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Forum Index : Microcontroller and PC projects : New version of MMBasic (ver 4.2)
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| MOBI Guru  Joined: 02/12/2012 Location: AustraliaPosts: 819 |
It has been many years since I have had to use the Chain command due largely to the greater memory size of PCs. I can't help but wonder that if Chain is needed in a MM programme, perhaps the user should be looking at using a PC (lap top) rather than an albeit very capable, MCU or at least avoid using interrupts if they are going to cause problems? David M. |
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| ratall Newbie  Joined: 27/11/2012 Location: AustraliaPosts: 12 |
Ever build a ship in a bottle. Same idea its fun defying logic. I mean why would anybody in their right mind would put a Beginners Allpurpose Symbolic Instruction Code (**) on an MCU when they can use C. Or if you want an efficient interperted language how about FORTH simple stack based easier to implement on Harvard Architecture. Yes If I wanted it easy I'd put the main code on a pc and use the Maximite as a smart interface controller. But whats the fun in that. Geoff Thanks for answering and explaining. Closing the interupts does in truth make sense and lets face it CHAINing really just saves writing variables to SD then reading and redrawing the screen etc. Otherwise I suspect it is best to treat it just like a normal load/run closing and opening as required. I must admit it is a good way of dealing with the setup and shutdown logic the stuff not in the main loop. Sorry waffling again. Anyway thanks again. R. **(because its fun and yes I am old enough to know what BASIC really stands for. The first version I used as a wee-um was Dartmouth via a teletype) |
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| JohnS Guru Joined: 18/11/2011 Location: United KingdomPosts: 3802 |
I was wondering what happens to an interrupt that happens while the CHAIN is in progress but I suppose they must be disabled. Where are the PIC32s with more flash and more RAM? lol John |
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| MOBI Guru Joined: 02/12/2012 Location: AustraliaPosts: 819 |
Hey, I agree. I do it all the time. The devices I make are already "out there" in the world somewhere as a ready made unit, but I do my own any way because as you say, it is fun and when it is done, I can say "well, I beat you, you b...d" and I have learned a bit more in the process. I have a couple of colour MMs on order and I'll probably build a couple of clone mini MMs and I'm really looking forward to experiencing first hand the issues that are being discussed here. David M. |
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panky Guru Joined: 02/10/2012 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1101 |
Hi Geoff, Great program and it amazes me how you keep getting MMB better and better. I was very pleased to see the chain command as with my very modest (and I am sure not very efficient) program for the Caravan Battery Monitoring System, I ran out of memory and had to strip all comments to fit it in on a CGColourMax. No problem with Tassie Jim's MMEdit used to strip the comments but I thought the idea of the free software environment was to promote interaction and sharing and to that end, a well commented program makes it infinately easier for someone else to see what you are doing. To that end, either more space with updated MCU's or the idea of a static area (which I really like in concept) would allow the MM to really morph into the basis of some powerfull projects. Yes, you could use a PC or tablet and just use the MM as a data collection back end but what fun is that? 
Anyway, my sincere congratulations and admiration for a great little program/project - I love playing with mine. Regards, Doug. ... almost all of the Maximites, the MicromMites, the MM Extremes, the ArmMites, the PicoMite and loving it! |
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| JohnS Guru Joined: 18/11/2011 Location: United KingdomPosts: 3802 |
Do any of the PIC32s have any more "space" (RAM)? I can't think of any. John |
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MicroBlocks Guru Joined: 12/05/2012 Location: ThailandPosts: 2209 |
It would be nice to have more RAM in a PIC32 but then again just adding a small chip on the i2c bus will give a lot of extra memory, even with battery backup. It will keep the part price of the PIC32 low, and you can add to it what you want. So if the need is great there are many solutions available. Microblocks. Build with logic. |
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donmck Guru Joined: 09/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1313 |
The DuinoMite-eMEGA-Ethernet has been sitting there for about 12 months, at a price of around $50 A&T. http://www.dontronics-shop.com/olimex-duinomite-emega-ethern et.html and it has extra memory on board. Unfortunately, there is no software available to take advantage of the many features provided. Don... https://www.dontronics.com |
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| MOBI Guru Joined: 02/12/2012 Location: AustraliaPosts: 819 |
I have used many I2C eeproms for data storage. I didn't know about battery backed up I2C RAM though. I must go looking. I don't see how I2C memory can be used in MM system as RAM though. I think it would be nice if we were to be able to access an external address and data bus like the old MPUs used to do, and then I could use the boxes of cmos (6116) and dynamic RAM boards I made years ago. David M. |
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| MOBI Guru Joined: 02/12/2012 Location: AustraliaPosts: 819 |
