Bus Pirate 5 supports live language switching via the configuration menu. The language setting will be saved to flash storage and loaded each time the Bus Pirate starts.

Configure interface language

Bus Pirate [/dev/ttyS0]
HiZ> c

Configuration options
 1. Language
 2. ANSI color mode
 3. ANSI toolbar mode
 4. LCD screensaver
 5. LED effect
 6. LED color
 7. LED brightness
 x. 
 > 1

Language
 1. English
 2. Chinese (simplified)
 x. 
 >

Type c and press enter to display the configuration menu. Choose language (option 1), then select an available language.

Make or update a translation

  • Open the translation web page
  • To edit an existing translation choose it from the Load Translation File drop down menu
  • To create a new translation, choose en-us.json (the base translation)
  • Translate the text fields
  • Click Download JSON to download your translation text as a .json file
  • Name the .json file something logical like the ISO 6391-1 language code and a region code. For example nl-nl.h for Dutch-Netherlands.
  • Post the .json file in the forum, or submit a pull request on GitHub

Process to .h header file

Translations are stored in .json files and processed to .h header files. The reason for this is because it was a huge pain to update a bunch of files for a single change. A simple Python script uses the en-us.h translation as a base and builds all the other header files from the .json source.

Base translation file

en-us.h is the base translation file. It provides two important things:

  1. The keys in en-us.h such as T_WARN_VOUT_VREF_LOW become the master list of translation keys. The enumeration in base.h will be built from these keys
  2. The value strings in en-us.h become the default strings. If a key is present in a .json translation file that string will be used. However, if a key is not present in the .json translation file the en-us.h default string is used

Adding a new string

This section is for developers adding strings. You can skip this if you’re just installing a new translation.

	[T_HELP_SYS_HELP]="How to use the help system",
	[T_HELP_GCMD_SELFTEST]="run a complete system self-test",
    [T_ADDED_NEW_STRING]="We just added a new string!",

en-us.h is the base translation file. Add new entries in en-us.h and then run json2h.py to build all the other header files.

  • Locate en-us.h in the /translation/ folder of the firmware
  • Add your new entries somewhere logical and give them a descriptive key, example: T_ADDED_NEW_STRING

Run json2h.py

json2h.py first processes the en-us.h file, then builds the other headers files using the .json translation files as a source.

  • Open a terminal
  • Navigate to the firmware /translation/ folder
  • Run json2h.py

You’ll see a lot of unhelpful output, ignore it. All the .json translation files will now have a .h header file with the same name.

Installing a translation

Include translation 

#include <stdio.h>
#include "pico/stdlib.h"
#include "pirate.h"
#include "system_config.h"
#include "translation/en-us.h"
#include "translation/zh-cn.h"
#include "translation/nl-nl.h"

char **t;
  • Locate /translation/base.c in the source code.
  • Include your translation file at the end of the list.

Add translation to switch 

switch(language)
{
    case 2:
        t = (char **) &nl_nl;
        break;       
    case 1:
        t = (char **) &zn_ch;
        break;
    case 0:
    default:
        t = (char **) &en_us;
        break;
}
  • Locate the switch statement in /translation/base.c. This is the logic for switching the active language.
  • Add a new case to the switch for your translation.
  • Be sure to use the next available case number so your translation is available from the configuration menu. For example our nl_nl translation becomes case 2.

Add language string for configuration menu 

[T_CONFIG_LANGUAGE_ENGLISH]="English",
[T_CONFIG_LANGUAGE_CHINESE]="Chinese (simplified)",
[T_CONFIG_LANGUAGE_DUTCH]="Dutch",
  • Open translation/en-us.h
  • Add a key and value for the language menu option in the translation array
  • Here, we added T_CONFIG_LANGUAGE_DUTCH
  • Run translation/json2h.py to rebuild all the headers with this new string

Add translation to the language menu struct 

static const struct prompt_item menu_items_language[]=
{
    {T_CONFIG_LANGUAGE_ENGLISH},{T_CONFIG_LANGUAGE_CHINESE},{T_CONFIG_LANGUAGE_DUTCH}
};
  • Locate /ui/ui_config.c in the source code.
  • Add your enumerated key to the menu_items_language struct.
  • Your translation is now included in the list of available languages in the configuration menu.

Compile the firmware and test

Bus Pirate [/dev/ttyS0]
HiZ> c

Configuration options
 1. Language
 2. ANSI color mode
 3. ANSI toolbar mode
 4. LCD screensaver
 5. LED effect
 6. LED color
 7. LED brightness
 x. 
 > 1

Language
 1. English
 2. Chinese (simplified)
 3. Dutch
 x. 
 >
  • Compile the firmware and load it into the Bus Pirate.
  • Your translation should appear in the configuration menu.

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