ANY-maze Help > I/O devices supported by ANY-maze > Legacy I/O devices > The ANY-maze interface (AMi) > Installing and configuring AMi > Configuring AMi > AMi configuration - Information > Programming an AMi device

Programming an AMi device

It's usually unnecessary to reprogram an AMi device manually. Therefore we don't recommend you do this unless explicitly instructed to by ANY-maze Support.

Introduction

The AMi device contains a microprocessor which runs some software known as firmware. We will occasionally update this firmware to include new features or to fix problems; when we do this, ANY-maze will recognise that the firmware has changed and automatically reprogram your AMi devices. Nevertheless, there are circumstances when it may be necessary to reprogram an AMi device manually, and that is what this window is for.

To reprogram the AMi, simply click the Program button.

Figure 1. Usually ANY-maze will reprogram AMi devices automatically. But if you need to reprogram AMi manually then you can do so using the Program AMi Device window.

Details

AMi firmware

Inside AMi is a microprocessor which runs some software, just like a computer. This software (which is called firmware) is saved in special memory inside the device and can't be lost (hence the 'firm' rather than 'soft' part of the name).

Of course, like any software, this firmware can be changed to add new features or to fix problems. Updating the firmware in AMi is a process called 'reprogramming', and this is something that the ANY-maze software can do. In fact, not only can it do this, but it will do so automatically if it detects that the firmware is out-of-date. This typically happens when you update your ANY-maze software as together with the ANY-maze update we may have included an AMi firmware update too. If this is the case, then, when you first run the updated version of ANY-maze with your AMi plugged in, ANY-maze will recognise that the firmware in AMi is out-of-date and will simply reprogram it automatically.

Reprogramming an AMi device

To reprogram an AMi device, you simply need to click the Update... button on the Information page of the AMi configuration window. This will cause the Program AMi device window to open, where you should click the Program button to actually cause the reprogramming to be performed. Reprogramming is quick and takes just a few seconds to perform.

If your computer is switched off or 'crashes' while reprogramming an AMi device, don't worry. When you restart ANY-maze, it will recognise that the reprogramming was not completed successfully and will automatically program the device again.

ANY-maze help topic T1155