HP-41 Infinity - a Tulip4041 teaser ...

[ThomasF]

(09-26-2024 12:12 PM)rprosperi Wrote:  Your comments imply this can be used on TULIP41 once that is available, but how would such a program be installed/loaded and the flash loaded with the images? Would this require a re-flashing of the TULIP41?

Hi Bob!

I'm constantly in contact with Meindert and we follow each others development of the Pico code.
As of now we have no fixed plan how the file system will look like, but plans are to merge my module handling with his Tulip code.

For now I have created a simple tool that flashes every module I have listed in a configuration file.
It simply creates the FAT and flashes it together with the module images without touching the main firmware of the board.
So if I want to add some modules, I just add them to the configuration file, run the tool and flash the board again (again, no need to update the main Pico application).
And since I use the name of the module for lookup, the order of the modules have no impact (I can remove or add modules as much as I want to).

The configuration just lists all modules and looks like this:

Code:

# List of all modules to install in the flash
# ROM files are followed by the name of the module
../ROM/tf-rom.rom  TF-ROM
../MOD/MMEPROM.MOD
../MOD/PROTOCODER2.MOD
../MOD/CCD-OSX.MOD
...

Now, this could be done by any user of the board (only the flash-tool, a PC and USB cable needed), but once flashed, all modules are available (without the need to recompile, change or flash the Tulip code).

Also remember that this is still under development, so I hope this will be integrated in the final version - the first version of the Tulip board is a development board, and should be used as such.
It is not a final product but comes with the basic firmware to start developing.
Later on we might have a real file system on the board, so adding a new module might be done by just dropping the file on the Tulip board

Again, this works fine - as described in the post - on my board, and my main purpose was - as you just said - to be an eye-opener of what could be done with this board.
And I hope that we see many other ideas pop into life when more people starts to play with the possibilities it can offer!

Cheers,
Thomas