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Forum Index : Microcontroller and PC projects : 470 Development - SD Card Support?
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panky Guru  Joined: 02/10/2012 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1114 |
To both Peters and Geoff, Thanks for all the work that has gone into this development. I have found the inbuilt editor in all versions invaluable where I want to make a quick and dirty (not a criticism Geoff) edit or just a little code segment to test something quickly. To that end, it would be great to have the SD card available to save and load programs. Which gets me eventually  to a request - would it be possible to port the Maximite file I/O code into the 470 given the additional memory available and make use of the second SPI port?
Had a look myself at the 4.x source and also at the Lucio Di Jasio book but unfortunately, it is beyond my capabilities. Any thoughts lads? Thanks, Doug. ... almost all of the Maximites, the MicromMites, the MM Extremes, the ArmMites, the PicoMite and loving it! |
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Zonker Guru Joined: 18/08/2012 Location: United StatesPosts: 767 |
YES..! With SD card support, We can run with high baud rates, RCT, and create logfiles... Hard USB would be awesome also..! Would be ok to loose some program space, as they would be stored on SD and could be chained together...  |
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Geoffg Guru Joined: 06/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 3285 |
I have SD Card support under development but I was not planning to include load and save of programs (or chain, or libraries, etc). My thinking was that the Micromite is primarily a controller not a general purpose computer (like the Maximite). So in the Micromite you would just run the one program (to control whatever it was that you wanted to control) and the SD Card would be used simply to record data and hold lookup tables, etc. I guess that loading/saving programs would be convenient during development but I am not sure that it would be a huge benefit overall. The MX470 version will have over 100K of program space even with SD Card support, which is huge, so I don't think that chaining would be necessary for even the biggest programs. Any comments... Geoff Geoff Graham - http://geoffg.net |
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| viscomjim Guru Joined: 08/01/2014 Location: United StatesPosts: 925 |
I am in agreement as far as this is meant to be a controller of sorts. Having SD support for logging, tables, etc. would be so awesome. This is really turning into a powerful platform. I wish more people would "get it". Soooo much easier that arduino and now the power is there too. Thanks again Geoff and Peters and all involved with making this as great as it is. |
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MicroBlocks Guru Joined: 12/05/2012 Location: ThailandPosts: 2209 |
SD card for data would be great. I like that programs are stored in flash, it will leave all the ram available. It might be nice to have the ability to transfer a program from an sd to flash (and flash to SD). This would allow very easy upgrade for when uMites are in the field. A user would then be able to download a program, insert it into the uMite and transfer it to flash. During development it might be nice to be able to save a version to SD and try out some edits. This will allow to easily go back to a previous version. Would it be feasible to upgrade the firmware this way? That might be another good use of an SD. Microblocks. Build with logic. |
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| cosmic frog Guru Joined: 09/02/2012 Location: United KingdomPosts: 302 |
I like to use Geoffs ascii terminal vt100. It would be nice to be able to save staight to sd card instead of having to hook it up to the pc. Dave. |
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| Zonker Guru Joined: 18/08/2012 Location: United StatesPosts: 767 |
Thanks Geoff for the info...! No problem about the SD card stuff... I would be very happy to use the SD for log files and other files you can create with the Print and Input commands...! I just thought that (somehow) all that stuff came together...  I realize now that to have features like chaining, takes a whole different approach to the main body of code base... Keep up the fine work Sir..! You guy's are magic...
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Grogster Admin Group  Joined: 31/12/2012 Location: New ZealandPosts: 9593 |
Owwwwwwwww!!!! SD cards on the horizon for the MicroMite.
This subject has been tossed around lots before, but this is an interesting development. When I saw panky's OP, I figured we were in for another one of those threads, till Geoff posted his comment. For what it is worth and my 2 cents, I think that using the SD card just for logging and reading data back that was previously logged would be fine for most uses. For best compatibility and portablility, the logging would need to work on a filesystem such as FAT16 etc, so that just about any computer could read the saved data. OpenLog does this very well, and a similar approach I think would be a good way to do it. HOWEVER, that is only MY little ole opinion, and can be ignored. 
