Emic is mute

Larry Molter

I'm about to give my new SX Tech board and SX/B compiler flying lessons.· I've spent the good part of a Saturday trying to get my Emic module to talk.· Now, granted, I just got the SX stuff a few days ago and I've been a Javelin user for a number of years.· But, as far as I can tell, everything is hooked up right. I can see pulses on the SIN pin (I don't have a scope, just a logic probe), the light goes green, then red, but all that comes out of the speaker is 'bmp'.· It should have said "Hello".

Could anyone please post a simple program that I know works so I can test the bugger?· I don't dare try to interface my 2X20 LCD (that's the next project).· I expected some difficulty, yes, because Basic and asm is something I haven't done for decades.· But I thought I could have had it saying at least something intelligible after 8 hours of frustration.

Newbie (50+ years old) needs help.

Larry

PJAllen

How about uploading your program and your interconnect (schematic)?

PJMonty

Larry,

Since you have experience using the Javelin, have you tried hooking that up and getting it to work? You're dealing with three unknown variables, the emic, the SX and Basic/asm. Whenever I get some new gizmo, I tend to get it to work on my PC first, and then move it to an embedded processor. If you're familiar with the Javelin, then use it to first learn about the emic and then take that knowledge and apply it to the SX.

Also, I noticed that the emic has a TTL serial input. Do you have the polarity of the serial communication correct? TTL to RS-232 level converters are also inverters.

Thanks,
PeterM

JonnyMac

This is where the PDB really soars: Put the Javelin the the 24-pin socket and get your Emic stuff working, then move the interface connections over to the SX and give it a whack. While I was getting comfortable with the SX I did this many times -- saves a lot of frustration knowing the hardware part is sorted.

Larry Molter

Ah, Javelin... Unfortunately, something is amiss with my Javelin stamp - either the chip itself won't POR, or there's something wrong with the Super Carrier.· The problem is that the IDE can't detect the stamp 80% of the time. I have to unplug and plug in the power connector to the board a dozen times before the IDE detects the chip.· This became so much of a nuisance (sp?) that I decided to venture into the realm of PIC/SX chips.· Because there are soooo many varieties of PIC, I chose the SX for my needs.· I have a few projects in mind that need some brains, and if I go into limited production, the low-volume prices of the Basic and Javelin stamps are prohibitive.· And besides, if I blow the SX, it's only $2 to replace it.· And... I was a Z80 programmer for many years ( a long, long time ago) and the assembly language programming of the SX brought back mostly fond memories.· Ok, I'm rambling...

I did get the Emic to say something intelligible with Javelin, but remember, that stamp has a virtual UART built in.· Very handy and easy to use.· I chose SX/B for this project because: 1) I didn't want to write a UART in SASM; and 2) I thought the SEROUT command would work similarly.· Perhaps it does.· There is a burst of pulses on the SIN line at intervals of 1 second as I designed.· Are they 2400 baud? I hope so.· Are they within published tolerances? I hope so.· FWIW, it did talk briefly, although it spoke assembler language to me: "Right-bracket SAY equals (and a kind of burp sound)".· Looks like my pointer to the supposed string was pointing somewhere's else.· After debugging and verifying that I was feeding the SEROUT command the proper byte sequences, the Emic decided to shut up.· No matter what I try now, it stays silent (except that the PC speaker does a 'bmp' sound initially). I've attached my program for all to see (be gentle, I'm a newbie).

Thanks for listening,

Larry

Bean

Larry,
· You need to add ",turbo,optionx,stackx" to your DEVICE line.

Bean.

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Larry Molter

Thanks to all who have responded.· Emic is now an electronic Chatty Kathy. I added some directives to my DEVICE statement as suggested, and I had the serial stream inverted (another suggestion).· After fixing these items, Emic wouldn't shut up (partly because I had it in a loop for testing <g>).· It does pop a bit between words (!?), and I had to use some creative spellings to force it to pronounce the text in a dialect I could understand.· Haven't quite figured out how to embed the phoneme hints yet. Oh, well, it's a start.

Thanks again to all who helped (or thought about helping).

Larry

JonnyMac

I hadn't played with the Emic for a while so I dug one out and wrote the program that's attached -- since you're new to SX/B you my find it useful.

Larry Molter

Thanks, JonnyMac. Even though I got mine talking previous to your post, I like how your program is structured. I'll make some enhackments to mine so it follows the same design structure.

Larry