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What will it take for the Prop 1 to support WebDAV? — Parallax Forums

What will it take for the Prop 1 to support WebDAV?

I would like to 'mount' an SD card in my Propeller project to the file system of a host PC (e.g., Win, Mac, Linux). What will it take on the Propeller side to do that?

Comments

  • Heater.Heater. Posts: 21,230
    As far as I can tell WebDAV is a an extension to HTTP, a networking protocol. Also it seems to be a dead idea from many years ago.

    What that has to do with mounting file systems, on SD card or whatever, I have no idea.

  • DavidZemonDavidZemon Posts: 2,973
    edited 2016-07-28 00:04
    Well, the second paragraph of Wikipedia makes it sound like WebDAV is supposed to act similar to a networked filesystem like samba:

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WebDAV
    The WebDAV protocol provides a framework for users to create, change and move documents on a server, typically a web server or web share. The most important features of the WebDAV protocol include the maintenance of properties about an author or modification date, namespace management, collections, and overwrite protection. Maintenance of properties includes such things as the creation, removal, and querying of file information. Namespace management deals with the ability to copy and move web pages within a server’s namespace. Collections deal with the creation, removal, and listing of various resources. Lastly, overwrite protection handles aspects related to locking of files.

    I'm certainly interested to find out if a Propeller can handle all the code for SD, FAT16/32, HTTP, and WebDAV. I can't imagine it'll do it in 32k of program space, so you'll need some kind of external program memory and a kernel to load from it.

    Are you sure you want to use WebDAV and not something else? Peter's Tachyon comes with FTP which might be far better suited to your needs.
  • dbpagedbpage Posts: 217
    edited 2016-07-28 00:30
    WebDAV is in the subject line, but I will use any protocol that allows the SD Card in my Propeller project to mount to a host PC.

    There are some Spinneret threads about WebDAV. I would rather not turn my project into a web server to implement http so I can use WebDAV to mount my SD Card. I prefer something more direct.

    I want to be able to connect my Propeller project to a PC or Mac, open Finder or Explorer on the PC or Mac, mount the SD Card, browse the directory, find a file and copy/paste the file. I do *not* need a directory structure. A flat directory will suffice.

    I am looking for something a bit more elegant than simple file transfer software.
  • ElectrodudeElectrodude Posts: 1,657
    edited 2016-07-28 03:22
    I'd go with Tachyon Forth if I wanted a Propeller file server, although I must say I have very, very little experience with Tachyon or Forth in general. I'm pretty sure there's plenty of room left over, even with HTTP, FTP, and an SD card, to add your own stuff.
  • Peter JakackiPeter Jakacki Posts: 10,193
    edited 2016-07-28 03:34
    Just did this on a P2 but its the same with the P1
    ftp.png
    ftp.png
    825 x 581 - 110K
    1116 x 266 - 27K
  • Implement FTP. I suppose that's an idea.

    Is a wifi/ethernet connection necessary?
  • Peter JakackiPeter Jakacki Posts: 10,193
    edited 2016-07-28 03:47
    FTP is implemented in Tachyon using a WIZnet connection, typically a W5500. I haven't gotten around to interfacing the ESP8266 WiFi stuff yet.

    ifconfig.png
  • MJBMJB Posts: 1,235
    edited 2016-07-29 12:02
    dbpage wrote: »
    Implement FTP. I suppose that's an idea.
    Is a wifi/ethernet connection necessary?
    FTP is implemened on top of sockets, so the WIZ5500 provides the TCI/IP stack in HW. Tachyon put'S webserver and FTP ... on top of this.
    ?
    So what do you need , that FTP & Telnet & HTTP can not provide?

  • A while ago I tried to implement WebDAV on the Spinneret.

    It a very odd protocol. Basically a extension of HTTP, but needs NetBIOS for name resolution (already 2 sockets) plus parts of the SMB protocol.

    As usual for MS extensions of everything it is not as well documented as you wish for and even the differences between 'mounting' from file-explorer or Word and Excel can drive you nuts. Put a Linux client in the mix and watch your hair getting grayer every minute.

    I simply ran out of hub-space and available sockets.

    Using FTP as Peter does in Tachyon is a better solution for the P1.

    Enjoy!

    Mike
  • FTP will meet the requirements. I am a bit nervous about deploying Tachyon in a commercial product. Perhaps I need to learn more about Tachyon.
  • My personal guess is that Tachyon is deployed in way more commercial projects as you would think.

    Peter is just not bragging much about his products. Not sure why, because the few he gave information about are quite useful and impressive.

