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Forum Index : Microcontroller and PC projects : VGAMite V5.07.00 alpha releases
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CaptainBoing Guru  Joined: 07/09/2016 Location: United KingdomPosts: 1985 |
CSUBs are done - that was quick. In the above example, I can't tell whether a & b are integers or floats. Before you did SWAPI and SWAPF for the two different types, here you have just SWAP - is it datatype-agnostic? h |
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thwill Guru Joined: 16/09/2019 Location: United KingdomPosts: 3852 |
If INTEGERs and FLOATs are both 64-bit then the same implementation would do for both provided it performed no type-checking - and I'm not certain CSUBs can do type checking without jumping through a few hoops. Did the older 'mite have 32-bit FLOATs perhaps, hence the need for distinction ? Best wishes, Tom Edited 2021-12-02 06:00 by thwill Game*Mite, CMM2 Welcome Tape, Creaky old text adventures |
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| CaptainBoing Guru Joined: 07/09/2016 Location: United KingdomPosts: 1985 |
alas not backed up by the CPU datasheet. One hopes a mis-print.  Micromite floats are single (4 byte) in software. Double precision can be done in software but then the FPU is redundant - at least on the face of things. Unless double and single are supported but that would be a massive change to the firmware, affecting every point where numbers are evaluated (a lot). using a SP FPU is a missed opportunity by ST I think, especially as they already have a potentially suitable fab from other CPUs  . Edited 2021-12-02 07:39 by CaptainBoing |
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| matherp Guru Joined: 11/12/2012 Location: United KingdomPosts: 8594 |
Only the M7 CPU have double precision floating point. FP on the 411 (M4) is actually disabled in my build as it slows performance when using DP |
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| CaptainBoing Guru Joined: 07/09/2016 Location: United KingdomPosts: 1985 |
afternoon Peter. Black pills arrived, burned 411VGAV5.07.00a3 and up and running in a few minutes - excellent. I am straight onto pins 6&7 with a CH340G USB <-->serial jobby (usual setup for me) and USB-C providing power. No VGA monitor attached, just power and the three wires for serial First playings: > ?mm.device$ Micromite MkII <-- just for comparison as I have it running on my desk all the time > ?pi 3.14159 > ?mm.device$ VGAMite > ?pi 3.141592654 <-- doubles! so happy *hugs* baudrate wasn't the usual 38400 so i hunted and found it at 115.2K no probs, went to change it to 9600 for compatibility with all my other stuff and I get: > option baudrate 9600 Error : Invalid with USB console <-- not using USB I was confused for a moment and thought maybe I had picked up a COM port from the USB connection but pulling the CH340 out confirmed I was definitely not on any other USB serial. no biggie, can play at 115.2K can't use autosave tho' as lines get truncated. This is a common thing so not really a problem. I can use XModem. Out of curiosity, I tried listing the options and some typos revealed stuff like this doesn't cause errors: > option ploppy > option kjhfkjhkjerkjertkh > Did my usual pi^... and it would seem overflows are not being correctly handled: > ?pi^pi 36.46216583 > ?pi^pi^pi 80662.73437 > ?pi^pi^pi^pi 2.598771431e+15 > ?pi^pi^pi^pi^pi 0e+2147483647 > ?pi^pi^pi^pi^pi^pi 0e+2147483647 > ?pi^pi^pi^pi^pi^pi^pi^pi^pi^pi^pi 0e+2147483647 > ?1.0/0 Error : Divide by zero I loaded up my torture code but I am getting weird lockups (have to reset to recover). I can't seem to pin it down as they change each time. Nothing fancy in the torture code just stock MMBasic - I have attached it on this post. Can others download it and test on the BP? (it runs fine on all other platforms I have tried). Test 3.zip > ? now() 15-12-2021 14:27:22 > ?unixtime(now()) 15-12-2021 14:27:35 15-12-2021 14:27:35 0 Error : Invalid font number #8407069 > > ?unixtime(now()) 15-12-2021 14:57:52 15-12-2021 14:57:52 0 Error : Invalid font number #8407070 > ?unixtime(now()) 15-12-2021 14:515-12-2021 14:57:54 0 > Error : Line is too long to edit > > and lockups after random output:  (needs a reset at this point) that is more than enough for now, if you need more just let me know what and I will sort it. all the best h |
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| matherp Guru Joined: 11/12/2012 Location: United KingdomPosts: 8594 |
Baudrate: trivial to fix OPTION: trivial to fix PI: AFAIK no versions of MMBasic check for FP overflow and without a big performance hit there is no way to do it Bug: your code is too complex and you are trashing the stack. The current version doesn't have stack checking. If it did you would see Only solution is to reduce variable space and therefore program space from 72Kbyte downwards |
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| matherp Guru Joined: 11/12/2012 Location: United KingdomPosts: 8594 |
