[Oberon] Pepino LX9, USB, and other hardware running OBERON

[Bill Buzzell]

"So essentially it's a blackbox abstracted away, out of site, out of mind,
and you don't "learn" about USB? i.e. hiding it under the rug, pretending
it's RS232 when in fact there is a USB blackbox somewhere in there...

I'm okay with this, just wondering why Wirth is okay with that or Oberon
folk are okay with it. I could also have it completely wrong.  i.e. at
some point the USB has to be abstracted away and hidden from site, in
order for oberon to work with usb without knowing much about usb - so in
some sense it is a black box.  But how is that any different from a rasp
pi with usb that no one really understands fully. are we just moving goal
posts here and pretending this is an "ethical" usb choice?

It seems to be the ethics of oberon is that you have to understand all
parts of the system.  Can you fully understand the Pepino USB system or is
it just a hardwared blackbox?

Sorry for my ignorance, I'm still in the research stages of seeing how
Pepino actually works. FPGA's are also quite confusing."

As soon as someone figures out a way to totally be gone with USB that is 
a GOOD thing and to be considered PROGRESS. Same with the mouse and 
keyboard. It is ADVANTAGEOUS to be without massive protocols which serve 
no purpose but to get in the way. This is the type of system where you 
should AT LEAST be able to read the TTL signals and make your own mouse 
driver. What is PS-2? Cut the cord, skin the wires and read the bare 
wires output. This is desirable.

In fact, I am attempting to establish a more direct TCP-UART bridge 
using the ESP8266 which will bypass USB completely, and happens over 
WiFi. There is already headers on the Pepino for the ESP8266. In 
actuality, the NRF24l01 offers a more 'bare metal network' than the 
ESP8266 even.

The FTDI chip serves as the "COM port ---> RS232" communication channel 
to speak to the FPGA, which is the industry standard way to make a good 
"plug-and-play" system via USB. It is a most sensible way to go, at 
least for now but certainly not the only way.

In fact,you want a $5 'pc'? You learn to program compilers WELL using a 
ProjectOberon board and simply build a target compiler for the ESP8266, 
and viola, you will have a SUPERIOR $5 computer that is running Oberon, 
not Linux.