Flashing Safety

Previously, the Control Center would show all flashing options by default when attempting to update a module’s firmware. Most commonly, this would be both a Combined and an App flashing option. The positioning of the Combined option led many customers to believe that was the best option to use for flashing. However, flashing with the Combined option has the potential to be more dangerous as it can put your module into a state that is more difficult to recover from if the flash fails at the wrong time. It is generally recommended to use the Flash App option when possible for this reason.

To help make this clearer in v1.10.0 and beyond, the Control Center will, by default, show only the App flashing option, as shown below.

It is still possible to to show additional options for flashing by enabling the “Advanced flashing options” setting using the Edit menu on the top bar of the Control Center.

This will show all of the flashing options in the same way that previous versions of Control Center did as shown below.

Clearing Imported Resource Packs

Previous versions of the Control Center were able to import resource packs to expose additional parameters for customers when needed, but they did not provide any way to clear out resource packs and revert the Control Center to its default state. This version adds an option to “Clear Imported Resource Files” under the Menu dropdown making it easier to restore the Control Center to its default state.

Support for Latest Modules

This version includes updates to the Control Center’s resource files to properly support connecting with all available Vertiq modules.

Bugfixes

Prevent Early Rebooting When Changing Module ID With Parameters Files

In previous versions of the Control Center, when applying a saved parameters file that changed the Module ID of the connected module, the Control Center would reboot the module immediately after changing the Module ID. This could prevent other parameters from being set properly, and so required applying the parameters file twice. This new version fixes this bug, writing all parameters from the applied file before asking the user to reboot their module.

Fix Setting UART Baudrate With Parameters Files

In previous versions of the Control Center, a module’s UART Baud Rate could not be set by applying a parameters file. This version fixes that, and allows the UART Baud Rate to be set properly with a parameters file.

Control Displayed Precision When Writing to Parameters Files

Previously, when exporting parameters files and support files, parameters with decimals would be written to the file with excessive numbers of decimal places, often well beyond the actual maximum precision of the parameters on the module’s firmware. This version limits the number of decimal places saved to parameters and support files to the appropriate precision for each parameter.

Questions

If you have questions about these changes, you can contact support@vertiq.co for more information.