I went looking for I2C RAM devices and the only one I could find was the PCF8570 256x8. A bit paltry in today's standards. David M. |
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| Bugs2 Newbie Joined: 18/05/2012 Location: United KingdomPosts: 29 |
Why not take a look at FRAM? Faster than EPROM and more flexible, with no need to worry about write input buffers. Also pin compatible with 8-pin I2C and SPI EPROM chips. Just drop it into existing sockets. |
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| MOBI Guru Joined: 02/12/2012 Location: AustraliaPosts: 819 |
Yep. Sure is a great looking chip - I suppose it is technically an eeprom as it is non volatile. I could drop one in my RFID ear tag reader that I designed and store a few thousand tags instead of a few hundred. It is amazing what we don't find, if we don't know that it is out there. I suppose it could be used as MM "RAM" for data storage but a routine in Basic would have to be written to store and retrieve the data. Individual blocks of data could be stored as long as the start and end address of each block was known. David M. |
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| MicroBlocks Guru Joined: 12/05/2012 Location: ThailandPosts: 2209 |
When using an SPI bus there is lots of choice. Like this one: http://www.microchip.com/wwwproducts/Devices.aspx?dDocName=e n559069 Microblocks. Build with logic. |
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vasi Guru Joined: 23/03/2007 Location: RomaniaPosts: 1697 |
Sorry Don, I suggested many times that dk-basic (BSD License) is the best solution right now instead of just sitting in a store, waiting for something to happen... Dontronics and Olimex could have found a freelancer to start the development if they had enough interest - Duinomite is a great platform for Basic language. Maybe you can convince Google to sponsor the development.... Vasi Hobbit name: Togo Toadfoot of Frogmorton Elvish name: Mablung Miriel Beyound Arduino Lang |
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| Sir_M Newbie Joined: 14/01/2013 Location: SwedenPosts: 15 |
Hello all! First post at this forum, but I´ve been following it a long time. Guess this mostly concerns Geoff and John H, but couldn´t find a topic to report new firmware issues. I downloaded and tested latest firmware (DuinoMite_MMBasic_V4.2 with CAN) for my Duinomite Megas. When testing the CAN commands by sending data between two Duinomites I ran in to this. It seems to mix up data values after they have been sent out on the CAN bus. Sending 8 data bytes containg (233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240) recieves corectly but this values (.67295e-45 234-2.28166e+27-5.94046e+29 237 238 239 240) shows as sent value. Values are not random, they in some way represent the sent value. Phu, its hard to explain, check my code, maybe that helps to understand. A funny thing is that this do not happend when I start up DM and directly run the program. But in any other case. Have tested to run another program and then start the CAN program again with same result etc. ' File: CAN_TX_1.BAS ' Desc.: Test sending message on CAN bus ' MM Basic: DuinoMite_MMBasic_V4.2 with CAN ' Date: Jan-15 2012 ' Orig: John Harding ' Hack: Sir_M Cls Dim ok Dim msg(8) CAN config ok 'enter configuration mode CAN setspeed 500000, ok 'set bus speed to 500000kbps CAN addtxchnl 0,1,ok 'use channel 0, 16 bytes buffer CAN enable ok 'enable CAN bus Pause 100 Pin(0) = ok 'if CAN is enable then turn 'green LED on (Duinomite Mega) CAN printconfig 'shows CAN configuration on screen 'Pause 100 Timer = 0 Do ok=0 'just to be sure that "ok" is reset If (Inkey$="q") Then Exit 'routine to quit execution If Timer > 100 Then 'routine to send 10 message per second If x > 247 Then x=0 'max msg value = 255 (247+8) x=x+1 'produce data to send msg(0)=x+0:msg(1)=x+1:msg(2)=x+2 msg(3)=x+3:msg(4)=x+4:msg(5)=x+5 msg(6)=x+6:msg(7)=x+7 CAN tx 0,&h1,0,8,msg(0),ok 'send on channel 0, message ID 1hex '11 bit message type '8 byte data length Print msg(0);msg(1);msg(2);msg(3); Print msg(4);msg(5);msg(6);msg(7) 'print message after it been sent Print ok 'print message status Timer = 0 'reset timer EndIf Loop CAN enable ok 'check if CAN is shut down Pin(0)=ok 'turn green LED off (Duinomite Mega) End /CODE] Best regards Jörgen |
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| JohnS Guru Joined: 18/11/2011 Location: United KingdomPosts: 3802 |
vasi - I looked at dk-basic but it says it doesn't yet have arrays. Needs more work.... John |
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| vasi Guru Joined: 23/03/2007 Location: RomaniaPosts: 1697 |
Hi John, I know, this is why I said: [quote]...could have found a freelancer to start the development...[/quote] But is not like you start from zero. And yes, it needs VGA implementation, supposing that the programmer have access to that C programming book for PIC32 where the method (and the code) is described... Vasi Hobbit name: Togo Toadfoot of Frogmorton Elvish name: Mablung Miriel Beyound Arduino Lang |
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| vasi Guru Joined: 23/03/2007 Location: RomaniaPosts: 1697 |
And, I will dare to say, this time, with more emphasis to the microcontroller specifics... Hobbit name: Togo Toadfoot of Frogmorton Elvish name: Mablung Miriel Beyound Arduino Lang |
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| JohnS Guru Joined: 18/11/2011 Location: United KingdomPosts: 3802 |
Would probably be more sense to start from the last MMBasic (DMBasic) that was open source (GPL). I think the market is too small to justify hiring anyone. John |
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| vasi Guru Joined: 23/03/2007 Location: RomaniaPosts: 1697 |
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