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Forum Index : Microcontroller and PC projects : Wish List discussion
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CircuitGizmos Guru  Joined: 08/09/2011 Location: United StatesPosts: 1425 |
I looked at the current wish list for the Maximite. I thought that I might provide some feedback for the items that are listed. I'm certainly not the guy in charge of this, but perhaps my effort to address these will spur on some conversation. Wish 4: Flash Power Led 3 times on power up. MM firmware change. Not hard to do. I guess that the reason for this request is to make it more obvious that the board has powered up? Wish 5: Basic Language Control of Activity LED. This would be a firmware/language change, if implemented as a specific command. As I understand it, it can already be accomplished via the current output commands. Wish 8: SPI I/O Isn't SPI I/O already implemented? Wish 9: Get, Put, Draw MM firmware/language change. Could this also be implemented as source code subroutines? Wish 11: Colo(u)r VGA This would require a hardware change, as well as the language support to change drawing and text color. Wish 12: Shift & Rotate Commands MM firmware/language change if implemented as commands. Could also be implemented as source code subroutines. Wish 13: Auto Renumber Lines MM firmware/language change if implemented as commands. This could be a utility program for the SD card. Wish 14: Deep Sleep() Low Power Mode. MM firmware/language change. I don't know the ramifications for implementing this - possible ways to wake up. Wish 15: Read Output Pin MM firmware/language change. Wish 17: Format SD Card MM firmware/language change if implemented as commands. This could be a utility program for the SD card. Wish 18: Byte Wide Operations Using INP & OUT. MM firmware/language change if implemented as commands. Could also be implemented as source code subroutines. Wish 19: COPY files1$ TO file2$ Wish 20: COPY file$ TO dir$ MM firmware/language change if implemented as commands. This could be a utility program for the SD card. Wish 21: FILES "DIR1*.*" MM firmware/language change. I would very much like to see a string with sub-directories in it parsed, too. Wish 22: ANSI escape codes system wide. (O/P to VGA & PC Screen) MM firmware/language change if implemented as commands. Wish 23: I2C on any pins on the PIC32 that support I2C and aren't otherwise used on the Maximite. MM firmware/language change if implemented as commands. Wish 25: "PAL ON" and "NTSC ON" via flag for Composite Video Control. ( Or OPTION PAL, OPTION NTSC) MM firmware/language change. I would very much like to see this implemented, although I can recompile if necessary. Wish 25: Allow save command with no filename. Implemented, although I'm not clear what the default file name is. Wish 26: Can we have labels? MM firmware/language change. I think this is reasonable. IT would be implemented as a line number + label. Wish 27: Flashing Cursor. Select Flash rate, and cursor type. (system alive indicator) MM firmware/language change. Wish 28: Run 'compiled' programs to speed them up Probably a big item to implement. Wish 28: INCLUDE statement. It would "include" the contents of files holding code. If the language didn't have line numbers, this would make sense. As is, a MERGE with renumbering might be better. Wish 29: Call Machine Language Routines. Possibly use Peek & Poke to achieve. Much like "Run 'compiled' programs to speed them up" I would guess. Wish 30: MMB function to write to flash could be part of the method that allows runtime loaded code. Is this writing to internal Flash? Wish 31: PRINT to both. SPRINT only goes to screen UPRINT only goes to USB No idea how much effort this might be. Wish 32: Toggle Pin Command. MM firmware/language change if implemented as commands. Could also be implemented as source code subroutines. Wish 33: Auto Line Number Input ie: Auto 100,10 Syntax or default 10,10 MM firmware/language change. Wish 34: Support for the 1wire devices as per PicBasic Wish 38: 1-Wire communication (How are these two different?) MM firmware/language change if implemented as commands. Could also be implemented as source code subroutines. Wish 35: Modify PWM Command to accept a Target number of output pulses. MM firmware/language change. Wish 36: Help system via SD card. Either HELP "command" or HELP "command"/? This could be a utility program for the SD card. Wish 37: Allow software flags to unload/free-up vga & Kbd. Reloads at bootup. No idea how much effort this might be. Wish 39: Upgrade the firmware from the SD card file image. No more room in the bootloader to do this. Would have to use some other trick. Wish 40: Ability to draw elipses and arcs. MM firmware/language change if implemented as commands. Could also be implemented as source code subroutines. There are a few of these wish list items that could be implemented as subroutines, rather than as a change to the language. So the wish list item doesn't have to depend on a change to the firmware. Does anyone else have feedback? Micromites and Maximites! - Beginning Maximite |
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donmck Guru Joined: 09/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1313 |
