Quicker way to reload config?

[vadrian]

I got my prototype built up and running today (no motor controller yet), and am trying to dial-in the Nokia 5110 display.  (Special thanks to whoever put together `ozhelm.sch`, which info enabled my LCD to work at all).  

I am editing .../.pypilot/hat.conf but have the following issues:


* To test, I have to unplug and replug the RPi to get it to reload the hat.conf.  Is there a way I can get it to reload without powering it down and back up?  (I see numerous pypilot processes running when I ssh into the RPi, but don't want to just try killing things.
* The contrast setting in the hat.conf seems to work, but the backlight setting has no effect. I'm using GPIO18 for backlight.  Is there some other pin I should be using so that the backlight config value works?  If I move the BL lead to 3.3v, I get a bright display, so I suppose I could just hook it up to 3.3v and add a resistor or a potentiometer, but I just wonder if there's a software way to do this?
* What are the ranges of values for contrast and backlight?  0-255?  (I'm using 40-ish for contrast right now, and that seems pretty good.)

-Adrian

My rig so far:
- RPi Zero,
- Nokia 5110 LCD,
- MPU 9250. 
- 40-pin GPIO breakout kit, connected to a header soldered to the RPi0 via ribbon cable.

[ironman]

try

Code:

sudo sv stop pypilot_hat
sudo sv start pypilot_hat

assuming you are running the tinycore. It might also work with reload or restart, but I cannot figure out whether that's implemented and I cannot test it right now. You might have to wait a bit in between the two commands.

[seandepagnier]

you cannot adjust the backlight power without an atmega (328 or 88) connected on the spi pins. I suggest just using a suitable resistor to dim it.