Embedded platforms for beginners?

Sep 01, 2017 73 Replies

Yes, that's fair enough (though I prefer static allocation when possible

- it makes it easier to see memory usage in map files. And for less capable microcontrollers, it can be more efficient).

I have used systems where the malloc/free system is implemented as something like :

static uint8_t heap[HEAP_SIZE]; static uint8_t * heapPointer;

void * malloc(size_t size) { if ((&heap[HEAP_SIZE] - heapPointer) < size) { die_horribly(); } uint8_t * p = heapPointer; heapPointer += size; return p; }

void free(void * ptr) { die_horribly(); }

Yes indeed.

In one system I built, the client looked through squinty eyes (but also had a wry smile) at a function of mine called void expire().

My big brother used to say that the tape drives on the IBM System/360 at his school had an undocumented instruction: SST, for Stop and Stretch Tape. Other systems were rumoured to have HCF, for Halt and Catch Fire. ;)

Of course back then there were Real Programmers like Mel Kaye.

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Cheers

Phil Hobbs

Dr Philip C D Hobbs Principal Consultant ElectroOptical Innovations LLC Optics, Electro-optics, Photonics, Analog Electronics 160 North State Road #203 Briarcliff Manor NY 10510 hobbs at electrooptical dot net http://electrooptical.net

A Raspberry PI 3 should work fine. It is VERY cheap. There is a thriving Ma ker community associated with it. Some use it with Arduino.

It is the size of a pack of playing cards.

It is powered by Micro USB and has the following :

  • Broadcom BCM2837 Arm7 Quad Core Processor powered SBC running at 900MH z In 64 bit mode it becomes a Arm8 Can be overclocked pretty easily + 1GB RAM + 40pin extended GPIO + 4 normal USB 2 + 1 Ethernet + built-in wifi + CSI camera port for connecting the RPI camera + DSI display port for connecting the RPI touch screen display + HDMI + Micro SD card as disk.

Operating systems : Primarily Raspbian, other Linuxes, FreeBSD, HardenedBS D, RiscOS and Windows 10 IOT core.

It is both a normal computer and have an I/O expansion port for whatever yo u try to make.

It is difficult to see a more ideal start system for somebody who want to s tart with embedded systems.

Adafruit seems to like it a lot.

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Now a major cable network series on a station near you:

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Les Cargill

... and you can bridge the WiFi and Ethernet...

The 4 USB ports mean you can add Ardiunos for hard realtime capability, or for protocol conversion. There is a small eternity of other USB peripherals.

The Arduino is generally seen as a serial port, so you might be constrained to 115,200 bits/sec per.

Les Cargill

There's also languages other than C if you want. AVR-Ada is available for a higher level language. Although I would advise looking at this after you've checked out the basics of Arduino.

The show is not bad, I like it. Last season is too much web oriented though.

Dimiter

====================================================== Dimiter Popoff, TGI

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Well, I suppose that was inevitable. I haven't watched TV in thirty years except on rare occasions when I'm stuck in some hotel room that's even bleaker than the Vast Wasteland, so I'm not au courant with the latest offerings.

Cheers

Phil Hobbs

Dr Philip C D Hobbs Principal Consultant ElectroOptical Innovations LLC Optics, Electro-optics, Photonics, Analog Electronics 160 North State Road #203 Briarcliff Manor NY 10510 hobbs at electrooptical dot net http://electrooptical.net

It's not bad.

I had little choice - reading or TV - because of little kids underfoot.

The revolution begin with David Lynch's "Twin Peaks." Which you night oughta see. Or maybe not.

And one John Kricfalusi came up with "Ren and Stimpy" and thereby all the DNA for the next generation was stored.

Click on the link. But only if your dare.

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It's gone beyond torrent into raging flood. We're in a golden age of the medium.

Here's what's bizarre about it - the entire edifice is built in the ability of people to comment on fora about what they think of the shows.

This has caused TV to overflow the banks of the restrictions of the Neilsen box.

As with all things, it is a measurement problem. A modest and noisy improvement in the measurements produces, as always, an astounding result.

Les Cargill ( a card-carrying member of a measurement-constrained species )

I get bored watching movies or TV after about 5 minutes at most. Technical stuff that has actual content, I can take for maybe 15 minutes.

Video demands your complete attention and IME doesn't repay in interest.

Cheers

Phil Hobbs

Dr Philip C D Hobbs Principal Consultant ElectroOptical Innovations LLC Optics, Electro-optics, Photonics, Analog Electronics 160 North State Road #203 Briarcliff Manor NY 10510 hobbs at electrooptical dot net http://electrooptical.net

Or, 20 years earlier, The Prisoner :)

Here we have something worse: gogglebox. It is a program in which a TV camera records people discussing TV programs that they are watching. I don't think they've done a recursive program yet, but I really wouldn't know!

And, of course the warning in 1968's "The Year of the Sex Olympics" has been completely ignored, and it has come to pass in the form of "Big Brother". Reality TV was interesting when it was novel, back in 1974.

There are very few /technical/ videos that actually use the medium. Almost all of technical videos could be replaced by text plus pictures - which I could speedread[1]

10* faster and which would also be searchable.

As for TV/movies: mpvies at the cinema require that you watch them, which can be a useful change-is-as-good-as-a-rest. Those TV documentaries that aren't merely radio-with-visuals can be worth watching.

[1] the modern necessary skill is to spend 30s deciding which 99% of stuff you /don't/ want to read in detail. That's more or less impossible with video. (The ancient necessary skill was to be able to glean as much information as possible from the meagre available information sources)

I'm talking about stuff like atomic bomb videos, not YouTube tutorials and stuff.

TL;DR ;)

Cheers

Phil Hobbs

Dr Philip C D Hobbs Principal Consultant ElectroOptical Innovations LLC Optics, Electro-optics, Photonics, Analog Electronics 160 North State Road #203 Briarcliff Manor NY 10510 hobbs at electrooptical dot net http://electrooptical.net

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