Hi CG, I am the guy responsible for the wish list being there, and I very much welcome any and all discussion on all items. So thank you. Wishes 4 and 5 I am possibly responsible for, so I'll start by kicking this off with these two wishes. Wish 4: I feel it is pretty dumb to have a LED light up to tell you that the system is alive. That is what a power LED does. It is much better to get some real positive feedback. Flashing a LED 3 times on power up, is my preferred method of getting this positive feed back. A 30+ year old idea of mine on my designs. I know the damn thing works OK if it flashes. Just my thinking. Wish 5: Again, why have a LED sitting there doing nothing most of the time, and you don't have basic language control over it. Another good basic test function. On the new DuinoMite boards, we have both LEDs flashing if you press reset while holding down the user button. This is the same as the current enter bootload mode, by pressing the user button while powering up. Cheers Don... https://www.dontronics.com |
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| CircuitGizmos Guru Joined: 08/09/2011 Location: United StatesPosts: 1425 |
One step farther is to have the LED blink slow when BASIC is in command-line mode getting user input, and blink fast when the program is running. Micromites and Maximites! - Beginning Maximite |
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| donmck Guru Joined: 09/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1313 |
Unless you are using the LED for some other possible user status, then yes. 
Cheers Don... https://www.dontronics.com |
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| CircuitGizmos Guru Joined: 08/09/2011 Location: United StatesPosts: 1425 |
:-) OPTION LEDgetsusedbyBASICinsteadofbeinguedbytheprogrammer Heh. Micromites and Maximites! - Beginning Maximite |
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ksdesigns Senior Member  Joined: 25/06/2011 Location: United StatesPosts: 143 |
Wish 39: Upgrade the firmware from the SD card file image. No more room in the bootloader to do this. Would have to use some other trick. That one is easy to do i have a version that will update firmware from a usbdrive and it would be even smaller if you striped out the usb stack and used SDCard USB Bootloader Maximite ken |
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Geoffg Guru Joined: 06/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 3194 |
That has to be the silliest thing I have heard of in years. Most things have a power light, that is what it does, it tells you that it is alive. Geoff Geoff Graham - http://geoffg.net |
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Dinosaur Guru Joined: 12/08/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 311 |
Hi All Am I missing something here. An Led lighting up, says that the power supply is up and working. An Led that flashes does so under the control of the pic, thereby confirming that the os has taken control, and thus the pic is ok. Regards Regards Hervey Bay Qld. |
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| CircuitGizmos Guru Joined: 08/09/2011 Location: United StatesPosts: 1425 |
All this to talk about and we are talking about the LED... :-P Geoff: An LED that is across Vcc and ground tells you that there is some power, but not that the micro is running. An LED just turned on by a micro pin will tell you that the micro ran enough code to turn the LED on. It may not still be running, but it ran enough to turn the LED on. I've seen micros that are damaged that set their ports on/off randomly. The LED might be on in this case. Many of the embedded designs I have created use a blinking LED that is a heartbeat indicator for the system. It shows everything is running and not hung up. I don't see implementing this at all, actually. Perhaps if the LED were dedicated to the function of "heartbeat" indication, but since it can be used for other things, I would think it better to leave the LED function as is. (Just my opinion.) Micromites and Maximites! - Beginning Maximite |
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vasi Guru Joined: 23/03/2007 Location: RomaniaPosts: 1697 |
Hi CG, On the old design of the Pinguino 8bit it was a LED which was turned on when firmware started (and turned off when it was in boot mode). I said that would be a waste. On almost all cases, you can see if your firmware is working by seeing his behaviour. Or by testing it before in your lab. I said that is better to have the boot mode signaled than the other way around. So now, the new design of Pinguino 8 bits take that into account. Having a LED ON when firmware starts is not enough if I have some bad behaviour or malfunction. It can stay ON and the defect (logic or hardware) being still there. Of course, it is useful when you don't have a debugger circuit and you have to insert "flags" (read blinks) in key parts of your firmware. This can be another reason why there is an user LED. Vasi Hobbit name: Togo Toadfoot of Frogmorton Elvish name: Mablung Miriel Beyound Arduino Lang |
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| CircuitGizmos Guru Joined: 08/09/2011 Location: United StatesPosts: 1425 |
