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Old 9th Sep 2021, 5:06 pm   #61
SiriusHardware
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Default Re: Karen's PICL - PCB available

This is making me a little nervous for MK14man - he was active online until quite recently talking about an AVR port of Karen's PIC14. The last time I expressed concern for his welfare he popped up here, very briefly, and gave us a wave (and then disappeared again) so maybe the same thing will happen this time.
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Old 9th Sep 2021, 5:32 pm   #62
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Default Re: Karen's PICL - PCB available

Quote:
This April snapshot seems complete:
Well spotted. Does archive.org aim to hang on to things indefinitely or is there a timeout?

I would expect that Tim has grabbed every grabbable thing from the original site and I have offline copies of all the .PDF manuals, etc, as I'm sure most here have. It would be nice to see the site preserved somehow, the content is quite low bandwidth so it could even be hosted on a Raspberry Pi or something like that.

The content could do with being updated a little as well, for example with the V2 / SCIOS compatible version of the user manual which Martin L managed to dig up from somewhere.

Anyway: I'm drifting. Back to Phil and his progress on PICL.
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Old 9th Sep 2021, 5:47 pm   #63
Phil__G
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Default Re: Karen's PICL - PCB available

Quote:
Originally Posted by SiriusHardware View Post
This is making me a little nervous for MK14man - he was active online until quite recently talking about an AVR port of Karen's PIC14. The last time I expressed concern for his welfare he popped up here, very briefly, and gave us a wave (and then disappeared again) so maybe the same thing will happen this time.
Seems he's still around, he last tweeted in October 2020:
twitter.com/mk14man
Looks a busy man...

Paul Robson is there too...
https://twitter.com/mk14man/status/985126733258125337
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Old 9th Sep 2021, 7:04 pm   #64
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Default Re: Karen's PICL - PCB available

Yes I have a lot archived and exchanged mails with Paul last month so I am sure he will have a copy he can put elsewhere - if you remember he uploaded the Scrumpi 3 emulator to his github.
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Old 9th Sep 2021, 7:18 pm   #65
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Default Re: Karen's PICL - PCB available

Quote:
Originally Posted by SiriusHardware View Post
It would be nice to see the site preserved somehow, the content is quite low bandwidth so it could even be hosted on a Raspberry Pi or something like that.
Hmm. MK14 powered webserver? Pages on SD card......
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Old 15th Sep 2021, 10:30 am   #66
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Default Re: Karen's PICL - PCB available

Hi, just to say that i'm out of action for a while, had a motorbike accident Friday and I've broken all my ribs, xray consultant says he's never seen a full house before. Back soon all being well with more PICL ideas. Cheers
Phil
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Old 15th Sep 2021, 10:41 am   #67
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Default Re: Karen's PICL - PCB available

It says something that even in that state you still came here to keep us updated! Sorry to hear about the accident, best wishes for a speedy(?) recovery.
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Old 15th Sep 2021, 5:49 pm   #68
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Default Re: Karen's PICL - PCB available

Indeed - hope you feel better soon sounds like although painful you had a lucky escape.
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Old 15th Sep 2021, 8:30 pm   #69
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Default Re: Karen's PICL - PCB available

Quote:
Originally Posted by Phil__G View Post
xray consultant says he's never seen a full house before.
Probably not in someone that survived. They must have you on some good painkiller to be able to post anything so soon.

I think you’ve used up all your good luck, so be careful and get well soon.
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Old 29th Sep 2021, 1:25 am   #70
Phil__G
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Default Re: Karen's PICL - PCB available

I've a soft spot for Karens two-chip marvel and an accident-enforced lay up gave me the opportunity to create a smaller, simpler PICL-specific machine-code monitor to complement NIBL. It takes advantage of the NVRAM swap so (barring a catastrophe!) is permanently in memory ready to go.

My thinking was that for a PICL-resident monitor we need something smaller and simpler than PAGE2.SYS, more along the lines of the old NS Kitbug.
One k is enough for quite a capable monitor, and located towards the top of NV memory (at #2C00) it leaves 3k free in page 2 and 4k in page1 – after all, 8k of RAM, 4k ROM BASIC and a resident machine-code monitor is quite a respectable spec for a late 70's computer based on just two chips!

