Recent posts

#21

New Product Ideas / Re: ARM64 SOM for industrial a...

Last post by LubOlimex - November 20, 2024, 09:49:44 AM

We will have a look at those suggestions, thanks.

You didn't mention A64-OLinuXino, in your list of Cortex-A53, what about this:

https://www.olimex.com/Products/OLinuXino/A64/A64-OLinuXino/open-source-hardware

#22

Neo6502 / Re: sharing NEO6502 code

Last post by Hugh Aguilar - November 20, 2024, 07:11:01 AM

Sounds nice.

I bought the NEO6502 on the assumption that it was a programmable video-game computer. It isn't though. I already mentioned the lack of a heartbeat timer that is necessary for games to run at a constant speed irregardless of how much is happening on screen. The Commodore-64 had its "jiffy clock" running at 60 Hz.. The Commodore-64 also had double-buffering and a raster interrupt so the screens could be swapped during the vblank, so the user doesn't see the image being drawn. The raster interrupt could also be used for switching video modes in the middle of the screen draw. I used this to switch into text mode for the bottom 3 lines of the screen. The NEO6502 doesn't have any features necessary for video-games.

I remember that MS-DOS came with the Gorilla game written in QBASIC. That didn't need a heartbeat timer because there was only one moving object (the banana). The NEO6502 comes with BASIC, so maybe you can get Gorilla running on the NEO6502. lol I didn't spend all that money on the NEO6502 so I could throw bananas at a gorilla --- it wasn't much fun in the 1990s either.

So, what is the NEO6502 used for? If I did have a website to distribute NEO6502 programs, what would these programs do? I had originally expected my Forth system to be used for writing video games (I was going to write Centipede or something similar), and I expected a lot of people to also write video games that they would share. This turkey isn't going to fly.

Most of the emphasis in NEO6502 programming world seems to be Apple-II emulation. The Apple-II was primarily a business computer (VisiCalc was the killer application) and also used for educational programs ("Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego," etc.). All of this is available on Windows and Linux computers, and a lot better. Why would anybody want to run Apple-II software in the 21st century? The Apple-II wasn't a very good computer in the 1980s, which is why the Commodore-64 killed it in the market --- none of that Apple-II software is worth running now --- also, all of that software is proprietary, so it is actually illegal to distribute it on the internet and run it on the NEO6502, although I doubt that anybody cares (the original programmer has likely died of old age).

I have already started my Forth system, and I will finish it. My intention is mostly to prove that I can write a Forth system that generates faster-executing code than C compilers generate. I will likely just use the NEO6502 as a development platform for W65c02 micro-controllers. The idea would be to breadboard I/O on an expansion card, then when the program is working on the NEO6502, transfer it over to a custom W65c02 board. This isn't very useful considering that there are plenty of micro-controller boards available for much more powerful processors (MSP430, STM8, etc.), that provide a lot more capability. Building a W65c02 board may be easier though because the W65c02 is still available as a big 40-pin chip with big leads that can be soldered by hand. This is the only use that I can think of for the NEO6502. Is there anything else that it can be used for?

A related question: What is the Raspberry Pi used for? It is not a video-game computer either. I have heard of the R/PI being used for a home-security system. That is soft real-time. I'm a lot more interested in hard real-time, such as motion-control --- the W65c02 can do this, but it lacks a multiply instruction needed for the PID algorithm (the i8032 has only an 8x8 multiply, so it is not much better).

#23

New Product Ideas / ARM64 SOM for industrial appli...

Last post by thom_nic - November 19, 2024, 06:15:29 PM

Hey folks - we're presently happy customers of the STMP1-SOM and before that AM33-SOM.  I'd like to move to 64-bit architecture i.e. Cortex-A53.  I know the SOM204 and RK3328 are out there however I'd prioritize hardware connectivity i.e. CAN-FD over multimedia.  My applications don't require any audio/video (or wireless connectivity at the moment.) 

NXP iMX8 are too expensive.

A low cost Coretex-53 such as STM32MP253C or TI AM623 look ideal.  The AM623 is very cheap, their list price is $6.589/ 1k units.

Edit: industrial temp rating is a must as well.

#24

A20 / Re: T2-OLinuXino-LIME2-e16Gs16...

Last post by Titomax - November 19, 2024, 04:45:05 PM

Hi Lub,
we are having the same problem.
Our product uses an old Armbian-based image (we cannot absolutely modify it).
Using old SOMs "T2-SOM204-1GS16ME8G-MC-I" all is working well but trying to use new P/N: "T2-SOM204-1GS16ME16G-MC-I" at startup the system cannot boot.