The Maximite V2 schematic that I see has a dedicated LED that does not use any "User I/O" lines. I don't know if that is the case for all Maximite derivatives. As far as I am concerned, that makes the LED belong to the "system". If blinking is desired, then that LED could do that. Any use of that line for anything else would have to be prohibited. I'm not trying to sway this either way, actually. I just hope to keep the conversation about the specifics of the wish list going. Micromites and Maximites! - Beginning Maximite |
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bigmik Guru Joined: 20/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 2914 |
Hi Geoff, I think you misunderstood what Don was saying.. I quote I think what Don means here is that to just turn the LED on and stay on doesn't tell the whole story.. yes it is lit, presumably under micro control, but it `may' also be lit due to a hardware fault and the LED is on because of the state of the relevent output pin..What Don goes on to say is that 3 flashes at least PROVES that the micro is running. He wasnt poo-pooing the idea of the LED just the idea of a static LED. My 2c. Regards, Mick Mick's uMite Stuff can be found >>> HERE (Kindly hosted by Dontronics) <<< |
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| Vikingboy Regular Member  Joined: 23/09/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 82 |
I am quite new to this whole subject, but I am fairly experienced in beta testing complex user gui software applications , and it seems to me that dedicating the onboard LED behavior to system health or boot status or any other single purpose reduces its flexibility. Currently it seems a user can write into the application via autorun.bas etc any of the suggested behavior and more by simply setting PIN(0), just my 2c. Andrew |
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sparkey Senior Member Joined: 15/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 819 |
i wish that we could have mm_diag.bas ..... a running program that would report the state of every "i/o" pin so that it would be possible that every pin would be presentented with an` on screen out ut or in put showing that the the pituciuiar pin is present and funtioning in its present state...... regards sparkey...////..../// sorry for te spell check....///...///.../// technicians do it with least resistance |
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| sparkey Senior Member Joined: 15/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 819 |
with all due respect dons boards will be the second generation of maxi bords to hitt the tabables ...///..///...// technicians do it with least resistance |
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| donmck Guru Joined: 09/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1313 |
As CG said, we seem to have got stuck on chat about a LED, so I'll try and move this thread forward. People ask me to add to the wish list, and the wish doesn't get a single vote, not even from the original wisher. However checking the votes right now, there is only one wish without a vote. I'm sure Geoff goes through similar frustration adding new features to MM-Basic, and finding very few people take advantage of these new features. I only have to add a wish to a list, Geoff has to write, then debug any new routines, so I feel we should discuss these wishes, and prune the list if it needs pruning, or delete items that Geoff has already added for users. If forum members can please have a look at the poll at: http://www.themaximitecomputer.com/wish-list-priority-level- poll/ and send your comments back to this thread. Thanks. Cheers Don... PS I am about to delete Wish 38 as yes, it appears to be a double up on Wish 34. Wish 38: 1-Wire communication. https://www.dontronics.com |
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| CircuitGizmos Guru Joined: 08/09/2011 Location: United StatesPosts: 1425 |
Am I right that the wishlist item about SPI has been implemented? If so, then that should be removed. I noted in my original post that some of these items could be implemented as BASIC programs, or as example BASIC code. (Or perhaps BASIC modules) Could some of those things be thought of as "I wish I had this example code" and off of Geoff's plate? Not that Geoff couldn't implement them into the language if he so chose to at a later date. Some of the wish ideas my not be doable given the current hardware. Or are such a significant thing to implement that the effort would be too massive. Micromites and Maximites! - Beginning Maximite |
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| vasi Guru Joined: 23/03/2007 Location: RomaniaPosts: 1697 |
I did my part and voted some time ago. But only because I'm interested in an interpreter for PIC32 (until they will release a version with 10,000 erase/write cycles - then no interest any more in interpreters because usually I use compilers). Vasi Hobbit name: Togo Toadfoot of Frogmorton Elvish name: Mablung Miriel Beyound Arduino Lang |
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| donmck Guru Joined: 09/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1313 |
10,000 erase/write cycles 
Hey Vasi, when will this be? You haven't got inside info have you? Cheers Don... https://www.dontronics.com |
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| donmck Guru Joined: 09/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1313 |
Quite correct CG, Thanks, I'll remove that also. Cheers Don... https://www.dontronics.com |
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