[PD-dev] small gizmos

[jim ruxton]

Sounds great Tom. I'd be glad to help out with the hardware, or some PIC
assembly code when it comes time. I could also design a printed circuit
board if it helps. Nice Project :)
jim
http://artmeetsengineering.blogspot.com
> hi jim,
> 
> > As one who really likes PICs and PD this sounds like an interesting
> > project to me. Not sure how I could help out as it's been a while since
> > I've used Forth.
> 
> sounds like a perfectly good resume to me :)
> 
> > Just so I understand what you are trying to do are you
> > envisioning for example separate pd PIC objects that would configure the
> > A/D read it , configure PWM etc. I guess I've been doing this with MIDI
> > but having direct objects would be nice.
> 
> yes. lots of things are possible once actialy have the chain from pd
> message -> PIC & back, and it's completely programmable and interactive.
> no files, no external compilers, all in one. that's the main goal.
> 
> i want an interactive forth interpreter running which can handle some
> basic requests, modify registers and install handlers in the PIC (i.e.
> swapping in a block of flash memory containing freshly compiled code).
> 
> this can then be used to build a more highlevel kernel that can implement
> some more io functions, and some pd specific things. find some patterns of
> things that might be useful.
> 
> ideally, i'd like to have a mini-pd or at least the guts of what's
> necessary to simulate pd object behaviour, running on the PIC. creating
> an object would then be the equivalent of starting some task on the PIC,
> so pd object io can be directly mapped to pic pin io.
> 
> but that's just one use. the important part is that there is a this
> realtime interactive link between pf->mole->PIC and back. applications
> could be split into two parts. a loader, which loads a certain env into
> the PIC, and pd objects that map to whatever the loader has loaded into
> the PIC, i.e. a bitbanged midi router.
> 
> so the basic thing that has to be made in order to get this all working,
> is a small interpreter/loader for the PIC and a test circuit. the
> communication could be plain serial for starters, or midi which is a tad
> bit more difficult to write a valid protocol for i guess but much more
> flexible. (i.e. you could use pd + mole to program a standalone midi
> application in the PIC).
> 
> this loader could be done in assembler or forth. basicly nothing more than
> receive, interpret, execute. it would send forth commands (maybe encoded
> directly as addresses with the symbol table is in the host to simplify
> the target interpreter.) so interpret is nothing more than decode and
> execute.
> 
> and that's where my knowledge stops. i read the manual to get to know the
> architecture so i could write the forth compiler, but i don't have any
> experience with actually doing something useful with a microcontroller.
> the experiment stopped at the simulator last time.
> 
> 
>