As Geoff himself says, the MM is a MCU, not a computer per-se'. Purely out of interest, does adding SD support gobble up much of the 470's resources? Smoke makes things work. When the smoke gets out, it stops! |
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CircuitGizmos Guru Joined: 08/09/2011 Location: United StatesPosts: 1427 |
Openlog type of features can be done with a CGMMSTICK1 easily. Not only log serial stuff, but do its own A/D, or pin monitoring. Temp monitor with 1-wire. All sorts of improvements over the current openlog. Just a simple matter of software... :) Micromites and Maximites! - Beginning Maximite |
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| Grogster Admin Group Joined: 31/12/2012 Location: New ZealandPosts: 9593 |
True. Smoke makes things work. When the smoke gets out, it stops! |
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| CircuitGizmos Guru Joined: 08/09/2011 Location: United StatesPosts: 1427 |
Might be interesting to see what can be coded up by anyone on TBS. In other words: I don't have time at the moment.
But I'm sure MMBasic on a CGMMSTICK1 has all of the capability needed to emulate openlog AND have new features. Micromites and Maximites! - Beginning Maximite |
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| panky Guru Joined: 02/10/2012 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1114 |
Geoff, As I understand it, raw sd card read and write is not overly complex (please excuse my lack of knowledge) for the purpose of saving data to the card. The problem then is how to get the data off the card by a PC. In order to easily get the data back, having the data in FAT format is the best way. But in order to put the data onto the sd card in FAT format, a full implimentation of FAT file I/O needs to be done. Thus, file create, read, write etc. is already in place so SAVE/LOAD is not too far a leap forward? This would also open up the possibility of program and/or MMB upgrade from card? I know my views may be simplistic due to lack of programming expertise but is it worth considering? Cheers, Doug. ... almost all of the Maximites, the MicromMites, the MM Extremes, the ArmMites, the PicoMite and loving it! |
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| Geoffg Guru Joined: 06/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 3285 |
You are right, it is not much extra and, as TZ (as well as you) pointed out, it would be great for in-the-field upgrading of the BASIC program. So I will put them in. The SD Card support will include FAT16/FAT32 and normal BASIC file I/O (ie, OPEN "file" FOR OUTPUT AS #x, PRINT #x, ..., etc as well as random access) with multiple files open at the same time. So it will be the full deal. What I was trying to avoid was implementing a mini OS with commands like chain, make/remove directory, file copy, format, etc. Note that this is for the MX470 version. Later I will try to squeeze the same SD Card support into the MX170 version but there is a good chance that it will not fit. Geoff Geoff Graham - http://geoffg.net |
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| cosmic frog Guru Joined: 09/02/2012 Location: United KingdomPosts: 302 |
YEEESSS! That's brilliant news. Thanks Geoff. Dave. |
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| aargee Senior Member  Joined: 21/08/2008 Location: AustraliaPosts: 255 |
Yes please Geoff!! Saves me looking a FRAM and then getting the data off. - Rob. For crying out loud, all I wanted to do was flash this blasted LED. |
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| Grogster Admin Group Joined: 31/12/2012 Location: New ZealandPosts: 9593 |
Just out of interest, how much space in both flash and RAM, does a FAT filesystem like that suck out of the 470? Great news, this SD info. ESPECIALLY for data-logging etc. Smoke makes things work. When the smoke gets out, it stops! |
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| Geoffg Guru Joined: 06/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 3285 |
Hard to say as it is integrated into MMBasic along with a lot of other things so it is difficult to count the bytes before and after in the hex file. But I guess that it is about 30K of flash and 3K of RAM. With 512K of flash the MX470 has plenty of space for this and more. Geoff Geoff Graham - http://geoffg.net |
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| Grogster Admin Group Joined: 31/12/2012 Location: New ZealandPosts: 9593 |
Lovely, thanks for that info.
I just wanted a general idea. Smoke makes things work. When the smoke gets out, it stops! |
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| panky Guru Joined: 02/10/2012 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1114 |
Great news Geoff - again, I am awe of your continuing committment, thanks. 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: 4038 |
Just in case anyone doesn't know, you can get gcc (the MPLAB etc compilers are gcc in a little disguise) to create a MAP file and in there are the sizes of code, data, etc. (Granted most of the time who cares? LOL) John For completeness, it's the linker (aka loader) ld that creates the MAP |
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