I've done some documentation and a loader, all on http://philg.uk
and a bit of a demo here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3DpUGntVPQ8

BTW thanks for the good wishes all, still confined to quarters here
Cheers
Phil
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Old 29th Sep 2021, 9:33 pm   #71
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Default Re: Karen's PICL - PCB available

That looks great Phil as you say a pretty useful little machine to play with the main aspects of life on the SC/MP!

Hopefully not too much longer in confinement - get well soon - but, keep making this great stuff.
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Old 30th Sep 2021, 3:21 pm   #72
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Default Re: Karen's PICL - PCB available

Thanks Tim, I've added a brief 'help' command '?' and added a terminal 'break' to the 'T' command in addition to the existing Sense-B break.
I've updated the archive. As always, these projects do tend to continue long after they're 'finished' so if anyone is actively following this its always as well to check for the latest files.
I found the 48Z08 NVRAM is now out of stock at RS, so I've since been using the Maxim DS1225AD which is pretty much identical. I must say I'm getting a lot of enjoyment from Karens PICL design, its so versatile
I had a doctors assessment by telephone earlier today, she says it would be weeks yet
Cheers
Phil

PS I'm still seeing SBASM permitting relative-jumps that are actually out-of-range... I have the latest cross file...

Last edited by Phil__G; 30th Sep 2021 at 3:39 pm.
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Old 1st Oct 2021, 4:45 pm   #73
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Default Re: Karen's PICL - PCB available

...added an 'R' register display command, updated loader & doc on philg.uk
Cheers
Phil
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Old 2nd Oct 2021, 2:28 pm   #74
Phil__G
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Default Re: Karen's PICL - PCB available

I've changed the way the PICL loader is coded to improve the load time:
Original loader with status display: 15m 50s
Original without the status display: 5m 45s
New loader: 3 minutes!

Its much better but still slow, next step would be a 2-stage loader, with a minimal NIBL startup then a M/C loader. Not that it matters that much, barring a runaway, KB+ only has to be loaded once! (assuming NVRAM)

The updated loader & doc are on http://philg.uk
Not planning any further KitBugPlus updates for the PICL as I'm almost at the self-imposed 1k limit and all the essential commands are there. Its a wrap!

Cheers
Phil (with nothing better to do...)
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Old 2nd Oct 2021, 9:16 pm   #75
Phil__G
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Default Re: Karen's PICL - PCB available

This is really just another demo of using the KitBugPlus monitor on the PICL board. The four SC/MP 'Flag' lines have LEDs connected and whilst a 4-element-high character-set is restrictive we can at least have it say "PICL"

Its much more effective 'in the flesh' and doesnt come over very well on Youtube, but no matter, its only a bit of coding fun whilst I'm recovering.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OmsfXksq5r4

Cheers, stay safe
Phil
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Old 2nd Oct 2021, 11:25 pm   #76
Timbucus
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Default Re: Karen's PICL - PCB available

ha ha brilliant - you should hook up the Orrery to it to make a display...

http://techlib.com/area_50/Readers/K...cro.htm#Orrery
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Old 3rd Oct 2021, 9:00 pm   #77
Phil__G
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Default Re: Karen's PICL - PCB available

I've added an Intel hex loader to the PICL firmware, this is independent of NIBL or the monitor as its pic code in the 877. Consequently it can be used to load anything that will fit, including of course KitBugPlus or any other sc/mp machine-code programs.
You could also load NIBL programs but you'd have to do the 'restore' process discussed a few posts back, its no quicker than the usual console spooling method so I wouldnt bother
Hex loading is down the console port so its just a case of 'Send File' from Teraterm. If you're in a rush the character and line delays can be removed for the duration of the hex-load, though for a few seconds it doesnt seem worth the faff, I would always forget to reinstate them for NIBL

I'm using San's SBASM and the parameter for Intel hex i:
.tf myprog.hex,int,32

If I've caused any confusion with these PICL firmware updates, just for clarity this is the second update, the first implemented the missing DLY instruction and this one adds DLY & the hex loader. Both updates are 99.999% Karens code so any credits are entirely Karen's.

The more I use the PICL the more I like it, its so versatile

Cheers
Phil
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