A couple of questions on Open Spin, and Fonts.
davidsaunders
Posts: 1,559
Ok I have been away from programming for the Prop for a while, and thus away from these forums. This is do to the fact that when I switched to the Raspberry Pi for my desktop computers, there was no software available to assemble PASM, or load the propeller.
Now that OpenSpin is available there is a good option. I do have few questions. These have likely been covered before, so sorry about that.
How do you load the final object to the Propeller, when using OpenSpin as a compiler?
Are there any syntax diferences from the Propeller Tool that I should be aware of (it has been long enough that only the Propeller Tool, and BST were good for combined Spin and PASM at the time I switched)?
Is there an easy way to use the RPi version of SimpleIDE with SPIN+PASM? Every time I try to save a spin file from there it says can not find 'simple project'. Why it needs a preexisting SPIN project to save a new one I do not know.
And all of this is running on a Raspberry Pi Model B under Raspbian.
Heater helped point me to SimpleIDE and OpenSpin over on the Raspberry Pi forums. So thank you Heater.
Now that OpenSpin is available there is a good option. I do have few questions. These have likely been covered before, so sorry about that.
How do you load the final object to the Propeller, when using OpenSpin as a compiler?
Are there any syntax diferences from the Propeller Tool that I should be aware of (it has been long enough that only the Propeller Tool, and BST were good for combined Spin and PASM at the time I switched)?
Is there an easy way to use the RPi version of SimpleIDE with SPIN+PASM? Every time I try to save a spin file from there it says can not find 'simple project'. Why it needs a preexisting SPIN project to save a new one I do not know.
And all of this is running on a Raspberry Pi Model B under Raspbian.
Heater helped point me to SimpleIDE and OpenSpin over on the Raspberry Pi forums. So thank you Heater.
Comments
Also where to get the Propeller font for Linux, and how to install it for use in a text editor.
I believe there's an RPi version of PropellerIDE which is a Spin / PASM compiler that works much like the Propeller Tool without a .side file.
Though I already tried that, when attempting to create a new project, even if the .spin file already exists it says something like missing simple side project. So I have yet to figure out how to successfully create a SPIN/PASM project in simpleIDE. It will create a C or C++ project with no trouble at all, though not a SPIN project (and yes I make sure to select SPIN as the language).
PropellerIDE will not run on Raspbian with out adding qt5, I have PropellerIDE installed on my RPi, and I have no intention of adding qt5-dev and all of its dependencies to get it to work.
I can always use a different text editor and use the command line tools. Hence the question about OpenSpin syntax and what tool to use to load the Propeller using a standard FTDI USB serial interface (like the Prop Plug or the on board FTDI on the Propeller Proto Board USB).
I am still learning the command line on OpenSpin (this is the first day I have had it).
Though what command line tool is installed with SimpleIDE for loading the Prop after compiling with OpenSpin?
$ /opt/parallax/bin/propeller-load usage: propeller-load [ -b <type> ] select target board (default is 'default:default') [ -p <port> ] serial port (default is to auto-detect the port) [ -P ] list serial ports with Propeller chips [ -Q ] list available serial ports [ -I <path> ] add a directory to the include path [ -D var=value ] define a board configuration variable [ -e ] write the program into EEPROM [ -r ] run the program after loading [ -g ] set up the program for debugging after loading [ -s ] write a spin .binary file for use with the Propeller Tool [ -x ] write a .pex binary file for use with the SD loader or SD cache [ -l ] write a program to the sd card and use the SD loader [ -z ] write a program to the sd card and use the SD cache [ -f ] write a file to the SD card [ -t ] enter terminal mode after running the program [ -t<baud> ] enter terminal mode with a different baud rate [ -T ] enter pst terminal mode after running the program [ -T<baud> ] enter pst terminal mode with a different baud rate [ -q ] quit on the exit sequence (0xff, 0x00, status) [ -v ] verbose output [ -S ] slow down the loader by adding 5 microseconds delay [ -S<n> ] slow down the loader by adding <n> microseconds delay [ -? ] display a usage message and exit <name> elf or spin binary file to load Target board type can be either a single identifier like 'propboe' in which case the subtype defaults to 'default' or it can be of the form <type>:<subtype> like 'c3:ram'. Variables that can be set with -D are: clkfreq clkmode baudrate reset rxpin txpin tvpin cache-driver cache-size cache-param1 cache-param2 sd-driver sdspi-do sdspi-clk sdspi-di sdspi-cs sdspi-clr sdspi-inc sdspi-start sdspi-width spdspi-addr sdspi-config1 sdspi-config2 eeprom-first Value expressions for -D can include: rcfast rcslow xinput xtal1 xtal2 xtal3 pll1x pll2x pll4x pll8x pll16x k m mhz true false an integer or two operands with a binary operator + - * / % & | or unary + or - all operators have the same precedence The -b option defaults to the value of the environment variable PROPELLER_LOAD_BOARD. The -p option defaults to the value of the environment variable PROPELLER_LOAD_PORT if it is set. If not the port will be auto-detected. The 'sd loader' loads AUTORUN.PEX from an SD card into external memory. It requires a board with either external RAM or ROM. The 'sd cache' arranges to run AUTORUN.PEX directly from the SD card. It can be used on any board with an SD card slot.Most of those options you can ignore when using Spin. -p, -e should be enough I think.I think I heard that OpenSpin recently got some preprocessor support "#define" etc like BST.
Thank you very much. Now I guess I will have to make a symlink in the /usr/bin directory to allow for execution with out the path to the executable.
Thank you for that.
I am glad to know that there is a good open source Spin and PASM compiler that is sure to be 100% compatible with the Prop Tool.
I don't normally set sym links. Rather just add /opt/parallax/bin to your PATH. Then all the programs in there are available.
So where can I find the font, and how do I install it into my Raspbian system?
Else a site:parallax.com google search will probably find it.
Personally I find other fonts less ugly on my machines.
Though when it comes to longer commands I do set symlinks, because it saves typing and fits more on the 80 column screen. Like I made that symlink named proploader, and openspin is symlinked to ospinc.
You can put these into your logon script, and can move it from machine to machine easily.
Symlinks into your path won't always work properly due to things changing / updating. In the case of something like gcc, you may also find you need a lot of links for the other programs, and or a path to insure it can see data it needs to.
Path additions can go into your logon script too. If you use more than one user account, adding them somewhere else may make sense.
Between those two, you can largely ignore the work done behind the scenes. This makes adding new software and dependencies much easier as the OS and maintainer will preserve the basics, to which you then add on for your personal preferences / needs.
Depending on how you are getting to your terminal, you might want more than 80 columns!
http://elinux.org/RPi_Defining_Default_Terminal_Size
Get a nice, clear, 10 point monospace font, widen up that terminal, whittle down your commands to little nubs with aliases, and you may find it a much improved, lower hassle experience.:)
If I could port everything to RISC OS with out issue I would, though much of it has so many dependencies that it is impractical.
And if I use a Unix like system (like Linux, or BSD), I do not rely on a known shell, not all shells are compatible, thus breaking compatibility of scripts (including the login script, that some Unixons do not even support).
I do thank you for your input though. Thank you.