Alfat Sd/mmc

[eoasap]

#1.Are you using the chip, or the SD board?
The chip

#2. Have you had experience with the hardware USART?
no experience

#3. Do you know what version of Alfat firmware is on the chip?
no, but i think its 3.06

#4. What are you using for a display? LCD/Debug/ICSD?
LCD

For test purposes, I would suggest plain old Serin2/ serout2.The USART just adds one level of mystery. The device comes up at 9600 baud. No need for a 232 converter, if you are using a PIC, only with a PC in hyper term.
I've got some routines, just let me know the above answers. Also, check the user's forum at GHIELECTRONICS.com

ok, i'll work on trying to learn the serin2/serout2. so i'll need to setup the code @9600 baud. is serin/serout hard to implement?

[Ron Marcus]

My first suggestion is to buy the Alfat SD board with SD socket. It will be easier to work out the necessary code and limit the possible problems. Soldering that chip will be a major pain in the neck. I have ruined more than one until I discovered solder paste and toaster ovens.
Either way, if you limit your possible sources of trouble, you will be able to concentrate on the interface. The absolute best purchase would be the Alfat development board. I was too cheap to buy one, and paid for it in the form of an extended learning curve.

Rpn

[eoasap]

i already soldered it onto the board. i used to have to solder parts like these on all the time, so thats not a problem. when i got the chip, there was no documentation with it, is there extra documentation with the dev board ?

[Ron Marcus]

Have you been on the user's forum website? Also, the Proton Basic is not too different from PBP. You can learn alot about timing and protocol.

[eoasap]

yes, have been on the user website for a while, but i didn't see anyone else there that used PBP. did you manually go through the proton code and change it to picbasic ? i'm sure i'd screw that up!

i really am just interested in doing some simple stuff with it for now.

[Ron Marcus]

If you have the manual, turn it to "getting started with text mode". Basically you apply power with the UART/SPI pin high.

Pause 500
low ALFAT_CTS
pauseus 20
input ALFAT_RTS
pauseus 20
low ALFAT_RESET
pause 200
input ALFAT_RESET
pause 500

main1:
serout2 ALFAT_RX,84,["RS OK",13] ; Send reset string
read:
serin2 ALFAT_TX,84,bufchar]
lcdout bufchar
if DATARDY = 1 then main2

This little code snippet resets the Alfat and reads back the startup message and version number. After that, you can send out the commands you need in a similar style to the main1: line. Wait for the responses, and use wait in your serin2 string to parse out the info you need.
Alfat is very finicky about correct syntax, so be very careful.
I would immedietly disable the echo, then change over to drive A (SD card)

Ron

[eoasap]

serin2 ALFAT_TX,84,bufchar]

there should be a '[' before bufchar, right?

do i need to declare bufchar as a byte ?

Is there a loop for the serin2 alfat_tx,84, [bufchar] ?

How do i use datardy?

I was getting errors using 'read:' also, so changed it to read1: