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Improving the Beaglebone Board with Embedded Ubuntu, Enhanced GPMC Driver and Python for Communication and Graphical Prototypes
Final Master Thesis Improving the BeagleBone board with embedded Ubuntu, enhanced GPMC driver and Python for communication and graphical prototypes By RUBÉN GONZÁLEZ MUÑOZ Directed by MANUEL M. DOMINGUEZ PUMAR FINAL MASTER THESIS 30 ECTS, JULY 2015, ELECTRICAL AND ELECTRONICS ENGINEERING Abstract Abstract BeagleBone is a low price, small size Linux embedded microcomputer with a full set of I/O pins and processing power for real-time applications, also expandable with cape pluggable boards. The current work has been focused on improving the performance of this board. In this case, the BeagleBone comes with a pre-installed Angstrom OS and with a cape board using a particular software “overlay” and applications. Due to a lack of support, this pre-installed OS has been replaced by Ubuntu. As a consequence, the cape software and applications need to be adapted. Another necessity that emerges from the stated changes is to improve the communications through a GPMC interface. The depicted driver has been built for the new system as well as synchronous variants, also developed and tested. Finally, a set of applications in Python using the cape functionalities has been developed. Some extra graphical features have been included as example. Contents Contents Abstract ..................................................................................................................................................................................... 5 List of figures ......................................................................................................................................................................... -
Computer Architectures an Overview
Computer Architectures An Overview PDF generated using the open source mwlib toolkit. See http://code.pediapress.com/ for more information. PDF generated at: Sat, 25 Feb 2012 22:35:32 UTC Contents Articles Microarchitecture 1 x86 7 PowerPC 23 IBM POWER 33 MIPS architecture 39 SPARC 57 ARM architecture 65 DEC Alpha 80 AlphaStation 92 AlphaServer 95 Very long instruction word 103 Instruction-level parallelism 107 Explicitly parallel instruction computing 108 References Article Sources and Contributors 111 Image Sources, Licenses and Contributors 113 Article Licenses License 114 Microarchitecture 1 Microarchitecture In computer engineering, microarchitecture (sometimes abbreviated to µarch or uarch), also called computer organization, is the way a given instruction set architecture (ISA) is implemented on a processor. A given ISA may be implemented with different microarchitectures.[1] Implementations might vary due to different goals of a given design or due to shifts in technology.[2] Computer architecture is the combination of microarchitecture and instruction set design. Relation to instruction set architecture The ISA is roughly the same as the programming model of a processor as seen by an assembly language programmer or compiler writer. The ISA includes the execution model, processor registers, address and data formats among other things. The Intel Core microarchitecture microarchitecture includes the constituent parts of the processor and how these interconnect and interoperate to implement the ISA. The microarchitecture of a machine is usually represented as (more or less detailed) diagrams that describe the interconnections of the various microarchitectural elements of the machine, which may be everything from single gates and registers, to complete arithmetic logic units (ALU)s and even larger elements. -
The 6502 Instruction Set
6502asm user guide – prerelease version A PRE-RELEASE VERSION OF 6502ASM... IT MAY NOT WORK ENTIRELY CORRECTLYTHIS IS YET. If you discover errors, please report them to me! 6502asm v0.04 user guide page 1 6502asm user guide – prerelease version Introduction 6502asm is a simple assembler for 6502 code. It supports a variety of assembler commands to control output and extend the 6502 instruction set. The instruction set provided is the legal NMOS 6502 set, and the CMOS 65C02 instruction set according to the Western Design Center W65C02S datasheet (not the MOS 65CE02 variant). The NMOS “undocumented” instructions are not supported. The command syntax is: 6502asm <input file> <output file> Purpose 6502asm is part of the Amélie project. It was written in order to allow the BIOS code to be written and compiled without requiring the use of a BBC microcomputer (or emulator). While it is primarily intended for this purpose, it is flexible enough to be used for the assembly of 6502 code for other environments, such as the BBC micro (or compatible) or other 6502-based devices. 6502asm fits in with Amélie’s philosophy of “keep it simple”. 6502asm assembles in two passes, much as code is usually assembled under BBC BASIC. Currently, 6502asm does not support macros or conditional assembly, though these features are “in planning”. If you are used to Acorn systems, you may be pleased to know that 6502asm considers ‘&’ to mean “this is a hex number”, which is one of the main reasons I wrote this instead of using one of the many other 6502 assemblers available. -