I understand that the solution is using an updated U-boot.

Can I make the modification to our Armbian image directly with "dd" Linux command ?

I tried this procedure:

1) Flash latest Olinuxino image on an SD
2) Use the following "dd" command to extract U-boot from that image:

Code Select Expand

#dd if=/dev/sdc of=/path/u-boot-sunxi-with-spl.bin bs=1024 skip=8 count=$((1024-8))

3) Use the following command to overwrite old U-boot on the Armbian image

Code Select Expand

#dd if=/path/u-boot-sunxi-with-spl.bin of=/dev/sdc bs=1024 seek=8
When I try to use the new custom image with the new U-boot on it the system hangs after printing this:

Code Select Expand

U-Boot SPL 2021.04+olimex-1-20231103.141125 (Nov 03 2023 - 14:12:28 +0000)
DRAM: 1024 MiB
CPU: 912000000Hz, AXI/AHB/APB: 3/2/2
Loading configuration from EEPROM: OK
Verifying data: OK
Trying to boot from MMC1

I'm doing something not allowed ? How can I exchange U-boot version in the right way ?

Thanks in advance for your support.

#25

A64 / Re: Bookworm upgrade availabil...

Last post by valt - November 18, 2024, 07:09:48 PM

Hello,

Is there any news on this subject? Will it ever be available and do you have a provisional date?

#26

Neo6502 / Re: About Apple II emulator an...

Last post by LubOlimex - November 18, 2024, 09:15:48 AM

Not sure if the ones we published are the latest and if they have the USB memory stick option. Better check the info in the official repo for the Apple emulator here:

https://github.com/vsladkov/reload-emulator

#27

A20 / Re: Ethernet problem A20-OLinu...

Last post by LubOlimex - November 18, 2024, 08:28:39 AM

So it is the software configuration in Armbian image. It is probably not configured properly for the Ethernet chip we currently use. Unfortunately, we no longer support Armbian and I have no idea what exactly have to be changed. Maybe compare our u-boot and kernel configurations with the ones of Armbian and find what needs to be changed. Notice that each hardware revision of the board has own config in our images (the information is stored on the EEPROM and the image loads configuration based on what it reads from the EEPROM). You can find all info about Olimage (and links to resources and all) in the Olimage guide (that I linked previously too):

https://github.com/OLIMEX/OLINUXINO/blob/master/DOCUMENTS/OLIMAGE/Olimage-guide.pdf

I don't know about fast.com - maybe this is some internet provider fault or network equipment misconfiguration when it comes to the outside network. I would no trust testing external web-sites. Maybe re-try with different web-sites.

#28

A20 / Re: A20-OLinuXino-MICRO-8GB

Last post by LubOlimex - November 18, 2024, 08:22:33 AM

Are you certain that it doesn't start? Maybe it goes to power save mode quick - if that is the case, you can disable power saving from inside the Android. If it doesn't start all then check this thread:

https://www.olimex.com/forum/index.php?topic=2559.0

#29

Neo6502 / About Apple II emulator and sa...

Last post by estephan500 - November 15, 2024, 11:57:47 AM

Hello Olimex -- Your last 2 answers have helped me much.  (If I keep bothering you with questions, and if I learn enough, I would be happy to help you write a few tutorials/documentations for your site.)

My goal is to write and work with applesoft programs (and maybe eventually my own binary/machine language programs) in the Apple II emulators.

Thank you for showing me how to install these two emulators:
(A) apple2_800x600_400MHz.uf2
(B) apple2e-5.uf2

In the second emulator (B), I can't even get down to the Applesoft basic level...  It is stuck in the retro game pack.
QUESTION 1:  Do you know how to get out of that game pack in that emulator?

Over in the first emulator (A), if I write a BASIC program, then I can't "save" the program on the current "drive' as it says it is write protected.

QUESTION 2:  How can I use the connected USB memory stick as a drive to write to, for example to use the SAVE command to save programs? OR any other way to SAVE to any volume in the emulator?

If there are other documents I should look at that explain this stuff, let me know, and I can help write some if that would be helpful.

THANKS
Eric

#30

A20 / A20-OLinuXino-MICRO-8GB

Last post by figurejittery - November 15, 2024, 03:58:52 AM

Hello everyone,

I possess an A20-OLinuXino-MICRO-8GB equipped with Android OS. The issue is that my A20 does not power on automatically upon connecting to a power source; I must manually press the power button.
How can I enable automatic power-on for the A20-OLinuXino-MICRO-8GB?



Best regards,

Neil McFarland