www.digitalmars.com         C & C++   DMDScript  

digitalmars.D - Parallax Propeller Microcontroller

reply "tcak" <tcak gmail.com> writes:
I made some research, though couldn't have found any article 
about it. Is there any work that has been/is being done for 
Parallax Propeller Microcontroller with D Language? Any library, 
linker etc.

As far as I see on wikipedia 
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parallax_Propeller), there are 
ports to microcontroller's assembler for C, Java, Pascal, Fortran.

Note: For those who don't have knowledge about it, this 
microcontroller is 32 bit, and has 8 cores on it.
Oct 17 2014
next sibling parent reply Paulo Pinto <pjmlp progtools.org> writes:
Am 17.10.2014 um 20:06 schrieb tcak:

 I made some research, though couldn't have found any article about it.
 Is there any work that has been/is being done for Parallax Propeller
 Microcontroller with D Language? Any library, linker etc.

 As far as I see on wikipedia
 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parallax_Propeller), there are ports to
 microcontroller's assembler for C, Java, Pascal, Fortran.

 Note: For those who don't have knowledge about it, this microcontroller
 is 32 bit, and has 8 cores on it.


You forgot to provide the link for the best use case that Parallax 
Propeller is being used for. :)

http://www.xgamestation.com/view_product.php?id=33

--
Paulo
Oct 17 2014
parent "tcak" <tcak gmail.com> writes:
On Friday, 17 October 2014 at 19:12:52 UTC, Paulo Pinto wrote:

 You forgot to provide the link for the best use case that 
 Parallax Propeller is being used for. :)

 http://www.xgamestation.com/view_product.php?id=33

 --
 Paulo


Wow! I didn't know that really. Checking the games now.
Oct 17 2014
prev sibling next sibling parent reply "Mike" <none none.com> writes:
On Friday, 17 October 2014 at 18:06:26 UTC, tcak wrote:

 I made some research, though couldn't have found any article 
 about it. Is there any work that has been/is being done for 
 Parallax Propeller Microcontroller with D Language? Any 
 library, linker etc.

 As far as I see on wikipedia 
 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parallax_Propeller), there are 
 ports to microcontroller's assembler for C, Java, Pascal, 
 Fortran.

 Note: For those who don't have knowledge about it, this 
 microcontroller is 32 bit, and has 8 cores on it.


I haven't seen any work in this community specifically for this 
platform, however, thanks to GCC, I don't think it would be too 
far out of reach.

If you have the hardware, I recommend you give it try and write a 
wiki about it. Here's how I would a approach it.

1.  Download the Propeller GCC source code [1].
2.  Clone the GDC repository for the specific GCC version that 
best matches the GCC version of the PropellerGCC
3   Read and try to understand the instructions for building a 
GDC cross-compiler [2].  Ask questions on the D.GNU forum [3] if 
you run into trouble.
4.  Adapt the instructions for the Parallax Propeller
5.  If you're successful, post your instructions as a subpage if 
the GDC cross-compiler wiki
6.  Make a minimal D runtime as described in the Adam Ruppe's "D 
for Kernel Coding" chapter in the "D Cookbook" or similar to the 
ARM Cortex-M Hello World on the D wiki
7.  Make a hello world program and post your instructions on the 
D wiki
8.  Bask in the pride and admiration of a job well done.

Mike

[1] PropellerGCC: https://sites.google.com/site/propellergcc/
[2] GDC Cross-compiler instructions: 
http://wiki.dlang.org/GDC/Cross_Compiler
[3] D.GNU forum: http://forum.dlang.org/group/D.gnu
[4] D Cookbook: http://wiki.dlang.org/Books
[5] ARM Cortex-M Hello World: 
http://wiki.dlang.org/Minimal_semihosted_ARM_Cortex-M_%22Hello_World%22
Oct 17 2014
parent "Mike" <none none.com> writes:
On Saturday, 18 October 2014 at 01:42:38 UTC, Mike wrote:


 2.  Clone the GDC repository for the specific GCC version that 
 best matches the GCC version of the PropellerGCC


Forgot the most important link, the GDC source code:  
https://github.com/D-Programming-GDC/GDC

Mike
Oct 17 2014
prev sibling parent Nick Sabalausky <SeeWebsiteToContactMe semitwist.com> writes:
On 10/17/2014 02:06 PM, tcak wrote:

 I made some research, though couldn't have found any article about it.
 Is there any work that has been/is being done for Parallax Propeller
 Microcontroller with D Language? Any library, linker etc.

 As far as I see on wikipedia
 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parallax_Propeller), there are ports to
 microcontroller's assembler for C, Java, Pascal, Fortran.

 Note: For those who don't have knowledge about it, this microcontroller
 is 32 bit, and has 8 cores on it.


I've worked with the Propeller before. Really cool little chip, but due 
to the extremely limited memory and unconventional architecture (in some 
ways), I can only imagine that using high-level languages (even C) would 
mean giving up a non-trivial amount of power (and I seem to recall 
hearing exactly that happening, too), and I'm not sure it'd be worth the 
bother. Personally, I think it'd be better to just stick with Asm. It's 
not a particularly complicated Asm like modern forms of x86.

But then again, my experience with Propeller was very early in the 
chip's lifetime (only Asm and SPIN existed for it), so for all I know 
maybe compiler backends have managed to get pretty good at Propeller?

That said, D on Propeller *would* at least be pretty cool. Certainly be 
better than SPIN anyway.
Oct 19 2014