not possible but you have a second SPI channel that is free.
With 4.2, we will drop direct canxtra support so maybe you can load the 4.2 firmware and you will have 2 free SPI buses.
Thanks for the REALLY quick reply. 
I need the free SPI for motor control. Would have been nice to use the other SPI for a display. But i’m only theorising, nothing more…
Gus, you mention that CANxtra support in 4.2 will be dropped, does that mean that the 4.2 EMX firmware will no longer have the “check for EM or EMX” checks in it and you’d have to intelligently deal with the hardware differences?
What do you suggest as the move-forward view for CANxtra (and EM) owners be, besides dump and buy new stuff Probably most interested in is home / hacker use, not commercial “must work or I go out of business” use. Should we stockpile the existing 4.1 firmware (or the “final” 4.1 version you mentioned in the last 24 hours that will arrive soon), or is it something you don’t expect things to break with using the EMX firmware on EM?
Did anyone buy one of those ebay displays and try it? I’m distracted by a new project idea and displays are likely to be needed
Brett - yes, I got 3 of them. They fit in the connector just fine. I have not played with them to see if they will work (with minimal software changes).
My board has IC11, and it was the final batch (the $5 batch). It also fits quite nicely in the enclosure linked by Architect.
If I only had a big CNC laser to cut out the end pieces… hmm… 
@ godefroi
Guess it is a luck shot on the IC11 thing. Three of my $5 boards doesn’t have IC11, and two does have it…
on IC11…
Can someone point out where it’s meant to be? I can’t see an unpopulated spot nor can I see a spot with IC11 silkscreen.
@ Ransomhall, fire one up and see if the CANxtra displays the boot-up messages there. That has to be the quickest way in my view to check if it works or not ! If it does, I’ll pull the trigger too.
@ Brett: it’s right next to the module, on the side where the display connector is. It’s a tiny SOT-23 kinda thing.
@ brett - it does not.
@ ransomhall; bugger ! 
@ godefroi, yeah, got it. Haven’t got it, but have figured out where it shoulda been Man those footprints are small, I thought it was a via !
Does anyone have a real CANxtra with the original keypad? I’m interested to know how the 10-pin 0.1" header is used. I hand soldered a bunch of wires onto a female header and then hand soldered the other end onto a male header and pushed it into a breadboard, and routed the wire out the hole in the case. That to me works OK for breadboard mode, but is not ideal for the longer term…
@ Errol, how did you do the connections on your capacitive touch keypad?
I’ve been looking at flexible Kapton PCB material, http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Flexible-kapton-copper-clad-pcb-board-Pyralux-circuit-material-small-/170821718231?pt=AU_B_I_Electrical_Test_Equipment&hash=item27c5c490d7 and wondering if that would make the perfect capacitive touch keypad plus be easy enough to route back into the case and connect to that header.
Looks like nice PCB material. Just be aware of the 10mm bend radius…
My capsense board had pads directly over the hole in the case. To that I soldered a 5 wire ribbon cable, fed it through the hole, under/past the pcb, and soldered a female header to the ribbon cable.
I suspect the original keypad had the bottom layer of the plastic laminate, with tracks, detatch from the keypad right over that hole(or the “tail” exited the side of the keypad, was folded back and exited through the hole). It then had a crimpped female header at the end…
The DB25 connector has 1xRS232 and 1xUART. Which one should i use to update TinyBooter? I tried bot without success. I’m sending % at the start using Tera Term and 115200 baudrate.
Ok it worked. I have found the connection cable schematics and saw that RS232 is used there (UART would be weird but didn’t think of it). So i took a few extra attempts and it worked.
Hi all!
I have a CANxtra Box and it seems I’ve killed the Controller
Can I simply change the Embedded Master Board by the EMX-Board in the CANxtra Box?
Or are they not compatible?
Or does anyone has a CANxtra Box he does not really need and would like to sell?
Many thanks!
I don’t think they are completely footprint compatible. The EMX is longer, with pads for the LCD stuff. If there is space then the EMX modules could be placed, but I don’t think there is space for the EMX module to overhang the Embedded Master footprint.
Oh, and welcome to the forum.
Yeah, as GMod says, welcome, but its unlikely to be drop-in compatible. Fill in your profile and let us know where you are and you might get some more people add in if they have a spare CANxtra or not.
Thanks for the quick replies! I’m sitting in Germany. I’m using the CANxtra box for automating my house (lights, heating regulation etc…) So, if anyone has a CANxtra box to sell, please let me know! You would really help me a lot!
…or maybe one of those ideas are more fruitful:
- Does GHI sell the “old” EM-Boards (I can’t find them in the catalog)?
- Would it be possible to solder it simply by using a piece of flat cable and thus having the EM-Board “hovering” above the PLC? My question here is: would the EMX be functional compatible to the CANxtra Box, even if it would not fit the footprint of the PCB?