Linux and new microcontollers.

[Random Dude]

Bah thanks for reminding me. The pdf is enough for the most part. The differences the IFI uses are:

Erase the Flash: 0F 0F 09 XX 00 02 00 00 YY 04
where XX is the (highest_mem_to_write)/64
and YY is the checksum (see pdf)

I think the remainder of the data in that command is static.

However the method specified in the pdf also works

Restart the User code: 0F 0F 08 40 B8 04

[edited since i submitted by accident]

[mikew]

Ok, I don't want to stuff up the version control thread with off topic posts anymore, so lets continue it here.

I'm gonna write a uploader for Linux if no one else does by the time I need it. (around xmas break) If someone else wants it earlier, they can do it and I'll pitch in later if I can understand the code in 30 minutes. I plan to create an OS agnostic core library that just generates the stuff sent to the serial port, while some wrapper code handles setting up the serial port, sending data, GUI/CLI interface, and whatever else necessary. I guess the parsing of the hex files will be handled by the library, but the wrapper code needs to open the file itself and feed the stuff to the library. Sound like a plan?

I think there's some simple stuff that can be done to make setting up the compiler/linker/assembler toolchain easier. At least some HOWTOs on how to put everything together, and maybe some program/script to automate most of the process. Maybe toss a Makefile in to make things really easy.

I'm not sure if it's possible to use GPUTILS/SDCC instead of the Microchip provided compiler since we need to work with a binary library that communicates with the other microchip inside the controller. I doubt source or specs will be released for that library. I'm not sure if the library is really needed other than to access data from the inputs slowly. Also, SDCC doesn't support the exact chip used in this year's controller, so I don't know if it'll generate working code. GPUTILS works though, you just have to copy the .lnk file (IIRC) since the memory map is slightly different from usual. (can't write to the bootloader region)

The bootloader is the most important part. Let's concentrate on that first. The second most important part is making sure the stuff created by running the toolchain through wine is basically the same as the stuff run natively through windows. My .hex file didn't match the default .hex provided by FIRST, but it may have different code. We need to compare the .hex compiled with mcc on windows, with the .hex provided by first, as well as the .hex generated on linux. Have to be extra careful that the same parameters used on the windows compile is the same in the linux compile. I'll do that this weekend if no one else does it.

[mikew]

Sorry, I've been busy/lazy lately. I just manually compiled the default code through wine with the same commands used by mplab, and the hex files generated are identical. (as I was expecting)

I have access to our robot prototype now, along with the edu-rc. The bootloader is on the bottom half of my list of things to do before the kickoff. I have to get our prototype working, put up a website, and relax before taking on the loader.

I don't think I'll be able to work with sdcc and gputils and see if they're feasible replacements for mcc18. It looks like a LOT of work, and this solution "just works" for me. sdcc and gputils would of course be useful for mac users, or non x86 users in general. I can imagine how cool it would be to edit, compile, and upload code from a zaurus. I'm not likely to get one though.

[rwaliany]

sorry, it's late at night. Read my new thread, it has support using MCC18, seems to work great compiles and links fine. Wine -> MCC18 -> IFI, I'm using codeweavers trial version of wine. Have to use self-made scripts though, check it out.
http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...ad.php?t=23254

Also, My LInux HEX
bash-2.05b$ ls -ltra *.hex
-rwxr-xr-x 1 ryan users 24637 Dec 3 17:27 EDU_default.hex
-rw-r--r-- 1 ryan users 24722 Dec 28 02:39 EduCode.hex

vs Windows

root@laptop:/windows/EDU_Default_Code_2003-12-15# ls -ltr *.hex
-rw------- 1 root root 24637 Dec 3 17:27 EDU_default.hex
-rw------- 1 root root 24722 Dec 28 02:09 EduCode.hex

two brand new installs independent of each other