[Oberon] FPGAOberon on the Pipistrello

[Chris Burrows]

Hi Markus,

Yes - editing, compiling and uploading are all done on the PC using the
Astrobe IDE. The Oberon source code files on the PC are just text files so
you can use any of your other Windows software development tools (editors,
difference listers, version control systems, grep searches) to maintain
them. The resulting modules (*.rsc files) are dynamically linked on the FPGA
exactly as they are in the full Project Oberon system.

The core OS modules that I use - Kernel, FileDir, Files and Modules (the
dynamic loader), are identical to the Project Oberon distribution except for
one difference: I have implemented a Files.SetDate function that I call from
the Upload function so that files uploaded from the PC have the same date /
timestamp on the Oberon system. 

As for a 'business model' Astrobe for FPGA RISC5 is free - you'll just have
to register your name and email address to use it:

http://www.astrobe.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=476
 
The downside is that you will get half-a-dozen or so Astrobe-related emails
from me each year ;-) 

Support is limited to this mailing list and the Astrobe forum. Anything else
that would create work for me which I am not already doing for myself I
would have to charge for e.g. helping you to get it working on a board that
you have built or purchased for your own or commercial use. An exception
would be for individuals like Magnus (Saanlima) or Enso who were developing
a board specifically aimed at supporting Oberon. I am happy to try and help
them if possible - the only cost to them would be to send me a board to work
with. If Xilinx or Altera was the customer that might be a different story
:)

No Linux version of Astrobe for RISC5 is planned - it requires Windows 7, 8
or 10. 

If you wanted a Linux version you would be able to use the target system as
long as you had a Linux tool to write the supplied core OS disk image to an
SD Card. You would also need:

* A Linux text editor to create your Oberon programs
* To port the RISC5 Oberon compiler to Linux. 
  Gardens Point Component Pascal (GPCP) for JVM might be a good starting
point. It only took a couple of days to port the compiler using GPCP for
.NET
* A Linux terminal emulator that can run at 115200 baud to upload the object
files (*.rsc) to the target.

Regards,
Chris

CFB Software
http://www.astrobe.com


> -----Original Message-----
> From: Oberon [mailto:oberon-bounces at lists.inf.ethz.ch] On Behalf Of
> greim
> Sent: Sunday, 4 October 2015 11:58 PM
> To: oberon at lists.inf.ethz.ch
> Subject: [Oberon] FPGAOberon on the Pipistrello
> 
> Hallo Chris,
> 
> just to understand the new modified  system right:
> 
> * Compiling for RISC5 is done locally on the PC, but i can load
> several modules, so there is Oberon on the FPGA, incl. dynmaic loader
> etc.
> 
> * Whats you business model here? Selling the RISC5 PC compiler and
> some loader / communication program? Any Linux version on the
> horizon?
> Or may I use a full featured FPGAOberon system (with external mouse
> and video etc..) as developing/master system?
> 
> Regards
> 
> Markus Greim
> 
> 
> > Message: 1
> > Date: Sat, 3 Oct 2015 23:49:18 +0930
> > From: "Chris Burrows" <chris at cfbsoftware.com>
> > To: "'ETH Oberon and related systems'" <oberon at lists.inf.ethz.ch>
> > Subject: Re: [Oberon] Astrobe for FPGA RISC5 Oberon
> > Message-ID: <000001d0fde6$7e7cfc10$7b76f430$@cfbsoftware.com>
> > Content-Type: text/plain;	charset="us-ascii"
> >
> > We have now got the core OS modules of Project Oberon (Kernel,
> > FileSystem, SD Card, RS232, module loader, command processor and
> > System commands) running on a Pipistrello Spartan 6 LX45 board
> without
> > *any* external SRAM by using the on-chip BRAM. Only 27% of the
> > available BRAM is used - that leaves plenty for the typical
> embedded
> > applications that Astrobe is used to develop. For more information
> and screenshot see:
> >
> > http://www.astrobe.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=469
> >
> > Regards,
> > Chris
> >
> > 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