>
> I have thought a lot about using an x86 processor like one of the
VIA
> boards as a host. I might use PC-DOS as the OS and my old toolchain
> like Turbo Pascal or Turbo C. At GHz speeds, the system would be
> blistering fast. It might be possible to port something like
FreeRTOS
> to get a real time operating system.
>
> But, the x86 chips are microcomputers, not microcontrollers and they
> don't have a lot of specialized gadgets such as PWM, I2C, SPI etc.
>
> There is a lot of work going on with the Intel X-Scale chip over at
> www.gumstix.com.
The gumstix board has the PXA chip and ram/flash
> running Linux and it is coupled to an ATmega128 to handle robot IO.
>
> I have played with this a little bit (the gumstix, not the
> combination) and I also have the Blackfin board as a stepping stool
to
> the Surveyor 'bot. As soon as vision becomes a factor, Linux
becomes
> important for the code base that's already available.
>
> Richard
>
All good ideas! I've looked at rs485 but didn't know enough to get a
good start(even made some rs232 to 485 driver boards and took a stab
at a home grown protocal). As far as the debate of OOPics to X uP, I
hear you, but I have the OOPics on hand and the learning curve is not
as bad as picking up a new processor/tool chain/ect or writing all
the needed assembler code(I've used pics with Microchip's IDE,and
CCS's C compiler). I've been gathering parts for quite a while now,
based on the general outline of the OPA robot model, so before I
redesign the whole project I want to intergrate what I have.
My thinking is keep each sensor node simple, let them collect data
and forward it to the CPU to process. The VIA CPU can then intergrate
the data into an action based on the current world model. With
seprate nodes, sensors can be read concurrently and preprocess the
data to some extent. Using the USB bus as the physical layer for
the 'network', each node can be accessed directly by the CPU. By
using the DSS enviorment in MS Robotics Studio, I think that I can
run any number of VCom ports concurrently, but I guess it's really a
issue for the MSRS/dot.net runtime.
Belive me, over the time I've been thinking about/building this
project, newer and better boards have come down the road, but I just
got to get something rolling before I start improving.
Bill
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