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Forum Index : Microcontroller and PC projects : Maximite Test ver 2.5C - with serial, I/O
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Geoffg Guru  Joined: 06/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 3194 |
I have finally returned home from travelling and got the chance to test and debug the long awaited asynchronous serial interface. So here it is in a test version (V2.5C) which can be downloaded from: http://geoffg.net/Downloads/Maximite/Maximite_Update_V2.5C.z ip A readme file in the download provides full details so this is a quick summary: There are two serial ports (COM1: and COM2:) both of which can run at selectable speeds from 75 to 19200 baud. COM1 has optional hardware flow control (RTS and CTS) and on both ports you can increase the buffer size to as high as the memory capacity will allow. The syntax is similar to that used by Microsoft BASIC (ie, OPEN "COM1:9600" as #1) and you can use any command or function that takes a file number (ie, PRINT #1, data) to send and receive data. The serial interface also has the unique capability of being opened as a console. In this case any characters received by the serial port will be treated the same as keystrokes received from the keyboard and any characters sent to the video output will also be transmitted via the serial port. This enables a user with a terminal at the end of the serial link to exercise remote control of the Maximite. For example, via a modem. Thanks to Luke Sangalli for the idea. Also in this version is SPI communications and a "claytons" PWM facility. The SPI interface will work on any set of external I/O pins and can communicate with multiple devices at the same time. It runs at 0.5MHz and is intended for moving small amounts of data to and from a chip like an accelerometer (not for shifting large amounts of data from EEPROMS, etc). The PWM facility is implemented by redefining the sound output and the SOUND command. In the SOUND command you can now specify a duty cycle and the frequency can be between 20Hz and 1MHz. This gives you one channel of PWM with a speed and resolution far better than anything else available (the PWM resolution is 0.1% at 100KHz or less). If you don't specify the duty cycle the SOUND command will work exactly the same as in the past. There have been a lot of other small changes and bug fixes, many contributed by Gerard Sexton. If no faults are found in this version I will release it as ver 2.6 (with the source code). Geoff Geoff Graham - http://geoffg.net |
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| aargee Senior Member  Joined: 21/08/2008 Location: AustraliaPosts: 255 |
Geoff, I assume the serial is 8N1 (8 data, no parity and 1 stop bit)? - Rob. For crying out loud, all I wanted to do was flash this blasted LED. |
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jman Guru Joined: 12/06/2011 Location: New ZealandPosts: 711 |
Wonderfull Many thanks for the effort John |
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| Geoffg Guru Joined: 06/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 3194 |
Yes, I should have listed that in the documentation. Geoff Geoff Graham - http://geoffg.net |
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Xiongmao Regular Member  Joined: 25/08/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 48 |
Great news! However, it already raises a new wish (sorry 'bout that). Do you think it would be possible to add support for the 9-bit mode so the maximite could control a string of 'lesser' PICs? |
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| Geoffg Guru Joined: 06/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 3194 |
What is a lesser PIC? I have not heard of anything mainstream requiring a 9-bit mode. I don't want to be awkward but I am trying to avoid shovelling in features that will be hardly used. The language and syntax is getting overloaded already (the next version of the user manual will be 27 pages, the first version was 16). Geoff Geoff Graham - http://geoffg.net |
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| Ray B Senior Member Joined: 16/02/2007 Location: AustraliaPosts: 219 |
A 1000 thankyou's to you Geoff and also Gerard Sexton, not only Serial but also SPI. Geoff you can go back on holidays for another week while I digest this if you like. RayB from Perth WA |
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crackerjack Senior Member Joined: 11/07/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 164 |
This is awesome news Geoff. Thanks, especially for the bonus SPI and PWM. Cheers. |
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jebz Regular Member Joined: 13/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 79 |
9bit serial is mostly utilised on RS485 multi-drop serial buses. It allows the micros to sleep until a byte with the 9th bit is set. The slaves then listen and decode the message if it's for them or can return to their previous job or return to sleep. |