Embedded Systems: Principles and Practice
Embedded Systems: Concepts and Practices Part 2 Christopher Alix Prairie City Computing, Inc. ECE 420 University of Illinois April 22, 2019 Outline (Part 2) ⚫ ARM and DSP Architectures ⚫ Software challenges in Embedded Systems ⚫ Key decisions in ES software development ⚫ Low-cost ES Prototyping Platforms ⚫ Trends and opportunities in the ES industry Embedded System Definition • A dedicated computer performing a specific function as a part of a larger system • High-reliability systems operating in a resource-constrained environment (typically cost, space & power) • Essential Goal: Turn hardware problems into software problems. ARM Architecture Unifying ES Development 32-bit and 32/64-bit variants Started by Acorn Computers (UK) in 1983 ARM Holdings bought by Softbank in 2016 Core licensees (~500) (Include ARM CPUs on their chips) Architectural Licenses (~15) (Design their own CPUs based on the ARM instruction set) ARM Architecture Unifying ES Development Licensees include Analog Devices, Apple, AMD, Atmel, Broadcom, Qualcomm, Cypress, Huawei, NXP, Nvidia, Renesas, Samsung, STM, TI, Altera (Intel), Xilinx. 15 billion ARM-based chips sold per year (2016) Dominant market share Smartphones (95%) Computer peripherals (65%) Hard disks and SSDs (95%) Automotive (50% overall; 85% infotainment) ARM Architecture Unifying ES Development Brought order to a chaotic industry with dozens of different proprietary processor architectures Enabled a common set of tools, techniques and technologies to be shared across the ES industry (one Linux port, one gcc/g++ -
OF the 1980S
THAT MADE THE HOME COMPUTER REVOLUTION OF THE 1980s 23 THAT MADE THE HOME COMPUTER REVOLUTION OF THE 1980s First published in 2021 by Raspberry Pi Trading Ltd, Maurice Wilkes Building, St. John’s Innovation Park, Cowley Road, Cambridge, CB4 0DS Publishing Director Editors Russell Barnes Phil King, Simon Brew Sub Editor Design Nicola King Critical Media Illustrations CEO Sam Alder with Brian O Halloran Eben Upton ISBN 978-1-912047-90-1 The publisher, and contributors accept no responsibility in respect of any omissions or errors relating to goods, products or services referred to or advertised in this book. Except where otherwise noted, the content of this book is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0). Contents Introduction. 6 Research Machines 380Z. 8 Commodore PET 2001. 18 Apple II. 36 Sinclair ZX80 and ZX81. 46 Commodore VIC-20 . 60 IBM Personal Computer (5150). 78 BBC Micro . 90 Sinclair ZX Spectrum. 114 Dragon 32. 138 Commodore 64. 150 Acorn Electron . .166 Apple Macintosh . .176 Amstrad CPC 464. 194 Sinclair QL . .210 Atari 520ST. 222 Commodore Amiga. 234 Amstrad PCW 8256. 256 Acorn Archimedes . .268 Epilogue: Whatever happened to the British PC? . .280 Acknowledgements . 281 Further reading, further viewing, and forums. 283 Index . .286 The chapters are arranged in order of each computer’s availability in the UK, as reflected by each model’s date of review in Personal Computer World magazine. Introduction The 1980s was, categorically, the best decade ever. Not just because it gave us Duran Duran and E.T., not even because of the Sony Walkman. -
From FORTRAN to Fireworkz
From FORTRAN to Fireworkz One programmer’s voyage through the 1980s and 1990s Stuart Swales Formerly of Acornsoft and Colton Software September 2020 Sparking an interest • I first became interested in computer systems through electronics as a teenager • Various electronics magazines sampled • In 1976 I stumbled upon “Electronics Today International (ETI)” • Subscribed to ETI for many years ETI System 68 • A modular Eurocard-based system • Supported several microprocessors, with board designs for the Motorola 6800 and SC/MP • Designed principally by John Miller-Kirkpatrick • Articles ran from April 1977 • Sadly I had insufficient cash! • “The annotated listing of the monitor PROM is available on request”. Hmm... • 20p well spent — my first exposure to software! Still interesting, though • Motorola M6800 Microcomputer System Design Data guide A snip at £2.00 from NewBear Computing Store at the NEC BASIC at 300 baud • My maths teacher at school began an Open University course that year which involved some ‘online’ computing • We had an ASR-33 teletype (with punched paper tape of course) and a phone coupler • The Open University system was a Hewlett Packard (System 10?) located in Newcastle • The HP had a BASIC interpreter, and that was well documented in a HP manual supplied with the course material • School were happy for me to use it at lunchtime Increased potential • In 1978 I’d taken on a part-time job at Tesco (other supermarkets are available) stacking shelves • Cash was accumulating quite quickly • Could I buy a system now? Er, no. • Commodore PETs and Apple IIs had come on the scene but everything still seemed way out of my league Ohio Scientific Superboard II • And one day in early 1979 I spied an advert for this system.. -
ACORN RISC MACHINE Jitendra Marathe ARM Is a Reduced
SRJIS / BIMONTHLY/JITENDRA MARATHE. (581-585) ACORN RISC MACHINE Jitendra Marathe ARM is a reduced instruction set computer (RISC) instruction set architecture (ISA) developed by ARM Holdings. It was named the Advanced RISC Machine and, before that, the Acorn RISC Machine. The ARM architecture is the most widely used 32-bit instruction set architecture in numbers produced. Originally conceived by Acorn Computers for use in its personal computers, the first ARM-based products were the co-processor modules for the BBC series of computers. Features and applications: In 2005 about 98% of the more than one billion mobile phones sold each year used at least one ARM processor. As of 2009 ARM processors accounted for approximately 90% of all embedded 32-bit RISC processors and were used extensively in consumer electronics, including personal digital assistants (PDAs), tablets, mobile phones, digital media and music players, hand-held game consoles, calculators and computer peripherals such as hard drives and routers. Licensees: The ARM architecture is licensable. Companies that are current or former ARM licensees include Alcatel-Lucent, Apple Inc., AppliedMicro, Atmel, Broadcom, Cirrus Logic, CSR_plc, Digital Equipment Corporation, Ember, Energy Micro, Freescale, Intel (through DEC), LG, Marvell Technology Group, Microsemi, Microsoft, NEC, Nintendo, Nuvoton, Nvidia, Sony, NXP (formerly Philips Semiconductor), Oki, ON Semiconductor, Psion, Qualcomm, Renesas, Samsung, Sharp, Silicon Labs, STMicroelectronics, Symbios Logic, Texas Instruments, VLSI Technology, Yamaha, Fuzhou Rockchip, and ZiiLABS. In addition to the abstract architecture, ARM offers several microprocessor core designs, including the ARM7, ARM9, ARM11, Cortex- A8, Cortex-A9, and Cortex-A15. Companies often license these designs from ARM to manufacture and integrate into their own system on a chip (SoC) with other components like RAM, GPUs, or radio basebands (for mobile phones). -
Acorn Business Computer
Acorn The Acorn Even in its simplest form, the The addition of one circuit card, Business ABC Personal Assistant, this new containing a second Computer range provides the user with microprocessor and its comprises text and data processing associated memory, plus a a range of instantly. No need to load from second high capacity floppy disc office disc — a single keyword runs one drive provides the basis of the computers of the two programs installed in next level of the ABC range — and permanent memory. The the ABC 100. The fast, powerful workstations from the company programs are VIEW, the award and well proven Z80 Second that has achieved total winning word processor, and its Processor runs the CP/M dominance of the educational companion program, ViewSheet, operating system, for many years computer market. The practical a sophisticated financial analysis an industry standard, with a and compact two-box design and data processing program wealth of applications programs conceals an elegant and cost using the well proven available on floppy disc. The effective electronic design 'spreadsheet' simulation The ABC Personal Assistant is a main ABC circuit board philosophy which enables Acorn technique. single processor computer with continues to deal with the to provide an extremely wide one floppy disc drive providing keyboard, screen and range of variants. This makes the 640 Kilobytes of storage. communications options, so the ABC the single solution to Interfaces suitable for almost all programs running on the main almost all modern business currently available printers are processor are executed at problems. Common to all standard and space is provided speeds normally associated with models in the range is the within the case for further more expensive 16 bit processor keyboard and main case which communications options, to allow systems. -
ARM ASSEMBLY LANGUAGE Hohl Hinds EDITION Fundamentals and Techniques SECOND 0 0 0 0 9 1
Computer Science and Engineering Hohl Hinds ARM ASSEMBLY ARM ASSEMBLY “Assembly language programming is still the best way to learn about the internals of processors and this is one of a very few books that teaches that skill for ARM® processors. It covers the necessary material in a well-organized manner. Updated for newer versions of ARM processors, it adds good material on floating-point arithmetic that was missing from the first edition.” —Ronald W. Mehler, California State University, Northridge, USA “This text retains the ease of using the ARM7TDMI while moving the Fundamentals and Techniques student [or reader] into the more capable Cortex-M4. …The addition of the Cortex-M4 makes this a much stronger text.” —Ralph Tanner, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, USA Delivering a solid introduction to assembly language and embedded systems, ARM Assembly Language: Fundamentals and Techniques, Second Edition continues to support the popular ARM7TDMI, but also addresses the latest architectures from ARM, including Cortex™-A, Cortex-R, and Cortex-M processors—all of which have slightly different instruction sets, programmer’s models, and exception handling. Featuring three brand-new chapters, a new appendix, and expanded coverage of the ARM7™, this edition: LANGUAGE • Discusses IEEE 754 floating-point arithmetic and explains how to program with the IEEE standard notation • Contains step-by-step directions for the use of Keil™ MDK-ARM and Texas Instruments (TI) Code Composer Studio™ • Provides a resource to be used alongside a variety of hardware evaluation modules, such as TI’s Tiva Launchpad, STMicroelectronics’ iNemo and Discovery, and NXP Semiconductors’ Xplorer boards Written by experienced ARM processor designers, ARM Assembly Language: Fundamentals and Techniques, Second Edition covers the topics essential to writing meaningful assembly programs, making it an ideal textbook and professional reference. -
