875-0075-01 RevA xpress 1.7.1 Release Notes These release notes describe the features of the xpress v1.7.1 relative to release 1.5.1. For a full description of how to use the xpress platform, refer to The xpress Platform Guide, which is available at http://www.thingmagic.com/manuals-firmware New Features Bug Fixes xpress 1.7.1 Release Notes 1
New Features The new features in this release are summarized below. For full details, see the xpress Platform Guide: Support for WiFi, POE, and GPS modules The xpress SDK now includes built-in support for a WiFi module, a Power-over-Ethernet module, and GPS modules. The WiFi and POE modules add support for IP data streaming over wireless and wired network interfaces. This capability is integrated with the previous support for keyboard emulation over USB and Bluetooth interfaces and the interface selection rules have been expanded to include the new interface types. The GPS module allows inclusion of the reader s location as a metadata option for all tag records. The Demonstration Application source code has been reorganized so that common settings among modules, such as UART interface assignment and GPI controls, are consolidated into common files for ease-of-customizing. Power-over-Ethernet Support The xpress platform can be powered through the new Ethernet module via standard Power-over-Ethernet. It is necessary to move a jumper on the main board to change the select POE power. When the jumper is in the POE position, the AC, USB, and battery power sources are disconnected from the processor and modules and cannot be used to power them (although the AC and USB inputs will continue to charge the battery if they are connected.) Streamlined SDK Installation The SDK has been revised to reduce the number of third-party applications required on the Windows OS. Only the GNU tools, Eclipse (with Java runtime) and the CDT support 2 xpress 1.7.1 Release Notes
package are needed. Installation of make, un-zip and MinGW are no longer required. MSYS patches have been pre-applied, so this step is no longer necessary either. SAM-BA Application Download instructions Instructions for downloading application software to the platform via the USB interface using the off-the-shelf SAM-BA utility are included. Instruction on creating the downloadable BIN file version of the application is also included (a BIN file for the default demo application has been pre-built and is included in the SDK.) We still recommend that a SAM-ICE with a JTAG interface be used to download the application during software development and debugging. Enhanced Console Interface Logging levels have been added to the Console (debug) interface, Additional commands have been added to support the WiFi and Power-over-Ethernet interfaces. Setting of the real-time-clock is now supported over the console interface. Automated RF level setting. In the previous version of the demonstration application, the RFID modules were set to their default RF output levels: +30 dbm for the M6e, +20 dbm for the Micro and Micro-LTE. Now the RF levels for all modules depend on the power source: +30 dbm when the power source is AC or POE, and +20 dbm when the power source is battery or USB. xpress 1.7.1 Release Notes 3
Bug Fixes 1. The initial installation of the SDK on the Windows platform is much simplified from what it was before and the necessity, in some cases, of manually unzipping files or hand-editing make files has been eliminated. 2. The first version of the demo application could not read from the Bluetooth interface after the Reset button was pressed. Now it recovers properly. 3. Misspellings corrected in product.h file. 4 xpress 1.7.1 Release Notes
Unable to build project in Ubuntu 14.04 Some customers have been unable to make the xpressreader project when running the 14.04 version of Ubuntu. This is a typical error message: arm-none-eabi-gcc: error: nano.specs: No such file or directory make: *** [/home/qsslp86/downloads/xpressreadersdk_full-1.5.1.51/tm/app_ demo/build/app_demo/demo-tasks/cli-commands.o] Error 1 This error usually means they are running a 32-bit executable on a 64-bit OS without 32-bit compatibility libraries. The most common missing library is the 32-bit versionof libc, whch can be installed using this command: sudo apt-get install libc6-i386 If this does not work, obtain a full list of referenced libraries to discover what is missing, using this command: strings $(which arm-none-eabi-gcc) grep '\.so' For further information, the following article describes how to use "apt-file search" to figure out which package you need. http://askubuntu.com/questions/107230/what-happened-to-the-ia32-libs-package#answe r-107249 xpress 1.7.1 Release Notes 5