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Forum Index : Microcontroller and PC projects : CMM2: v5.05.04RC7 - RAM and FLASH flexibility
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| matherp Guru  Joined: 11/12/2012 Location: United KingdomPosts: 10310 |
This release could be the final release version if no bugs are found. http://geoffg.net/Downloads/Maximite/CMM2_Beta.zip OPTION RAM causes the program to be loaded into RAM to run rather than flash memory. Loading is somewhat faster and avoids impacting the flash write life. CSUBs do not work in this mode and you will get an error when exiting the editor or running a program with a CSUB OPTION FLASH [n] sets the start position of a program to run from flash memory. The optional parameter specifies the starting point in 128Kbyte pages of memory. Defaults to 0. For 0<=n<=4 the maximum program size is 512KBytes for n=5 the maximum program size is 384KBytes for n=6 the maximum program size is 256KBytes for n=7 the maximum program size is 128KBytes Given that very few programs exceed 128KBytes in length when tokenised, using the OPTION FLASH command can increase flash lifespan by a factor of 8 Note, for most users these new commands will never be needed or used. Note, I am not going to implement any type of automatic wear levelling - don't ask |
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| mclout999 Guru Joined: 05/07/2020 Location: United StatesPosts: 490 |
Thank you for your always prompt and forward thinking work. This is a good option and you added pageing that makes it much better than anyone discused. Kudos to you. Don't hate me for asking but is there any way that CSUB can be made to work in ram or is that to much of a effort for what may be a seldom used function? I really have no idea how CSUBs work and am trying to understand them. Can anyone point me to an artical of video that goes into details about how CSUBs work? Thanks. |
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thwill Guru Joined: 16/09/2019 Location: United KingdomPosts: 4311 |
Thank you for being so open to, and improving further on, our suggestions Peter. Apologies for repeating myself, but can Mm.Info(Program) be used by a program to determine if it is running from RAM or FLASH ? When running from RAM the MEMORY command still reports usage of "Flash:", would I be correct in assuming this is actually "Program RAM:" and that what is reported as "RAM" is actually "Variable RAM:" ? Did you see the final entry here: https://www.thebackshed.com/forum/ViewTopic.php?FID=16&TID=12332&LastEntry=Y#150564 ? Regards, Tom MMBasic for Linux, Game*Mite, CMM2 Welcome Tape, Creaky old text adventures |
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| matherp Guru Joined: 11/12/2012 Location: United KingdomPosts: 10310 |
Why not try it and see Yes and yes works for me |
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| thwill Guru Joined: 16/09/2019 Location: United KingdomPosts: 4311 |
Thanks Peter, I'll take that as a "yes" I tested again with RC6 and it failed consistently. Just flashed RC7 and it works. <shrugs shoulders> Thanks, Tom MMBasic for Linux, Game*Mite, CMM2 Welcome Tape, Creaky old text adventures |
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| thwill Guru Joined: 16/09/2019 Location: United KingdomPosts: 4311 |
And I've got the problem back again. Watch this space. Tom MMBasic for Linux, Game*Mite, CMM2 Welcome Tape, Creaky old text adventures |
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Sasquatch Guru Joined: 08/05/2020 Location: United StatesPosts: 377 |
You should be able to determine if the program resides in RAM or which one of the flash pages it is in using MM.Info(Program). I'll do some experimenting and let you know what I find. -Carl |
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| thwill Guru Joined: 16/09/2019 Location: United KingdomPosts: 4311 |
Here you go, with RC7: > option reset > option list CURRENT VGA mode 800x600 RGB332 CURRENT DISPLAY 50,100 OPTION USBKEYBOARD UK > Print Cwd$ A:/ > list "/test.bas" Print Mm.CmdLine$ > *test "abcdefgh" "abcdefgh" > option search path "/bin/" > *test "abcdefgh" Error: Expression syntax > ls "/bin/" A:/bin 22:51 25-06-2020 98 mmpp.bas 11:44 24-06-2020 74 zmim.bas 0 directories, 2 files Regards, Tom MMBasic for Linux, Game*Mite, CMM2 Welcome Tape, Creaky old text adventures |
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| thwill Guru Joined: 16/09/2019 Location: United KingdomPosts: 4311 |
Much appreciated, Tom MMBasic for Linux, Game*Mite, CMM2 Welcome Tape, Creaky old text adventures |
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| Sasquatch Guru Joined: 08/05/2020 Location: United StatesPosts: 377 |
Thank You Peter! You have been prolific on this and the previous projects. Unfortunately, a disproportionate amount of the work on these projects has fallen to a few of you "Guru's" I hope you don't feel unappreciated when confronted by all the questions, requests and outright demands made by the community here. I agree, it's time to freeze the feature list, let the dust settle and get the new features released. Hopefully you can get some well deserved rest after months of dedication to this project. Thanks again, -Carl |
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| thwill Guru Joined: 16/09/2019 Location: United KingdomPosts: 4311 |
Also should OPTION LIST tell you the value of [n] for OPTION FLASH [n] ? Currently: > option reset > option flash 3 > option list CURRENT VGA mode 800x600 RGB332 CURRENT DISPLAY 50,100 OPTION USBKEYBOARD UK I apologise if I come off as ungrateful :-( Regards, Tom MMBasic for Linux, Game*Mite, CMM2 Welcome Tape, Creaky old text adventures |
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| matherp Guru Joined: 11/12/2012 Location: United KingdomPosts: 10310 |
V5.05.04RC8 http://geoffg.net/Downloads/Maximite/CMM2_Beta.zip Fixes bug in shortform RUN command when search path is specified. Displays non-default FLASH settings in OPTION LIST. Note to thwill: if you find any more bugs in the shortform RUN or search paths I will remove both forever!!!!!!!!! |
