New software/hardware developments with PIC32 devices

[ScaleRobotics]

I've been watching some interesting developments with the PIC32 devices pop up lately. Maybe these will interest some other people too.


Since many of us (older) folks started with 386 and 486 (or older) technology. It is interesting that the PIC32MX795 chip can run at about 120 mips. About 3x faster than the 486 cpu. And unlike those chips, it can run VGA natively with about 5 pins directly of the MCU. Add an SD card of up to 16 Gig, and you basically have a computer with almost no supporting hardware! (As a side note, I think my first hard drive held 80 Megabytes). This is where the Maximite comes in. Plug in a keyboard, SD card, and a VGA display, and you are almost ready to go. The free firmware includes a basic interpreter that is pretty well documented in a large manual. See http://geoffg.net/maximite.html for more details.


The DuinoMite Mega, is basically a spin off of the Maximite, but with an "Arduino like" compatibility for Arduino shields. They also build a few more sizes for this board. http://www.olimex.com/dev/duinomite-mega.html or http://www.olimex.com for more details.

And for those lost ones that can't find Unix on a stick:

Sure, you can have BSD Unix! http://retrobsd.org/wiki/about-retrobsd/ Surge is currently working on drivers for pin operations, but there is a heck of a lot of functionality on the current version of retroBSD for PIC32. Here is a nice PDF presentation on the project. http://retrobsd.googlecode.com/files...D-Day-2011.pdf Currently, terminal operation is either serial or through USB, and not through the VGA port. It even has an assembler on-board! http://retrobsd.org/topic/assembler-on-board/ . There are hex files available for the Maximite and DuinoMite-Mega boards to quickly get you going.

Anyone missing their old TRS-80 computers? How about a hardware upgrade to a PIC32?

http://www.kenseglerdesigns.com/cms/node/8

And some developments with the basic on board interpreter StickOS have been made as well. Version 1.9+ now supports LCD writes, among some other improvements.
See http://cpustick.com/ for more details.

[Normnet]

Interesting but it is basic interpreter not a compiler such as PicBasicPro.
The ultimate for PIC32 of course would be Microchip C with its many libraries and support if you willing to learn a more cryptic language.
This would come more into play when connecting to the many external devices which interact with the outside world.

Interesting but ultimately limited.

Norm

[ScaleRobotics]

Interesting but it is basic interpreter not a compiler such as PicBasicPro.
Interesting but ultimately limited.
Norm

Perhaps. But Parallax sold over 3 million "ultimately limited" interpreter devices by 2002. So ... maybe interpreter devices do have their place? I am not suggesting equality between these devices, only that I thought they were interesting. I think I find the retroBSD most interesting, because it is more of an operating system than an interpreter.

[Normnet]

Perhaps. But Parallax sold over 3 million "ultimately limited" interpreter devices by 2002. So ... maybe interpreter devices do have their place? I am not suggesting equality between these devices, only that I thought they were interesting. I think I find the retroBSD most interesting, because it is more of an operating system than an interpreter.

Agreed.

I for one however have been looking for more.
No luck so far other than the steep step to C.

Norm

[Demon]

You got me really interested when I hit VGA.

That's one feature that I badly need for future projects. I know we can do it ourself, just like using a harddrive, but it would be so much nicer to have the PIC handle 80 column display or something like that.

Robert