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2.5Mbps Matchport / SRV-1 Blackfin test firmware (Read 13870 times)

admin

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2.5Mbps Matchport / SRV-1 Blackfin test firmware
03/31/08 at 3:08pm

This is a placeholder for configuration information on running the SRV-1 Blackfin and Lantronix Matchport together at 2.5Mbps instead of 921kbps. Information will be posted shortly. To participate in testing, you need to send an email request to support@surveyor.com - this Matchport test firmware is only available to Surveyor users.

« Last Edit: 04/01/08 at 7:44pm by admin »

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admin

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Re: 2.5Mbps Matchport / SRV-1 Blackfin firmware
Reply #1 - 04/01/08 at 7:44pm

I have updated the SRV-1 Blackfin firmware to support the higher bitrates as well as the new small Lisp interpreter. There are now 2 different firmware images - srv1-c.ldr and srv1-lisp.ldr

*** BIG WARNING ***

The new code turned up a bug in the ldr utility that is used to create the bootable firmware images - srv1-c.ldr and srv1-lisp.ldr. Basically, ldr was unable to create a code segment that was larger than 32kb, and adding the Lisp code made the firmware code larger than 32kb. Even without Lisp, the C-only version code segment has grown to be slightly larger than 32kb, and the Lisp-only version of firmware has a code segment of exactly 32kb

There is a new version of ldr-utils that fixes this problem for Linux, downloaded from

svn checkout svn://sources.blackfin.uclinux.org/toolchain/trunk/ldr-utils ldr-utils
or
http://www.surveyor.com/blackfin/ldr-utils.zip

*** NEW *** For Windows, you will need to download a new version of ldr.exe and cygwin1.dll from

http://www.surveyor.com/blackfin/ldr-for-windows.zip

The new test firmware is here -

http://www.surveyor.com/blackfin/srv-blackfin-040108.zip
or
http://srv.transterpreter.org

You will see two pre-built images in the zip file - srv1-c.ldr and srv1-lisp.ldr. Both versions boot up at 921kbaud, but will switch to 2500kbaud with the 'h' command.

Users who have asked to participate in testing of the 2500kbaud Matchport firmware will receive emails tomorrow with configuration and download instructions.

« Last Edit: 04/04/08 at 6:07am by admin »

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Strix

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Re: 2.5Mbps Matchport / SRV-1 Blackfin test firmwa
Reply #2 - 04/02/08 at 7:22am

Hi,
I checked out the new tool chain from SVN and and downloaded the update and here is the error I got:

skirkbri@alfred:~/blackfin-toolchain-07r1.1-3/srv-blackfin/srv$ make
bfin-elf-gcc -x assembler-with-cpp -D__ADSPBF537__ -D__ADSPLPBLACKFIN__ -I../include -g -c -o startup.o startup.asm
<built-in>:0: fatal error: when writing output to /tmp/ccoo390S.s: No space left on device
compilation terminated.
make: *** [startup.o] Error 1
skirkbri@alfred:~/blackfin-toolchain-07r1.1-3/srv-blackfin/srv$

this is on a linux machine. any ideas on why this is happening?
~Shane
====
what happened was that I didn't run the ./configure command after I untared ldr-utils. But at least I'm now up to date with my toolchain :-D

« Last Edit: 04/02/08 at 11:13am by Strix »

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admin

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Re: 2.5Mbps Matchport / SRV-1 Blackfin test firmwa
Reply #3 - 04/02/08 at 7:44am

Ugggh ... those toolchains do seem to get out of sync. I still use 2006R2_RC5 - http://blackfin.uclinux.org/gf/project/toolchain/frs/?action=FrsReleaseView& release_id=329 - though the most recent release, 2008R1_RC8 might be stable - http://blackfin.uclinux.org/gf/project/toolchain/frs/?action=FrsReleaseView& release_id=375

Make certain to update all the components of the toolchain from the same version, e.g. -

blackfin-toolchain-08r1-8.i386.tar.gz
blackfin-toolchain-elf-gcc-3.4-addon-08r1-8.i386.tar.gz
blackfin-toolchain-elf-gcc-4.1-08r1-8.i386.tar.gz
blackfin-toolchain-gcc-3.4-addon-08r1-8.i386.tar.gz

« Last Edit: 04/09/08 at 1:19pm by admin »

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Re: 2.5Mbps Matchport / SRV-1 Blackfin test firmwa
Reply #4 - 04/03/08 at 10:09am

Another code update -

http://www.surveyor.com/blackfin/srv-blackfin-040308.zip
or
http://srv.transterpreter.org (revision 33)

Besides the split of firmware versions into srv1-c.ldr and srv1-lisp.ldr,

* moved hardware serial flow control into uart0SendChar() in uart.c to solve
buffer overrun problems in 'zd' flash buffer dump and other data dumps
(e.g. ##vhist)

* added 'vm' ##vmean command to compute mean values for Y, U and V

* added show_stack_ptr() and show_heap_ptr() display functions

In the zip file, you'll see srv1-c.ldr, srv1-lisp.ldr, srv1-c.ldr.921k, srv1-lisp.ldr.921k, srv1-c.ldr.2500k and srv1-lisp.ldr.2500k. srv1-c.ldr and srv1-lisp.ldr are identical to the files with the 921k extension. I put the 2500k versions in the zip for convenience of Matchport hi bitrate firmware testers and hope this wasn't a mistake. DO NOT USE THE 2500K FIRMWARE IMAGES until you are certain your Matchport can be configured for 2500k, or you lose the ability to communicate with the Blackfin and will have to reload the boot firmware via a UART or JTAG.

