[Oberon] FPGA Oberon some news and a reply to F.P.

[Chris Burrows]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: eas lab [mailto:lab.eas at gmail.com]
> Sent: Tuesday, 1 April 2014 1:01 AM
> To: chris at cfbsoftware.com; ETH Oberon and related systems
> Subject: Re: [Oberon] FPGA Oberon some news and a reply to F.P.
> 
> Does your product support the ETHO type interface?
> 

No - Astrobe is a Windows application that follows the standard Microsoft
Windows GUI Guidelines. It does not involve any other operating system - it
is a tool used by electronic engineers / programmers to develop software to
run on an 'embedded' system. Examples of devices that used embedded software
systems are automobiles, digital cameras, microwave cookers, dataloggers,
hard disk controllers, etc. etc.

Astrobe consists of an Oberon syntax-aware editor / cross-compiler / linker
/ flash programmer. The interface to the IDE is a standard Windows GUI.

Once Astrobe has compiled and linked an executable it is uploaded to the
flash ROM of a target ARM7 or Cortex-M3 microcontroller via a bootloader
which is resident in the microcontroller. When the microcontroller is reset
the program starts executing. There is only ever one dedicated application
running on the microcontroller.   

> What is that interface to be called?
> 

There is no one interface. The interface between the human and the target
executable is whatever the programmer / electronic engineer designs it to
be. There is no operating system on the target. Everything happens in
realtime and the applications are usually designed for a very-specific
control task. Communication between the application and the user is under
the complete control of the programmer. Human input can be via push-buttons,
joysticks, keypads, touch panels, potentiometers, switches etc. Output can
be via LEDs, LCD displays, sound etc. 

Traditional screen / keyboard input to a character-based video terminal /
terminal emulator on a PC is also possible via a UART / RS232 (often via a
USB port) is also possible and is used for debugging. 

Other input often comes from electronic sensors as well: GPS,
accelerometers, magnetic compass, temperature and pressure sensors,  etc.

> How much of the work of your product can be ported to rPi?

None. The Astrobe IDE is only supported on Microsoft Windows systems. The
target executables are standalone executables that are intended to run in
isolation at a fixed location in flash ROM without any interference from an
operating system.

Regards,
Chris

Chris Burrows
CFB Software
http://www.astrobe.com


> 
> == Chris Glur.
> 
> 
> On 3/23/14, Chris Burrows <chris at cfbsoftware.com> wrote:
> >> -----Original Message-----
> >> From: Chris Burrows [mailto:chris at cfbsoftware.com]
> >> Sent: Tuesday, 4 March 2014 10:43 PM
> >> To: 'fp at vonck.nl'; 'ETH Oberon and related systems'
> >> Subject: RE: [Oberon] FPGA Oberon some news and a reply to F.P.
> >>
> >> > -----Original Message-----
> >> > From: Frans-Pieter Vonck [mailto:fp at vonck.nl]
> >> > Sent: Tuesday, 4 March 2014 10:30 PM
> >> > To: ETH Oberon and related systems
> >> > Subject: Re: [Oberon] FPGA Oberon some news and a reply to F.P.
> >> >
> >> > For instance, the oberon compiler for the lpc2000 processors is no
> >> > longer supported.
> >> >
> >>
> >> That is absolutely NOT true. I made an announcement regarding support
> >> only
> >> yesterday:
> >>
> >> http://www.astrobe.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=422
> >>
> >
> > Furthermore, we have just announced that version 5.1 of Astrobe for
> > LPC2000 has now been released:
> >
> > http://www.astrobe.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=3
> >
> > Amongst the new features is full support for the latest 1.10.2013 /
> > 10.3.2014 Revision of The Programming Language Oberon,
> >
> > Regards,
> > Chris Burrows
> > CFB Software
> > http://www.astrobe.com
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > Oberon at lists.inf.ethz.ch mailing list for ETH Oberon and related
> > systems https://lists.inf.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/oberon
> >