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Forum Index : Microcontroller and PC projects : Silicon Chip March 2024 editorial....
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Mixtel90 Guru  Joined: 05/10/2019 Location: United KingdomPosts: 6783 |
If you need ultimate reliability for a "boot to BASIC" computer then I'd respectfully suggest that a device designed as a small embedded control chip isn't the best option available. It isn't a "computer", it just gives the appearance of being one. The same even applies to the CMM2, which just has a more powerful controller chip. By the time you finish messing about it'll almost certainly be far easier, cheaper and more reliable to simply use a RPi with a USB HDD or two plugged into it. Mick Zilog Inside! nascom.info for Nascom & Gemini Preliminary MMBasic docs & my PCB designs |
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| robert.rozee Guru Joined: 31/12/2012 Location: New ZealandPosts: 2350 |
from the perspective of the micromite as an embedded controller - and i do suspect most end up in this sort of application - i would be far more concerned about the mmbasic firmware becoming corrupted by flash failure. what happens to all the neat little devices we build using micromites in 10 or 20 years time? i (today) have electronic devices that are 30 or 40 years old that still work perfectly... will that concept of longevity disappear from our society? or perhaps it already has? would a mask-programmed micromite be a good idea? cheers, rob :-) |
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| zeitfest Guru Joined: 31/07/2019 Location: AustraliaPosts: 482 |
One database project I saw, adopted optical storage on LaserDisk which was promoted for its archival properties...sadly the disks rotted after a few years. At least they knew it happened. And Iomega zip drive and disks....lets see, NT4 and a parallel printer port... easy to find right  In the year 2025...if data can survive... etc |
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| Mixtel90 Guru Joined: 05/10/2019 Location: United KingdomPosts: 6783 |
We may be ok with flash in the low memory capacity controller chips. The problems start to arise when you want high capacity storage, using multiple bits per cell. That leads to the charge being slowly lost and corruption occurring. Mick Zilog Inside! nascom.info for Nascom & Gemini Preliminary MMBasic docs & my PCB designs |
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| EDNEDN Senior Member  Joined: 18/02/2023 Location: United StatesPosts: 118 |
HDD's are attractive because you can get a 2 TB drive on eBay for $60. You can't get that storage density in SD Memory Cards for anything near that price. Also, for programs that continuously overwrite a portion of their files, magnetic media doesn't suffer from the limited number of Erase / Write cycles that SD Memory Cards have. I just wish there was a simple shield to provide SATA access to the Pico. I'll do the firmware work if one of you board makers can see fit to make a simple shield. |
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| Mixtel90 Guru Joined: 05/10/2019 Location: United KingdomPosts: 6783 |
SATA is a high speed differential serial interface. You have to put hardware in the way as the Pico doesn't have differential IO. Easiest way IMHO is to use a RPi Zero as an interface to SATA over USB and send/receive data over a COM port from the Pico. Your "OS" runs on the Zero then, with control from the Pico. Very much like the C64 disk drive did it. Edited 2024-04-26 02:16 by Mixtel90 Mick Zilog Inside! nascom.info for Nascom & Gemini Preliminary MMBasic docs & my PCB designs |
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| robert.rozee Guru Joined: 31/12/2012 Location: New ZealandPosts: 2350 |
SATA to USB bridges already exist (https://www.ebay.com/itm/314671031396), and there is a version of the picomite that supports USB devices. you just need to add/enable MSC support. you then also get USB flash drive support 'for free'. cheers, rob :-) |
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| Mixtel90 Guru Joined: 05/10/2019 Location: United KingdomPosts: 6783 |
MMBasic already supports COM ports though and it would probably be a lot less work (and leave more space for MMBasic and the user) to let a Zero do the heavy work. Remember that host mode on the PicoMite isn't a complete implementation. Serial is fine on the PicoMite - and fast. You wouldn't be sending megabytes of data. . Edited 2024-04-26 07:28 by Mixtel90 Mick Zilog Inside! nascom.info for Nascom & Gemini Preliminary MMBasic docs & my PCB designs |
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