Senior Member
Joined: 07/12/2020
Location: GermanyPosts: 226
| Posted: 12:27pm 22 Sep 2022 |
Hello,
yesterday I build the VGA PicoMite from the Silicon Chip Kit. So there is an SD-Card, VGA and PS/2 connector. Everything works well.
As early microcomputers like the TRS-80 this setup does not have a RTC on board and I had to set the time$ and date$ manually.
I could add an RTC module, but I want to keep the PicoMite as simple as possible.
The idea is to autorun some code to set time$ and date$ at boot. The only mechanism I found in the handbook was to use some mm.startup sub which has to be in the flash somewhere when the pico boots.
I wrote 2 files: autorun.bas and mmstartup.bas and stored them on the sd-card.
In autorun.bas are all commands I want to execute at startup and in mmstartup.bas is the definition of sub mm.startup which calls autorun.bas.
I placed the mmstartup.bas into flash 1 to load it at the end of the day with a flash load 1 and then switching off the VGA PicoMite. At the next boot the Sub will be in memory and found by the firmware.
If someone knows a better way (like CMM2) I would be glad to hear! I think taking care of some mm.startup sub every time I switch off the picomite is not very elegant.
May be I simply don't understand how the "autostart" should work normally?!
' mmstartup.bas - prepare next boot
' (2022) Andreas Mueller, Gerolsbach
'
Sub mm.startup
Run "autorun.bas"
End Sub
' (2022) Andreas Mueller, Gerolsbach
'
Sub mm.startup
Run "autorun.bas"
End Sub
' autorun.bas
' startup program - will be started when picomite boots
' (2022) Andreas Mueller, Gerolsbach
Dim T$,D$ As String = ""
Do
Input "Time: (hh:mm:ss)"; T$
On error skip 1
Time$ = T$
Loop Until MM.Errno = 0
Do
Input "Date: (dd-mm-yyyy)"; D$
On error skip 1
Date$ = D$
Loop Until MM.Errno = 0
Run "mmstartup.bas" ' restore mm.startup sub
End
' startup program - will be started when picomite boots
' (2022) Andreas Mueller, Gerolsbach
Dim T$,D$ As String = ""
Do
Input "Time: (hh:mm:ss)"; T$
On error skip 1
Time$ = T$
Loop Until MM.Errno = 0
Do
Input "Date: (dd-mm-yyyy)"; D$
On error skip 1
Date$ = D$
Loop Until MM.Errno = 0
Run "mmstartup.bas" ' restore mm.startup sub
End
-andreas
Edited 2022-09-22 23:01 by andreas
Guru
Joined: 07/06/2022
Location: United StatesPosts: 321
| Posted: 01:14pm 22 Sep 2022 |
I was under the impression that you can't specify a FILENAME unless you were using an SDCARD with actual files on it, not flash.
With the Flash option, you would need to use Flash Chain X where X is the FLASH SLOT number where your program code is stored.
Correct me if I'm wrong... this is all still rather new.
Note: I've also had a situation where SUB MM.STARTUP didn't always seem to run (at least that was my perception a few weeks back but that might have been a coding error on my part -- a common occurance)
Edited 2022-09-22 23:18 by pwillard
Guru
Joined: 05/10/2019
Location: United KingdomPosts: 8252
| Posted: 01:55pm 22 Sep 2022 |
To run a PicoMite program automatically from flash it's very easy. Write your program. Use FLASH SAVE n to store it into flash slot n. Run OPTION AUTORUN n where n is the number of the flash slot. That's it. On boot the program in flash slot n will run.
Senior Member
Joined: 07/12/2020
Location: GermanyPosts: 226
| Posted: 02:11pm 22 Sep 2022 |
thank you! just a few seconds before you wrote it i found it this way:
pdfgrep -in auto PicoMiteVGA_User_Manual.pdf | grep -i run
14:In addition the command OPTION AUTORUN can be used to specify a flash program location to be set
14:location and in that case MMBasic will automatically load and run the program that is in the program memory.
47: MM.INFO$(AUTORUN) Returns the setting of the OPTION AUTORUN command
48: will run. “option” can be one of AUTORUN, BASE, BREAK,
49:OPTION AUTORUN ON
49: MMBasic to automatically run a program on power up or
49:OPTION AUTORUN n ON will cause the the current program to be run.
49:OPTION AUTORUN OFF
49: OFF will disable the autorun option and is the default for a new program.
53:AUTOSAVE CRUNCH This mode is terminated by entering Control-Z or F1 which will then cause
57: If OPTION AUTORUN has been set the program in the specified flash
61: One of these flash memory locations can be automatically loaded and run
61: when power is applied using the OPTION AUTORUN n command.
85: stopped running) the PicoMiteVGA will be automatically restarted and the
85: false (i.e. 0). Note that OPTION AUTORUN must be specified for the
14:location and in that case MMBasic will automatically load and run the program that is in the program memory.
47: MM.INFO$(AUTORUN) Returns the setting of the OPTION AUTORUN command
48: will run. “option” can be one of AUTORUN, BASE, BREAK,
49:OPTION AUTORUN ON
49: MMBasic to automatically run a program on power up or
49:OPTION AUTORUN n ON will cause the the current program to be run.
49:OPTION AUTORUN OFF
49: OFF will disable the autorun option and is the default for a new program.
53:AUTOSAVE CRUNCH This mode is terminated by entering Control-Z or F1 which will then cause
57: If OPTION AUTORUN has been set the program in the specified flash
61: One of these flash memory locations can be automatically loaded and run
61: when power is applied using the OPTION AUTORUN n command.
85: stopped running) the PicoMiteVGA will be automatically restarted and the
85: false (i.e. 0). Note that OPTION AUTORUN must be specified for the
-andreas
Senior Member
Joined: 07/12/2020
Location: GermanyPosts: 226
| Posted: 02:23pm 22 Sep 2022 |
Yes, I'm using the sd-card as filestore.
My current solution is based on "autorun.bas" on sd-card and the SUB mm.startup in flash 1. After OPTION AUTORUN 1 the mm.startup sub will call the autorun.bas.
This way I have only to think about the content of "autorun.bas". I can switch on and off without thinking about the current state of the system - it will always call autorun.bas.
The only thing I have to prevent is to change flash 1 which is the caller.
-andreas