The custom software needed for operation must be compiled and uploaded to your devices. This guide provides the list of required libraries for compilation and outlines the changes needed to support each board.
Note: This is a slightly modified version of the standard COMPILING_FLASHING guide.
Please refer to the table below for a list of devices and their supported software release.
| Controller Device | v1.x | v2.x | v3.x | v4.x | v5.x |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 GPStar Proton Pack PCB |
Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| GPStar Neutrona Wand PCB |
Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| d1 DIY Arduino Mega Proton Pack | Yes | Yes 2 | Yes 3 | Yes 3 | Yes 3 |
| d1 DIY Arduino Mega Neutrona Wand | Yes | Yes 2 | Yes 2 | Yes 2 | Yes 2 |
d1 These are now considered as "legacy" devices and have distinct end-of-life notes in later versions (see additional superscript notations).
2 Support for the Arduino Nano as a wand controller ended after the release of v2.2.0. That device must be replaced with a Mega 2560 Pro Mini to support the later software releases.
3 If paired with an Arduino Nano for the Neutrona Wand, this arrangement is deprecated. To continue using the DIY Arduino Mega you will need to upgrade the Neutrona Wand to use the GPStar Neutrona Wand PCB or a Mega 2560 Pro Mini.
Download and install the Arduino IDE. This will be used to compile and upload the code to your Proton Pack and Neutrona Wand.
The following libraries are required to be installed. All can be found within the Arduino Library Manager with the app. Go to Sketch -> Include Library -> Manage Libraries... to access the Library Manager. Search for the libraries by name and install the latest version available.
- ADS1115_WE by Wolfgang Ewald
- CRC32 by Christopher Baker
- digitalWriteFast by Watterott and Armin Joachimsmeyer
- ezButton by ArduinoGetStarted.com
- FastLED by Daniel Garcia
- Ramp by Sylvain Garnavault
- SafeString by Matthew Ford
- SerialTransfer by PowerBroker2
- Simple ht16k33 Library by Ipaseen
- Switch by Albert van Dalen
- GPStar Audio Serial Library by Michael Rajotte (1.1.0+)
If you are flashing updates to your existing setup, make sure that both your Proton Pack and Neutrona Wand Micro SD Cards have all the latest sound effects from this repository.
If you are compiling the code to upload to an Arduino Mega with the original GPStar home built instructions, you need to disable GPSTAR_PROTON_PACK_PCB which can be found at the very bottom of the Configuration.h of the Proton Pack.
Example: //#define GPSTAR_PROTON_PACK_PCB
This is a legacy flag, for people who originally put the Cyclotron Lid detection on pin 51 and not pin 43.
- If your Cyclotron Lid detection is on pin 51, then comment/disable this define.
- If your home built GPStar Proton Pack was built with pin 43 for the Cyclotron Lid detection, leave this enabled/uncommented.
The final release compatible with the Arduino Nano was v2.2.0 in November of 2023. Releases after this date no longer support that device due primarily to system memory limitations. Please consider migrating to the official GPStar Neutrona Wand PCB to continue to receive additional software updates for your devices. Otherwise, you must replace the Arduino Nano with a Mega 2560 Pro Mini.
In other words: since the software for the pack and wand must be updated in tandem, this implies that updates cannot be made to a Proton Pack (whether DIY or PCB) without the accompanying change to the Neutrona Wand hardware.
To modify defaults within the software, please see the Advanced Configuration guide.