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sparkey Senior Member Joined: 15/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 819 |
does`nt seem to work on my altronics maxi-m does any body else have a problem ::::no video and no power led technicians do it with least resistance |
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| Geoffg Guru Joined: 06/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 3194 |
I just retested it on my prototype and it worked file. Anyone else with this issue? Geoff Graham - http://geoffg.net |
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Dinosaur Guru Joined: 12/08/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 311 |
Hi All Geoff, your update obviously does not include all the changes made by gerard for the Counters. Does that mean we are going to have diffeent versions of Firmware for different features ? Or did you intend to include Gerards changes. This line causes an error "Invalid Syntax" SetPin 1,11,10000,T1,2 RegardsRegards Hervey Bay Qld. |
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Gizmo Admin Group  Joined: 05/06/2004 Location: AustraliaPosts: 5078 |
Mine loaded up fine. Can you try again Sparky? Glenn The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago, the second best time is right now. JAQ |
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| wizard Newbie  Joined: 29/07/2011 Location: United StatesPosts: 38 |
Hi All, 2.5C is no go here with my non-maximite kludge (using 100 pin chip). 2.5B works with my serial debugger and j-tag loader. I start MMB with 0x1d004000 go. SD/MMC works: load, save, files, etc. Video, keyboard all OK. Most impressive! So far USB is no-go. I am beginning to suspect my chips may be early enough to have some sort of hardware bug? How about an "UPDATE" command that uses MMC file "UPDATE.BIN" to update program memory 0x1d000000 to the next version. All the stuff appears to be here and working !! Just a simple script? Nice job!! Wiz |
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| sparkey Senior Member Joined: 15/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 819 |
well have tried several times and get the same result ... 2 point 5 b runs and loads up fine...there are two verisions of the chip :: ::am i correct here.. maybe this might be the problem ::i cannot even read the numbers on the chip my eyes need an up grade :::have not tried it on "SM1" bord as i only have one of these and its in my inverter and i dont want to play with this board ....regards technicians do it with least resistance |
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| aargee Senior Member Joined: 21/08/2008 Location: AustraliaPosts: 255 |
Mine's working fine into a '795 chip with the original PCB design. It's not related to the capacitor Vcore issue, even though previous firmware versions have worked? For crying out loud, all I wanted to do was flash this blasted LED. |
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| Geoffg Guru Joined: 06/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 3194 |
Correct, I included some of the bug fixes from Gerard and that's all. At this time I am trying to get to a stable release that will suit the majority of users, who range from children to experienced professionals. When that happens I can see that special versions will be created by Gerard and others to cater for special needs such as yours. In fact, I have a few special versions in mind also. At this time it is hard for Gerard because each release contains some fundamental change and he then has to retrofit his "special stuff" each time. Gerard is aware of this but it is not a good situation and I cannot see how to avoid it. BTW it would be handy to have "loadable modules" as suggested by some but there are huge technical issues with implementing that. Now that I have access to proper equipment I should be able to make some real progress towards that stable release. Geoff Geoff Graham - http://geoffg.net |
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BobDevries Senior Member Joined: 08/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 266 |
Hi all, I notice that with version 2.5C, my analog clock programme is losing time. Not much, maybe 15 seconds in 3 hours. Anyone else notice this? Regards, Bob Devries Dalby, QLD, Australia |
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| Geoffg Guru Joined: 06/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 3194 |
Aahh, I did change how the internal clock is generated. I will run it through a more extensive test. Thanks. Geoff Graham - http://geoffg.net |
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| Geoffg Guru Joined: 06/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 3194 |
I think that I have found sparkie's issue. With the USB plugged into a running computer everything is OK. If not, the firmware will intermittently hang. That's two bugs now... I have some work to do. Geoff Geoff Graham - http://geoffg.net |
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