Popular Computing Weekly (1984-09-27)
' ^hJ^^^^I^^-^ Oiily40p. Uiuiuulinff 27 SeptembeF— 3 October 1984 Vol 3 No 39 Smclair US marl in Uie lachntrfogy was used by Time;! profits also lost a possible £9m plus in lum-over. judging torn 1983 let-down fignies. Howevec, Ihe QL ts due to be launctied in the US before the only by a disappointing end of 1984 on mail order, and leyear Sinclair; ending March 19B4, longly. Turn-over rose over the Sinclair is apparently relying same period bom £54 .Em To on high OL sales to increase £77.7m, according to Sinclair's prorns prior to the company's planned flotation next year. published lasl weak. Expenditure on raw materials !n the leporl, Su Clive Sin- and consumables rose sharply THE seventh PerBonal Compntet Woild Show was held ovai clair accounts for the relatively from £33.7rn to £54.9m, im- four dayv at Olympia Jaat week. Acam previewed its new small increase plying a much heavier le- biuiness compalera, and the new lange ot Ret Apticol [ rise by saying L arch commilment. and compntezB were on pntabc display for the fini time. Full show "the pocket televunan and the ^ cks of hardware now stand tepoit inside on page 13, l7.3i!i as against £3.Bm. The I company's net profil lell from 26% ottum-overin 1983 to 16% MSX launch ittntmTed to continuing de- unfinished Imagine 'mega- THE MSX compuler sysl lE for the ZX Speclnim, its was officially launched week by Ihe seven Japan (I (pnn Woiking Group — Canon, Hi- early ISBS); tachi. -
Explicit Network Scheduling
Explicit Network Scheduling Richard John Black Churchill College University of Cambridge A dissertation submitted for the degree of Do ctor of Philosophy December Abstract This dissertation considers various problems asso ciated with the scheduling and network IO organisation found in conventional op erating systems for eective supp ort for multimedia applications which require Quality of Service A solution for these problems is prop osed in a microkernel structure The pivotal features of the prop osed design are that the pro cessing of device interrupts is p erformed by userspace pro cesses which are scheduled by the system like any other that events are used for b oth inter and intra pro cess synchronisation and the use of a sp ecially develop ed high p erformance IO buer management system An evaluation of an exp erimental implementation is included In addition to solv ing the scheduling and networking problems addressed the prototyp e is shown to outp erform the Wanda system a lo cally develop ed microkernel on the same platform This dissertation concludes that it is p ossible to construct an op erating system where the kernel provides only the fundamental job of ne grain sharing of the CPU b etween pro cesses and hence synchronisation b etween those pro cesses This enables pro cesses to p erform task sp ecic optimisations as a result system per formance is enhanced b oth with resp ect to throughput and the meeting of soft realtime guarantees To my parents John and Marcella Preface Except where otherwise stated in the text this dissertation -
Acorn Communicator User Guide
(c) Copyright Acorn Computers limited 1986 This apparatus is intended for use when supplied with power from the above power supply. Other usage will invalidate any approval given to this Neither the whole or any part of the information contained in, or the apparatus if, as a result, it ceases to comply with BS6301: 1982. Do not use product described in, this manual may he adapted or reproduced in any the supply in conditions of extreme heat, cold, humidity, dust or m form form . except with the prior written permission of Acorn vibration. Computers Limited (Acorn Computers). There are no user-serviceable parts inside Communicator, which should Inst ructions for installing this apparatus are given in Appendix A of this not be disassembled. Guide. For maintenancq and service on the Communicator, contact your The mains power supply supplied with the Communicator is specified to supplier. operate as follows: The Acom Communicator is made in the United Kingdom by: Input 240 Volts a.c. 50Hz at 45W Output: 21 Volts a. c. 50Hz at 1.6A. Acorn Computers Ltd The power supply should be disconnected from the mains supply when the Fulbourn Road computer is not used for long periods. Cherry Hinton IMPORTANT: The wires in the mains lead for the power supply unit are Cambridge CB1 4JN coloured in accordance with the following code: BLUE – NEUTRAL BROWN–LIVE As the colours of the wires may not correspond with the coloured markings identifying the terminals in your plug, proceed as follows when replacing the plug. The approval of this modem for connection to telephone networks is INVALIDATED if the apparatus is subject to any modification in any The wire which is coloured blue must be connected to the terminal which material way not authorised by BABT or is used with, or connected to: is marked with the letter N, or coloured black or blue (though nor necessarily the same shade of that colour).