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Forum Index : Microcontroller and PC projects : An Alternative Maximite
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| pito Newbie  Joined: 09/06/2011 Location: Posts: 25 |
Hi, I'm going to set up the alternative maximite (no video and ps2). Let me ask you which firmware shall I burn in - my understanding is I need a firmware without the video and ps2 stuff. Thanks. P. |
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donmck Guru  Joined: 09/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1313 |
Hi Pito, I see that your question has been sitting here for a little while without an answer, and as I have a few questions on this subject, I'll have a go at answering it, and if my assumptions are incorrect, then Geoff G., or other knowledgeable users will jump in and correct me. Sort of like putting a BIG RED TARGET on your chest. 
Bear in mind I have never seen a Maximite in action. There will be a Mini-Maximite sooner or later, so we will call it the mini-M for now. This will be a fundamental system with only the power, clock, 26 pin I/O connector, USB, (ICSP connector, resistor and switch?), and possibly the SD card, but read on: ___________________________________________________________ You should be able to use the same firmware in the mini-M as the full unit. From Geoff's pages: The Maximite can be set to automatically run a program on power up (without keyboard and video connected) If you run a suitable terminal program on your PC, then these I/O devices will be emulated from the terminal program. Again, quoting Geoff: The filename AUTORUN.BAS has special meaning. MMBasic will search the SD card for this file on power up and if it is found it will be automatically loaded and run. The mini-Max firmware will be rewritten so that your Autorun program can be saved right along with the copy of the firmware, so that it executes without having an SD card at all. There will only be one version of firmware for the Max and the Mini. Hope this helps, and let the target shoot begin. 
Cheers Don... https://www.dontronics.com |
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Geoffg Guru Joined: 06/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 3210 |
Sorry Pito, I did not spot your post and should have replied. And thanks Don for filling in the gap. You can use the standard Maximite firmware (currently at V2.4) without video or a keyboard (or without USB for that matter). If the firmware cannot find them it just ignores them. So, nothing special required there. As Don mentioned, I have plans for a mini Maximite that will have just USB and an optional micro SD card connector. The I/O pins, the video, keyboard, etc will be brought out onto pin headers so that you can still connect that stuff if you want to. It should be about the size of the business card and will be intended for use as an inexpensive "plug-in" brain for all sorts embedded projects (burglar alarm, battery monitor, solar panel controller, etc, etc). To support this I plan to extend the Maximite firmware so that the BASIC program can be saved in the PIC32's internal flash and this will automatically execute on start up (ie, no SD card required). With the addition of PWM, serial, I2C and other protocols (to be developed) this would make a very powerful and low cost brain that could be used for many projects. An important aspect is that the mini-Maximite and the full Maximite will run exactly the same firmware so you can develop on the larger Maximite and just copy your BASIC program to the mini version (via USB) when you are done. The ETA is the end of the year. By the way, this design is currently just on paper... so anything might change as I work through the issues and the software required. Geoff Geoff Graham - http://geoffg.net |
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| Ray B Senior Member  Joined: 16/02/2007 Location: AustraliaPosts: 219 |
Geoff re the release of a Mini Maximite - great idea but I hope "the ETA is the end of the year" won't be at the expense of development of serial comms and also I2C code which will make your excellent design even better. Got mine built yesterday & have now just discovered this forum. RayB from Perth WA |
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| donmck Guru Joined: 09/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1313 |
I figure as long as the Mini-Max has at least provision for a microSD card, then nothing changes. It should work as advertised without any firmware upgrades. And it would be a nice feature to have a microSD card on board for data logging. You can then read it on your PC at any time. Cheers Don... https://www.dontronics.com |
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jebz Regular Member  Joined: 13/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 79 |
Hello Geoff. Can you also consider adding "Peek" and "Poke" to the basic commands. This would allow serial comms and other peripherals to be used even if they didn't have current support. |
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| Geoffg Guru Joined: 06/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 3210 |
I have resisted adding PEEK/POKE but I can see that I will have to give in. It is a very popular request. The reason I have held back is that there are a number of issues with messing around with the memory space. For a start, the only way to find out where to PEEK/POKE in the working memory (RAM) is by digging through the memory map produced by the compiler and that is no easy task. Microchip could not have made it more obtuse if they had tried. Even worse, the memory map will change with each version of the firmware. Secondly, the PIC32 is very sensitive to an illegal memory access. It throws (in MIPS terminology) an exception and the only way to handle that is to completely reset the CPU, thereby loosing the program in memory. So, if you made a mistake in typing in an address, you would instantly loose your program - not very friendly. But, it is a powerful tool for someone who wants to access features of the chip and is prepared to decipher the PIC32 manual so I will try to fit it in the next release (along with suitable caveats in the user manual). Geoff Geoff Graham - http://geoffg.net |
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sparkey Senior Member Joined: 15/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 819 |
this question goes out to any body ... what r.i.s.c. does the pic use if any at all sparkey technicians do it with least resistance |
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Nick Guru Joined: 09/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 512 |
How about a mini maximite inside a keyboard?! It's the TRS-80 model 1 all over again! :) |
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| donmck Guru Joined: 09/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1313 |
Even a TRS-80 Model I keyboard 
SD card slot out the front edge of course. Commodore people recently did that with a PC inside a 64 clone case. http://www.commodoreusa.net/CUSA_C64.aspx Cheers Don... https://www.dontronics.com |
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| Dave Everett Regular Member Joined: 24/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 43 |
Fantastic! I have hopes of using it with a current robot project, serial and SPI would be vital. I assume the MMC is using the SPI protocol. Being able to set pins as CS would mean you could extend the capabilities immensely, for example an SPI servo driver or dual PWM motor driver would then be possible. Dave Everett |
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| pito Newbie Joined: 09/06/2011 Location: Posts: 25 |
Thanks for the answers. I was running the Maximite on a small pcb, no video, no ps2. As I ran the basic, my feeling was the basic is a little bit "slow" - maybe because of video running in the background. I compared it with StickOs basic. BTW, the chip can run 80MHz cpu AND 80MHz peripheral bus as the default  (this is not an overclocking of the PeriphBus!), my chip runs 120MHz cpu and 120MHz peripheral bus stable. Of course, 2 wait states only. You will achieve an 1.51x speed increase then. Maybe running Periphbus @80MHz (instead of yours 40MHz) may enable better video resolution/functionality then. Also the peripherals may run faster as well. The video stuff may need an adjustment, of course. P. |
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