Flash based dev kit
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Derek Lomas
Oct 24, 2010, 11:26:38 AM10/24/10
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Thought you might be interested in this discussion...
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Bruce McFarling wrote, in response to Doc Van Thorp (unregistered):
According to the Wiki, the Subor system uses a 25-bit wide addressed Flash memory card in its cartridge, and its main chip includes a single bus mode that allows both program and data memory to connect directly to that same chip. 16 bits is 64KB, 9 more bits is 32MB.
That's ample for a whole lot of educational games, a word processor program, a text reader program, even a complete Forth development system with a wide range of development tools.
In that mode, there are at least 8 I/O pins available, which could easily be used to bit-bang a 2-SD card socket for external permanent storage. You need 2 output pins for selecting each SD card in the socket, a pin for Master In / Subordinate Out (MISO), a pin for Master Out / Subordinate In (MOSI), and a pin for the CLK. The problem is that to set a SD card into SPI mode requires operating in a certain clock speed, and its hard to achieve that clock speed with a 6502 software SPI interface.
It might be possible with a shift register using the built in RS-232C clock in the VT02.
Far easier would be to use a couple of I/O pins, if any I/O from the VT02 are free in the Subor design, to multiplex a Compact Flash card into some available part of the address space. Several I/O pins would allow access to the Compact Flash and banking some available part of the address space into a 32Kx8 SRAM.
But if SD cards can be supported with inexpensive glue electronics, they are definitely cheaper and more readily available than compact flash.
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Doc Van Thorp (unregistered) wrote:
This basic compiler would speed cross-development of NES software useing PCs, but a worthy goal would be compilers and tools for creating games natively on the NES itself.
What kind of storage should the $12 machine have? Low-capacity SD cards are getting pretty cheap, and are fairly easy to interface to. You don't have to pay licensing if you don't use the encrypted file mode (which hardly anyone does anyway). You can fit hundreds of NES games into a pretty small SD card, and the SD card would be extremely useful for native software development that requires compilation from source files. For a small system like an NES, this would be better than a hard drive.
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Bruce McFarling wrote, in response to Doc Van Thorp (unregistered):
According to the Wiki, the Subor system uses a 25-bit wide addressed Flash memory card in its cartridge, and its main chip includes a single bus mode that allows both program and data memory to connect directly to that same chip. 16 bits is 64KB, 9 more bits is 32MB.
That's ample for a whole lot of educational games, a word processor program, a text reader program, even a complete Forth development system with a wide range of development tools.
In that mode, there are at least 8 I/O pins available, which could easily be used to bit-bang a 2-SD card socket for external permanent storage. You need 2 output pins for selecting each SD card in the socket, a pin for Master In / Subordinate Out (MISO), a pin for Master Out / Subordinate In (MOSI), and a pin for the CLK. The problem is that to set a SD card into SPI mode requires operating in a certain clock speed, and its hard to achieve that clock speed with a 6502 software SPI interface.
It might be possible with a shift register using the built in RS-232C clock in the VT02.
Far easier would be to use a couple of I/O pins, if any I/O from the VT02 are free in the Subor design, to multiplex a Compact Flash card into some available part of the address space. Several I/O pins would allow access to the Compact Flash and banking some available part of the address space into a 32Kx8 SRAM.
But if SD cards can be supported with inexpensive glue electronics, they are definitely cheaper and more readily available than compact flash.
User's URL: http://twitter.com/BruceMcF
IP address: 184.56.75.168
Link to comment: http://disq.us/pt8ys
Doc Van Thorp (unregistered) wrote:
This basic compiler would speed cross-development of NES software useing PCs, but a worthy goal would be compilers and tools for creating games natively on the NES itself.
What kind of storage should the $12 machine have? Low-capacity SD cards are getting pretty cheap, and are fairly easy to interface to. You don't have to pay licensing if you don't use the encrypted file mode (which hardly anyone does anyway). You can fit hundreds of NES games into a pretty small SD card, and the SD card would be extremely useful for native software development that requires compilation from source files. For a small system like an NES, this would be better than a hard drive.
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Noah Vawter
Oct 24, 2010, 11:53:03 AM10/24/10
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hey also interesting for masssssss storage is this device mt gf turned me onto:
http://www.ftdichip.com/Products/Modules/ApplicationModules.htm scroll down for "Vdrive2"
it lets you talk to any USB Flash drive! over serial, SPI, or parallel.
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