    Enjoy!

    Mike
  • D.PD.P Posts: 790
    edited 2016-07-29 17:41
    dbpage wrote: »
    I would like to 'mount' an SD card in my Propeller project to the file system of a host PC (e.g., Win, Mac, Linux). What will it take on the Propeller side to do that?

    Don't bother using Tachyon unless you are willing to learn a complete stand alone Forth development environment and become ultra productive like Peter is not to mention getting all your questions answered regarding hardware, software and deployment using Tachyon and FORTH. /sarc

  • ErNaErNa Posts: 1,752
    dbpage, you will not be alone! Tachyon is currently gaining momentum.
  • Why?
    What are the advantages of Tachyon?
    Disadvantages?
  • MJBMJB Posts: 1,235
    have a look at the Tachyon thread:
    forums.parallax.com/discussion/141061/tachyon-o-s-v3-0-juno-furiously-fast-forth-fat32-lan-vga-rs485-obex-roms-fp-lmm#latest
    dbpage wrote: »
    Why?
    What are the advantages of Tachyon?
    Disadvantages?

    have a look at the Tachyon thread:
    forums.parallax.com/discussion/141061/tachyon-o-s-v3-0-juno-furiously-fast-forth-fat32-lan-vga-rs485-obex-roms-fp-lmm#latest

    What are the advantages of Tachyon?
    - fast
    - compact
    - interactive
    - proven in commercial projects
    - loads of code from Peter
    - SD/NW/FTP/HTTP/Telnet/RS485-NW/...................

    Disadvantages?
    - new language AND new thinking for most programmers
    - learning curve
  • D.PD.P Posts: 790
    edited 2016-07-30 00:18
    Pros
    Self contained environment, just need a console; minicom, teraterm, zterm...
    Save entire image a as bin file so you can reload as necessary.
    Software RTC, watchdog and cascading user timer with alarm and routine callbacks.
    Console alive during "system" on to monitor, poke and peek at system.
    HTTP, FTP, TELNET access
    SD Card Access Fat32 support, not complete but nothing missing I have ever missed having.
    RS485 like master slave console access to each node.
    System can be broken into Modules for ease of maintenance and code reuse (chip drivers usually) in there own modules.
    Built in VGA support.
    OBEX PASM modules can be incorporated as ROMs now i.e. for me I have access to F32 floating point although we are missing console float IO i.e 123.764 -> 32b HEX 32b Hex -> 123.764
    Backup and restore.
    Lazy background polling in main console of up to eight cascaded tasks
    Peter, MJB and others are talented and helpful on the lists.
    much more

    Cons
    People tend to hate on Forth because it is not "new shinny" without realizing it's just not a language. It's a complete development environment/methodology designed to concentrate on the problem and not waste time on the accidental complexity of the tool chain.
    If you are only trained in "languages" such as C, C++, C#, Pascal, Spin, Ada, Javascript, CSS, HTML, SQL and some ASM like I was then working in Forth/Tachyon initially can be a real brain ache to break the problem down into good Tachyon/Forth.
    Tachyon/Forth is not standards compliant so some people complain that it's not portable as if you're gonna be using code from the prop and put in on a mainframe or even on another micro with interrupts. This can be said for any language on the Prop though, you can't just wish PASM cog code into cascading interrupt routines on another micro.
    I'm sure there are some more cons.

    Tachyon works for me, just my opinion. But use the right tool for YOU and the job, I'm not doing professional dynamic web development and SAP module development using Forth.
  • advantages of Tachyon are
    1) interactive development
    2) quite fast byte code
    3) forth is a very efficient language if you can wrap your head around this RPN like data stack
    disadvantages of Tachion are
    1) its FORTH, so unlike every other language you ever met, except HP-Calculators.
    2) like every other FORTH it is build around the target machine, so not really portable. Alas Peter keeps P1 and P2 quite near as possible.
    3) FORTH seems to be a write only language if you can NOT wrap your head around this RPN like data stack

    Basically it boils down to YOU getting along with that way of thinking you need to program in FORTH. Either you can grook it or you don't.

    I sadly failed there, to much COBOL thinking and such.

    But if you don't tried you should. Some people get it in minutes, other never (like me)|

    Enjoy!

    Mike
  • MJBMJB Posts: 1,235
    I forgot:

    PRO: full source available - and modifyable as you like - if you can ;-)
  • MJBMJB Posts: 1,235
    we should move this Tachyon praise over to the Tachyon thread :-)
  • I think I have enough information about Tachyon, thanks!
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