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skytron
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Joined: 05/02/2022
Location: United States
Posts: 2

Posted: 03:42pm 05 Feb 2022

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Hi All,
Can PicoMite Basic write and read files stored in the Pi Pico's onboard flash memory. Micropython does this and it is very handy for making a quick no extra part data logger.
If the feature doesn't exist can this be done in a future release or with some basic code?

Also, is their any commands in the Basic to utilize the 2nd MO+ core in the Pi Pico.

I'm new to the PI Pico and have many questions, thanks in advance for any help.

Dave

Mixtel90

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Joined: 05/10/2019
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 7938

Posted: 05:16pm 05 Feb 2022

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It certainly can't be done at present. However it's so easy to add a SD card that it's not worth having such a limited amount of storage. I doubt very much if it will ever be added.

The 2nd core isn't used at all on the standard PicoMite but is dedicated to video generation on the PicoMite VGA. Once again, I can't see this changing in future. It would probably mean making a lot of changes to MMBasic.

Mick

Zilog Inside! nascom.info for Nascom & Gemini
Preliminary MMBasic docs & my PCB designs

matherp
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Joined: 11/12/2012
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 10315

Posted: 10:40pm 05 Feb 2022

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Just to be clear. PicoMite and PicoMite VGA development for the RP2040 is finished unless someone wants to on-develop from the posted source. I will fix bugs as found but there will be no new functionality. There is already more than most people will ever use. You are recommended to carefully review the manual for details and think about how to use what is there rather than looking for changes.
Edited 2022-02-06 08:41 by matherp

CaptainBoing

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Joined: 07/09/2016
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 2170

Posted: 10:39am 06 Feb 2022

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matherp said There is already more than most people will ever use.

The very essence of RISC. Rather a small set of really good primitives than an answer for every question.

Think about a LOG10() function... even if you need it, how many times are you going to use it in any one piece of code? once? twice? not worth adding to the firmware when it is easily built up from other primitives.

Don't know how many Z80 Assembly programmers are here...how many times did you use OTIR, RLD/RRD, etc... (actually that was a really good way to convert BCD to printable ASCII chars super quick)
Edited 2022-02-06 20:42 by CaptainBoing

Mixtel90

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Joined: 05/10/2019
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 7938

Posted: 11:16am 06 Feb 2022

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lol - not a lot. And usually if I was copying someone else! I was c**p at Z80 machine code - and it was a while before I managed to get hold of a copy of an assembler (Zeap) for the Nascom-1 so that's all I had.

Mick

Zilog Inside! nascom.info for Nascom & Gemini
Preliminary MMBasic docs & my PCB designs

Volhout
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Joined: 05/03/2018
Location: Netherlands
Posts: 5091

Posted: 12:35pm 06 Feb 2022

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@skytron

When you need to store data you need to add the sd card. The picomite, unlike cmm1, can not use flash as a flash file system.

Volhout.

I think the option to have a real flash file system in rp2040 flash is impossible now mmbasic executes from flash.
Edited 2022-02-06 22:39 by Volhout

PicomiteVGA PETSCII ROBOTS

robert.rozee
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Joined: 31/12/2012
Location: New Zealand
Posts: 2442

Posted: 01:34pm 06 Feb 2022

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hi Dave,
welcome to the forum. my apologies for the 'frosty' response you inquiry initially elicited.

while writing to the pico's onboard flash is technically possible, one reason for not implementing it is the risk of frequent writes wearing out an area the flash. and implementing any sort of wear leveling to mitigate this is beyond the abilities of the MMbasic firmware.

note that there are available the commands:
VAR SAVE var [, var]...
VAR RESTORE
and
VAR CLEAR
to allow saving and restoring things like calibration constants to a fixed 16k block of flash, but these are intended for use with data that changes infrequently.

given the low cost of SD cards, and the ease of wiring one up to the pico - some have even used just soldered wires - an SD card represents a far superior way of logging data, where the SD card itself handles any issues of wear leveling, and can easily be replaced.

cheers,
rob :-)
Edited 2022-02-06 23:36 by robert.rozee

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