Overview
TyTools is a collection of independent tools and you only need one executable to use any of them. The Qt-based GUI tools are statically compiled to make that possible.
| Tool | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| TyCommander | Qt GUI (static) | Upload, monitor and communicate with multiple boards |
| TyUpdater | Qt GUI (static) | Simple firmware / sketch uploader |
| tycmd | Command-line No Qt ! |
Command-line tool to manage Teensy boards |
Download the latest release from GitHub.
All the code related to these programs is under public domain, you can do whatever you want with it. See the LICENSE file or unlicense.org more more information.
Using tycmd
You can manage multiple devices connected simultaneously, tycmd (and the other TyTools) uniquely identifies each device by its position in the host USB topology. Meaning if it stays on the same USB port, it is handled as the same device. That's necessary because across reboots and resets, Teensies look completely different to the host.
To target a specific device, use tycmd <command> --board "[<serial>][-<family>][@<location>]".
serial is the USB serial number, family is the board family name and location can be the
virtual path computed by tycmd (see tycmd list) or an OS device path (e.g. /dev/hidraw1 or COM1).
Any of them can be omitted. See the examples in the table below.
| Tag filter | Effect |
|---|---|
| 714230 | Select board with serial number 714230 |
| -Teensy | Select board with family name 'Teensy' |
| @usb-1-2-2 | Select board plugged in USB port 'usb-1-2-2' |
| @COM1 | Select board linked to the OS-specific device 'COM1' |
| 714230@usb-1-2-2 | Select board plugged in 'usb-1-2-2' and with serial number is 714230 |
You can learn about the various commands using tycmd help. Get specific help for them using
tycmd help <command>.
List devices
tycmd list lists plugged Teensy devices. Here is how it looks:
add 34130@usb-1-2 Teensy 3.1 add 29460@usb-4-2 Teensy add 32250@usb-4-3 Teensy 3.0
Use --verbose if you want detailed information about available devices:
add 32250@usb-4-3 Teensy 3.0 + capabilities: - upload - reset + interfaces: - HalfKay Bootloader: /dev/hidraw2
If you need to read structured information in your scripts, you can set the output to JSON with --output json:
{"action": "add", "tag": "714230@usb-6-3", "serial": 714230, "location": "usb-6-3", "model": "Teensy", "capabilities": ["reboot", "serial"], "interfaces": [["Seremu", "/dev/hidraw4"]]} {"action": "add", "tag": "1126140@usb-6-2", "serial": 1126140, "location": "usb-6-2", "model": "Teensy LC", "capabilities": ["upload", "reset"], "interfaces": [["HalfKay Bootloader", "/dev/hidraw3"]]}
You can also watch device changes with --watch, both in plain and JSON mode.
| Action | Meaning |
|---|---|
| add | This board was plugged in or was already there |
| change | Something changed, maybe the board rebooted |
| miss | This board is missing, either it was unplugged (remove) or it is changing mode |
| remove | This board has been missing for some time, consider it removed |
Upload firmware
Use tycmd upload <filename.hex> to upload a specific firmware to your device. It is checked for
compatibility with your model before being uploaded.
By default, a reboot is triggered but you can use --wait to wait for the bootloader to show up,
meaning tycmd will wait for you to press the button on your board.
Serial monitor
tycmd monitor opens a text connection with your Teensy. It is either done through the serial device
(/dev/ttyACM*) or through the HID serial emulation (SEREMU) in other USB modes. tycmd uses the
correct mode automatically.
You can use the --reconnect option to detect I/O errors (such as a reset, or after ab rerief
unplugging) and reconnect immediately. Other errors will exit the program.
The --raw option will disable line-buffering/editing and immediately send everything you type in
the terminal.
See tycmd help monitor for other options. Note that Teensy being a USB device, serial settings are
ignored. They are provided in case your application uses them for specific purposes.
Reset and reboot
tycmd reset will restart your device. Since Teensy devices (at least the ARM ones) do not provide
a way to trigger a reset, tycmd will instead start the bootloader first and then issue a reset
without programming anything.
You can also use tycmd reset -b to start the bootloader. This is the same as pushing the button on
your Teensy.
Hacking TyTools
Build on Windows
You can use MSVC (≥ 2015) or MinGW-w64. I have not tested Clang on Windows yet. The historical MinGW toolchain is not supported.
You need to install CMake to build the project files before you can use Visual Studio or MinGW.
If you don't have Qt, only the libraries and command-line tools will be compiled. There are two options to enable Qt in TyTools:
- dynamic Qt build: Easiest option, you only need to install the pre-built Qt DLLs for your compiler with the official Qt installer. The binaries need the Qt DLLs to work.
- static Qt build: Harder, but will produce autonomous binaries. Read the README in the qt5 directory for instructions.
To build TyTools with MSVC 2015 32-bit, launch VS2015 x86 Native Tools Command Prompt, navigate to the project directory and execute CMake:
REM You can of course use another build directory if you prefer. mkdir build mkdir build/win32 cd build/win32 cmake ../..
This will create Visual Studio project and solution files in build/win32. You can then open the solution TyTools.sln.
To build 64-bit binaries, you should use VS2015 x64 Native Tools Command Prompt instead.
Build on Mac OS X
Install Xcode, the developer command-line tools and CMake. The native Clang compiler can build TyTools.
If you don't have Qt, only the libraries and command-line tools will be compiled. There are two options to enable Qt in TyTools:
- dynamic Qt build: Easiest option, you only need to install the pre-built Qt DLLs for your compiler with the official Qt installer. The binaries need the Qt DLLs to work.
- static Qt build: Harder, but will produce autonomous binaries. Read the README in the qt5 directory for instructions.
After Qt is ready, you can build TyTools by executing the following commands in the project directory:
# You can of course use another directory if you prefer. mkdir -p build/darwin && cd build/darwin cd build/darwin cmake ../..
If you want to build debug binaries instead, you should specify the build type:
cmake -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Debug ../..
Build on Linux
TyTools can be built with GCC or Clang.
Prerequisites
To install the dependencies on Debian or Ubuntu execute:
sudo apt-get install build-essential cmake libudev-dev qtbase5-dev
On Arch Linux you can do so (as root):
pacman -S --needed base-devel cmake udev qt5-base
Compilation
Open the project directory in a terminal and execute:
# You can of course use another directory if you prefer. mkdir -p build/linux && cd build/linux cmake ../.. make
If you want to build debug binaries instead, you should specify the build type:
cmake -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Debug ../..