The PicoMite VGA edition has proved to have: faster processing more flexible architecture (including colour support) more stable VGA image Cheaper more available H/W than the blackpill based VGAMite The only significant disadvantage is the need for an external RTC as the RP2040 RTC does not survive resetting the processor and can't be battery backed (one asks why they therefore included an RTC on the silicon?) but given that DS3231 modules are so cheap and more accurate than the internal STM32 RTC this isn't a major issue. According, I have decided to discontinue development on the VGAMite. If anyone wants to take on the codeset then, subject to following Geoff's rules, I will make it available to them. The VGAMite code is not currently open source but this could be discussed with Geoff if anyone is interested. Sorry if you have spent time on the VGAMite but there is no point in pursuing a lesser solution. The code above does work so it can be used as-is. |
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Turbo46 Guru Joined: 24/12/2017 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1593 |
Damn! I was afraid of that. My black pills have just arrived too... Oh well c'est la vie. Bill Keep safe. Live long and prosper. |
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| CaptainBoing Guru Joined: 07/09/2016 Location: United KingdomPosts: 1985 |
yeah me too. I kind of guessed it when questions about the VGAMite went unanswered on other threads... la vee Oh well, two more for the box. Beggars/choosers and all that - thanks for your efforts anyway Peter from my tests I found the RTC on the blackpill was a bit weak, gains 9 seconds a day, an hour a year - there are ways of trimming things but as it is also affected by reset (set the time, hold reset for 10 seconds, check the time) Edited 2021-12-17 22:06 by CaptainBoing |
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Mixtel90 Guru Joined: 05/10/2019 Location: United KingdomPosts: 5742 |
If anyone would like me to continue with my little PCB for the Black Pill in the 90x70x28 case I'll be happy to do so. Mick Zilog Inside! nascom.info for Nascom & Gemini Preliminary MMBasic docs & my PCB designs |
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| flasherror Senior Member  Joined: 07/01/2019 Location: United StatesPosts: 159 |
Nuts, I have the worst timing, ordered a few BPs and still waiting on them. Oh well, might install/learn micropython at some point. |
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| matherp Guru Joined: 11/12/2012 Location: United KingdomPosts: 8594 |
Mine are still on route after too many weeks which is part of the decision making reason Edited 2021-12-17 23:25 by matherp |
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| Mixtel90 Guru Joined: 05/10/2019 Location: United KingdomPosts: 5742 |
My first one seems to be dead (not recognised by anything) so I only have one to bother about! Mick Zilog Inside! nascom.info for Nascom & Gemini Preliminary MMBasic docs & my PCB designs |
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| CaptainBoing Guru Joined: 07/09/2016 Location: United KingdomPosts: 1985 |
Mine don't register on Windows. Hold BOOTP down and apply power and you should see it in the STM32Cube Programmer does it register? Edited 2021-12-18 01:03 by CaptainBoing |
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| thwill Guru Joined: 16/09/2019 Location: United KingdomPosts: 3852 |
This exchange alone is enough to persuade me that Peter is making the correct call. I'm glad I chose not to be an early adopter on this one, my respect and commiserations to those who did. Best wishes, Tom Game*Mite, CMM2 Welcome Tape, Creaky old text adventures |
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| matherp Guru Joined: 11/12/2012 Location: United KingdomPosts: 8594 |
Yes: forgot to mention in my list of differences "ease of programming" where the Pico wins hands-down |
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| thwill Guru Joined: 16/09/2019 Location: United KingdomPosts: 3852 |
This is ease of transferring the firmware isn't it ? I had formed the impression from other comments that you were unimpressed by the process of actually porting MMBasic to the PicoMite - which is now of course an all singing, all dancing, 16 colour "dog"  , did I misunderstand ?Best wishes, Tom Edited 2021-12-18 01:22 by thwill Game*Mite, CMM2 Welcome Tape, Creaky old text adventures |
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| matherp Guru Joined: 11/12/2012 Location: United KingdomPosts: 8594 |
Yes, just transferring the firmware. I still hate the Pico dev environment. |
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| JohnS Guru Joined: 18/11/2011 Location: United KingdomPosts: 3663 |
From comments elsewhere I suggest trying Zadig to get Windows to do the right thing with the USB subsystem driver. John |
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| flasherror Senior Member Joined: 07/01/2019 Location: United StatesPosts: 159 |
Were there any advantages to the STM32 architecture/port compared to the Picomite? The VGA is an obvious advantage but what about flash usage etc? How full is the Picomite flash? Edited 2021-12-18 02:11 by flasherror |
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