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| thwill Guru Joined: 16/09/2019 Location: United KingdomPosts: 4311 |
Thanks Peter, I'll bite my tongue until the source code for 5.05.04 becomes available then. Best wishes, Tom Edited 2020-07-24 02:10 by thwill MMBasic for Linux, Game*Mite, CMM2 Welcome Tape, Creaky old text adventures |
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| Sasquatch Guru Joined: 08/05/2020 Location: United StatesPosts: 377 |
CSubs currently don't work if the MMBasic program is stored in RAM. It is not clear at this point whether the limitation is in the GCC Compiler (or how we are using it) or a hardware limitation in the CPU. Peter has indicated that this is not on his short-list of things to look into. I may look into this myself at some future date if it really becomes an issue. It seems like a solution looking for a problem to solve at this point. Keep in mind the following: 1. The 10,000 flash write cycles specified in the data-sheet are a gaurenteed minimum, not some kind of hard limit. Your chip is not likely to die at 10,000 cycles. 2. Nobody in the history of the MM projects has EVER reported burning out their flash memory. It is likely that your chip will outlive your interest in the project and may even out live you (or at least your memory) 3. The cost of the chip is $14.00USD and even the Waveshare module is $30.00USD. If you do manage to wear the chip out, consider it money well spent. For CSUBs there is a tutorial here: http://circuitgizmos.com/projects/microboard-micromite-projects/mmbasic-code-library/understanding-cfunctions-1/ Keep in mind that these tutorials are for older Microchip(tm) based 'Mites, there is a different compiler used for the CMM2. They do give a good overview and some examples. For the CMM2, there are some examples in this thread: https://www.thebackshed.com/forum/ViewTopic.php?TID=12289&P=1 and another example in this thread: https://www.thebackshed.com/forum/ViewTopic.php?TID=12306&P=1 These should at least allow you to get your tool-chain set up and tested. Note that you should be able to run the MMBasic examples even if you have no idea how this all works. Then have a look at the "C" source code for the examples. The basic process is as follows: 1. Write a function in "C". The ArmCFunctions.h file has the functions to access MMBasic features. Usually these are short functions that accomplish a small task very FAST! 2. Compile the "C" code using the GCC compiler. You will need to run the compiler using the proper command line switches as shown in Peter's initial thread (linked above) to generate the ARM code properly. 3. If there are no errors in the compile process, Link the object file again using the proper command line switches. 4. If there are no link errors, run the resulting .elf file through the ArmCFGen.bas program to generate the HEX text that will be used by MMBasic to load the CFunctoin into memory. -Carl |
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| Sasquatch Guru Joined: 08/05/2020 Location: United StatesPosts: 377 |
So it appears that when the program is stored in RAM the address returned by MM.Info(Program) is 0xD0300000 The Flash "pages" start at 0x8100000 The following example shows the use of MM.Info(Program) to determine the memory location of your MMBasic program. Note this was tested with V5.05.04RC8 not gaurenteed to work with earlier versions! N% = MM.Info(Program) Print "MMBasic Program lives at: 0x";HEX$(N%) If (N% = &HD0300000) Then Print "MMBasic Program is in RAM" Else Print "MMBasic Program is in Flash Page ";Int((N%-&H8100000)/&H1FFFF) EndIf -Carl |
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| thwill Guru Joined: 16/09/2019 Location: United KingdomPosts: 4311 |
Thanks, that's really helpful. The reason I want to know is so that my proposed unit-test framework can exit or at least warn the user if executed in FLASH. Whether it is a real or imagined problem I don't want to be responsible for someone wearing out their flash because running one command is actually writing the flash multiple times. Regards, Tom Edited 2020-07-24 06:34 by thwill MMBasic for Linux, Game*Mite, CMM2 Welcome Tape, Creaky old text adventures |
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CircuitGizmos Guru Joined: 08/09/2011 Location: United StatesPosts: 1427 |
For a moment I thought that this was a way to do FLASH libraries. Load a page with code, then change the page to load code in a different place. Kinda a poor-man's LIBRARY. But then that wouldn't work as the core MMBasic would only know about the one current page that is set. Probably too difficult to get to work as a way to store library routines in other pages. Micromites and Maximites! - Beginning Maximite |
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TassyJim Guru Joined: 07/08/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 6283 |
I am currently running a burnout test on one of my systems. I am up over 100,000 erase cycles on the flash and counting. It's only testing a portion of the first 128k flash but an indication of practical use. And that was starting from a system that had been in heavy use for 6 months before starting the burnout. Having OPTION RAM and having the flash page options is a security blanket for some, irrelevant for most users. Jim VK7JH MMedit |
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| mclout999 Guru Joined: 05/07/2020 Location: United StatesPosts: 490 |
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| PCG68 Newbie  Joined: 14/07/2018 Location: ItalyPosts: 16 |
Hello everyone. Sorry if the question is trivial, but I don't own yet my CMM2. And sorry for my english too. I was wondering what happens to the autorun option when I select OPTION RAM. it is bypassed, ignored or what, in short, there is nothing in the ram at power on. If so, it would be possible to load the old one, if present Autoexec.bas? Second question, where I find a biography on peter and geoff, I have always been curious about the life of geniuses. Thanks again for your time and talent. |
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