For those who asked to test the 2500k Matchport firmware, we'll be sending out instructions later today. I was waiting until we had a chance to make certain the corresponding SRV-1 firmware was solid.

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wmcnab YaBB Newbies Posts: 30	Re: 2.5Mbps Matchport / SRV-1 Blackfin test firmwa Reply #5 - 04/03/08 at 3:17pm I upgraded both my SRV's without any problems. This is Great. Video is cleaner and more responsive, as are the controls.
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admin

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Re: 2.5Mbps Matchport / SRV-1 Blackfin test firmwa
Reply #6 - 04/03/08 at 3:24pm

Thanks for the report. The higher speed has uncovered a few problems. One was with the lack of flow control with commands like 'zd' and 'vhist' that dumped a lot of data, though that is now fixed in the 040308 code. The other is that there is some kind of latency in the Java console which is slowing things down quite a bit. We have a fix we're testing for the Python console, and it is a LOT faster than the Java console because it doesn't have this latency. I don't think the Java fix will be easy, but we'll hopefully post the Python console update within a week, and you will be surprised by the difference.

Let me know if you see any differences in radio range with this version. If this turns out to be solid, we'll likely standarize on the higher bitrate for future code releases and robot shipments.

« Last Edit: 04/03/08 at 3:25pm by admin »

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osmogr Junior Member Posts: 67	Re: 2.5Mbps Matchport / SRV-1 Blackfin test firmwa Reply #7 - 04/04/08 at 9:51pm I don't have access to email right now but sign me up for the firmware..
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ashmanq YaBB Newbies Posts: 40	Re: 2.5Mbps Matchport / SRV-1 Blackfin test firmwa Reply #8 - 04/05/08 at 11:36am are you supposed to get any response from the robot when you send the 'h' command? it doesnt seem to respond.
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admin YaBB Administrator Posts: 3676	Re: 2.5Mbps Matchport / SRV-1 Blackfin test firmwa Reply #9 - 04/05/08 at 11:52am The Blackfin will send a #h response, but at 2500kbaud. So after you send the 'h', you need to switch the Matchport to the new baud rate and then you can try the various commands such as 'V' for the version string.
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ashmanq YaBB Newbies Posts: 40	Re: 2.5Mbps Matchport / SRV-1 Blackfin test firmwa Reply #10 - 04/05/08 at 12:05pm When I was trying to get the SRV1 to work at 2500k It wasnt working after making the instructed changes, this was when I was using the srv1-c.ldr, I changed to the srv1-c.ldr.921k firmware and it works now.
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admin YaBB Administrator Posts: 3676	Re: 2.5Mbps Matchport / SRV-1 Blackfin test firmwa Reply #11 - 04/05/08 at 12:13pm srv1-c.ldr and srv1-c.ldr.921k should be identical files in the 040308 distribution.
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admin

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Re: 2.5Mbps Matchport / SRV-1 Blackfin test firmwa
Reply #12 - 04/06/08 at 9:17am

Just wanted to note that I was hoping to get starting on adding robot-specific functions to the Lisp interpreter, but instead I am chasing a memory problem. A Lisp program will run once but then lock up the 2nd time around. The actual lockup is in a call to free() a previously malloc()'d bloc, which indicates that one of the memory blocks is somehow getting overrun and clobbering a pointer to the previous or next memory block.

I assumed that this code would be stable, and so either this is a problem I introduced in porting or the code has issues. Anyhow, that is what I am working on at the moment. If anyone else out there enjoys coding challenges and wants to try to figure out the problem, I welcome the help.

============
update - I'm working with a different Lisp interpreter now - it has more functions but actually takes less code space. At the moment, I only have it running on the linux host, but am in process of moving it over to the blackfin. There are some issues, but some of the more important capabilities I couldn't get running with Lithp seem to be functioning with this new code, so I am hopeful.

« Last Edit: 04/06/08 at 9:07pm by admin »

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teambtv YaBB Newbies Posts: 1	Re: 2.5Mbps Matchport / SRV-1 Blackfin test firmwa Reply #13 - 04/08/08 at 7:01pm I'd like to sign up for the test firmware as well. Thanks
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scl_electronics YaBB Newbies robots rule ! Posts: 16	Re: 2.5Mbps Matchport / SRV-1 Blackfin test firmwa Reply #14 - 04/09/08 at 8:26am Hi guys, I haven't been on here for a bit..... This project sound promising!! But I am running the Lantronix's WiPort on my Blackfin!! will there be a firmware update for the WiPort?? Thanks it's time to get back to coding!! Stuart
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